A note from Deb: As Chief Gift Officer at Indy City Gifts, I have a pretty great job—sending thank you gifts every single day. But the best thank you gifts of all are hearing other people praise the companies I work with year-around. Take a minute to read the story below and learn more about the hidden pay-off of having an Attitude of Gratitude.
When was the last time a customer publicly thanked you for excellent work?
With social media regularly being used to pick, praise, or punish companies, it has truly become the lifeblood of many businesses. So when a customer reaches out to their friends on Facebook to share a positive review, it’s possible that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are seeing it.
That’s what recently happened to Jon Chapman of Chapman Custom Baths. After completing a bathroom remodeling job, Chapman had Indy City Gifts send his customer a “thank you for doing business with us” gift. This customer saw the gift as one more example of a job well done by Chapman’s company and immediately posted her own thank you along with a photo of the gift in the newly remodeled bathroom for all of her friends to see.
Soon two other friends, who also had their own bathrooms remodeled by Chapman, chimed in to share their positive experiences—can you even guess the advertising value of three positive reviews on Facebook? As valuable as it is to have so much free publicity, that’s not why Chapman makes a point of sending thank you gifts.
“We get a lot of work from Facebook,” says Chapman. “When I send a gift, I don’t care if they call me back or recognize me on Facebook. I’m just sending it to say, ‘thank you for putting your faith in us.’ I’m not after anything. We know that without our customers we couldn’t do what we do.”
Chapman shared that same sentiment with his customers on Facebook saying, “Without our customers like you guys, we wouldn’t have a business. I appreciate every job we get, big or small, it doesn’t matter. It takes every job we get to run our business and we couldn’t be happier than working with a great bunch of folks like you.”
So does he get more business because he sends out thank you gifts? Chapman doesn’t know because it isn’t something he tracks. “I’m not looking to shake up the world; we’re doing our job the best we can. I’m looking for Deb to do the same when she sends a gift basket and if we get a job out of it because we said thank you to a customer, that’s great.”
Jon Chapman’s authentic Attitude of Gratitude guides his business every single day and shines through to his customers who feel appreciated and valued throughout the process. They, in turn, recommend him to their friends as a contractor who can be trusted—the hidden pay-off to Chapman’s very real appreciation of those who do business with him.
What is an Attitude of Gratitude?
If you’d like to read more about an Attitude of Gratitude, check out “The Gratitude Jar” by Josie Robinson or “Living in Gratitude” by Angeles Arrien. If you’d like to express your Attitude of Gratitude, give Deb at Indy City Gifts a call, she’ll help you strike just the right note to make your customers feel appreciated and valued—they’ll want to tell all their friends about your company. We’ll see you on Facebook!
