Vendors

As we go about our day, who else can we show gratitude to, someone that we don’t normally include in our efforts to appreciate others?

How about our vendors, those people from whom we purchase supplies, raw materials, the products and services that we use each and every day. Why not show some gratitude for them also?

What do we purchase for our businesses, what products or services? It ranges from paper, ink, our telephone service, our gasoline, to our groceries, meals, coffee, etc. Each and every day we purchase products and services that impact our lives. The purchase of those items, and how we act toward those vendors, impacts the lives of those from whom we buy everything.

Let’s take the example of the waitress or waiter from whom we purchase a meal. Perhaps we are very practiced at tipping the appropriate amount for good service. Why not thank them for their service in another manner in addition to the tip? Why not thank them with a verbal compliment for their service? Even better, why not express our compliment to their manager or superior? Telling their boss may impact their salary or their status at the establishment more than telling them directly how we feel.

Perhaps the vendors that sell us paper, ink, pens, pencils, file folders, or whatever have others to whom they sell similar products. Maybe these other customers of our vendors would like to hear about opportunities to purchase our products or services. Perhaps the same vendors from whom we purchase may be good leads for our customers.

See the networking possibilities here? Some Gratitude Marketing on our part might open up several lines of opportunity for us and for others. That’s what Gratitude Marketing is, showing a level of thankfulness and kindness to others, resulting in feedback that benefits everyone. Putting people in touch with others whom they may help, and who may help them, is what Gratitude Marketing is.

We have discussed gratitude for our customers, our prospects, our friends, and our family. Now add the vendors from whom we purchase items to this list. Then add the vendors from whom others purchase anything. All these people need, and deserve, our kindness and gratitude for their efforts as well as anyone else, as well as our prospects and clients.

When we compliment strangers we never know where it may lead. It may lead to a direct result in good will expressed toward us. On the other hand, it may lead to good will expressed toward us indirectly, from someone not connected to our initial act.

Think of this during the day. Thank the waiter or waitress that serves coffee, thank the clerk at the grocery, thank the person who holds the door as we exit or enter a building, or thank the person who gives us directions when we are lost.

When we express these thanks or compliments, be sincere. Don’t do it as a throwaway gesture. Show sincere effort and measure the words making someone feel very good about themselves and their efforts in life. Make them smile and make them feel good inside.

Gratitude Marketing is an easy way to touch others in a positive manner. Try it; everyone will like it, and positive karma will result from the effort. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.

Gratitude for Customers

For anyone who has a business, one of the most valued parts of that business is the customer base. We spend a sizable amount of time, effort, and expense in acquiring customers. It is much easier, requires less time, and costs less money for us to retain those customers rather than go looking for new ones. Why chase new customers when we can retain the ones that we already have?

How do we keep customers happy; how do we get them to value our businesses as much as we should value them as customers? We must show gratitude for their being our customers. This does not mean giving away our product or service. It means treating them in a professional, personable, and polite manner.

Everyone likes to be noticed; everyone likes it. As a child, we liked a pat on the head or shoulder; we liked to be recognized for whatever we did. Our customers are no different. Customers who believe that we care about them keep doing business with us, and they refer business to us.

When we sign a new customer, we must thank them for doing business with us, welcoming them into our customer base, and telling them that we want their feedback on our product or service. We can do this in person, by email, by telephone, or we can send them a card with the message in our own words. Do not ask them to buy anything else, or upgrade; just thank them. Thank them, and don’t ask for anything in return, but their feedback.

Second, we must thank them periodically for continuing to be our customer; again not including any offers for additional products or services. What if our product or service is truly a one-time purchase; it never wears out, or it never needs to be purchased again? Do we really want the customer think that we still don’t care about them? This brings us to the third step.

Happy customers will refer business to us. We want, and need, referrals. This is unpaid advertising. We must thank everyone who refers anyone else to us, even if we do not close the deal. The next referral from that customer might be the biggest deal we ever write. We must always ask a new customer how they knew of us or who, if anyone, referred them. This will show that we care about our customers, including when they refer someone to us.

In addition, capture every customer’s date of birth and anniversary, along with their spouse’s date of birth. Never ask for the year, just the month and day. Then send them a birthday card and an anniversary card, including both spouses in the anniversary card. Also, consider holidays which can provide an opportunity to brighten a customer’s day.

Finally, when we lose a customer (and we all do), send them a thank you for their business, and tell them how sorry we are that we will not have the pleasure of serving them in the future. If we do not know why they have left us, ask them why stopped being our customer. (It does not mean that we will change anything. We should always know why we lose a customer, even if we did nothing wrong or there was nothing else we could do to please them.)

Gratitude Marketing is a fairly easy and inexpensive way to retain our customer base. It sure is a lot easier than listening to the door slam as they leave. It also can lead to more customers through the referrals our customers will send to us. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.

Karma

Karma means that for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was influenced by the first. Furthermore, the second event will reflect the traits of the first, being pleasant or unpleasant depending on those aspects of the first. In other words, if the first event is positive, so will the second one be. If the first one is not positive, so will the second one be.

Put in common business talk, this means that if we do something nice for someone, someone will do something nice for us. The return act may not be directly an act of the person we helped, but it may be an act of someone totally disconnected from either us or the person that we helped.

In other words, if we do something nice for someone else, we will receive something good in return. On the flip side, if we fail to act in a positive manner, we will not receive a positive return act. Our negative acts will result in negative acts received by us.

From “out of the blue” something happens to us that is very pleasant, making us feel so good, validating our actions toward others. Maybe someone invites us to a new networking group, maybe someone refers new business to us, maybe we get an invitation to lunch; it can be anything.

Perhaps these things that come to us, good or bad, are the result of our marketing towards others; perhaps these things that come to us are the result of singular, spontaneous acts that we perform towards others. It does not matter if these actions by us are part of our grand plan or just our normal way of operation; they all result in return acts towards us.

Do these resulting actions come from the people that we directly impact? Not necessarily so; they can come in round-about trails of varying lengths. We may or may not receive these actions from the people that we directly impacted. The resulting actions may come from those that we “touch” directly or may come “out of the blue” from someone not even close to involvement in our daily lives.

In practicing Gratitude Marketing, and as we move through our business lives, look for opportunities to engage in better behavior towards others, not because it may result in something good for us in return, but because it is the right thing to do. In addition, it will make us feel better, in our mind and in our heart. Let this behavior be our standard mode of operation, toward everyone, at anytime.

Gratitude Marketing is the habit that entrepreneurs must add to their mindset. It makes entrepreneurs better business owners, and the resulting great karma doesn’t hurt the bottom line either. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.

Referrals

Do we know what a proper business referral is? Is it when we tell one of our partners, say Fred, about Sally, who needs whatever it is that Fred has to sell? Is it when we give to Sally one of Fred’s business cards? Is it when we tell Fred that we heard of a business, Sally’s, with which they might be able to do business?

These are not referrals. A proper referral is when we tell Sally about Fred’s business, and then give Sally all the contact information for Fred. Then we tell Fred all about why we think Sally would be interested in Fred’s business and give Fred all the contact information for Sally. We also tell each of them that we want to know what happens with the referral, and we follow up if we do not hear back.

When we hear back from Fred and Sally that they have contacted each other and have met to discuss their offerings and needs, we ask about the results of the meeting. If they actually do business with each other, that is great. If they do not do business with each other, we want to know what went wrong so that we can better gauge our referrals in the future.

We do not “sell” Fred to Sally or Sally to Fred. We recommend that they meet and discuss their needs and offerings with each other. We are not the marketing representative for either one; we are the person who puts them together so they can communicate with each other.

Of course we need to know enough about Fred and Sally so that we can make intelligent referrals to both. We also need to know that we can trust both of them to be professional, passionate about their businesses or lives, and personable towards others. We must be assured that they will treat each other professionally, even if they do not do business with each other.

How do we reach this level of trust? Referrals are a two way street. We must get to know each of them before we can refer them to each other. We must be able to trust each party and believe that they will do right by the other party in the referral. After all, it is our reputation on the line here; it will be our fault if one party does not treat the other one professionally.

Hopefully, our referrals will show to our networking partners that we are a person who is willing and is capable of making their lives better, both professionally and personally. After all, referrals can work for our personal lives also. Hopefully, our referrals will result in our networking partners passing referrals back to us also. That is the essence of karma.

We have an obligation to refer our partners to each other. Get to know them and pass referrals back and forth with them. Use their services or products as gifts to family, friends, prospects, and clients. Also, give them the gift of solid, valid referrals that will enhance their bottom line.

If we are lucky enough to get the benefit of someone’s referral, or their consultation that enhances our business, thank them, letting them know that their effort is appreciated. Then go out and pay them back with a referral, or consultation, of our own. Sometimes the best referrals that we can give may be our own business given to one of our networking partners. This is Gratitude Marketing.

Give me feedback, suggestions, and comments here. Call at 360-314-8691, so we can get together and chat, or send an email to Jim@SOC4Now.com. Maybe we can contribute our experiences to this blog. I answer my phone, or I return voice mails and emails.