Thanksgiving

When we practice Gratitude Marketing, every day should be Thanksgiving. Every day we should look for, and find, occasions to say “Thank You” to other people. These occasions may be when the other person does something that directly impacts us as individuals. Some occasions may mean an indirect result that benefits us. Sometimes the action for which we should express thanks doesn’t impact us at all, other than it may show us how we can be more gracious to others.

We have often discussed the gratitude that we should show to someone who becomes our customer, literally putting money into our pockets. What about the people who reach out to us and become our friend, our partner in the business society, or our associate in some endeavor that we support? We must express our thanks to those people just as much because they also enhance our lives.

We have also discussed that we must show gratitude to the person who refers someone to us, either to be a customer or a partner. If someone is introduced to us and becomes a customer, once again our fortunes are increased, and the referring person should be thanked. If the referred person becomes our networking partner, they also have enriched our life and the person who introduced us should be thanked for that.

What about the person who does something that impacts the life of someone other than our own? Shouldn’t we show some gratitude to that person also? They have not only brightened or enriched the life of another person, possibility a total stranger, but they have shown everyone else how we should all behave. These people should be noticed and acknowledged for their efforts.

Holding a door for someone, smiling when serving a meal, answering an inquiry for directions, pointing out that someone has unknowingly dropped something, and allowing someone to enter into traffic are all efforts that deserve a “thank you”. Think how we feel when no one notices our efforts to be polite to others. How would everyone’s day be better if “thank you” was expressed more? As an uninvolved observer, doesn’t this type of act make our day better?

Every day we see, participate in, and hear about acts that should invoke a “thank you” from someone. These people who take the time to make someone else’s day better should be thanked by someone. Think how much their day could be enriched if we said “thank you” to them. Think how little it would cost us.

Gratitude Marketing can make Thanksgiving every day. Just see how many times we can say “thank you” every day to everyone that we see do something for someone else. Don’t stop at those people who act to benefit us; look for those people who we do not know, who don’t directly impact our lives, except through their examples. Then say “thank you” to them in some manner, verbal or written. It will make their day and yours better than it was before you reached out.

Every day try to see how many times you can say “thank you” in a single day. How many of these can be to strangers that don’t line your pocketbook? How many of these gestures make your own day better? Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.