Bigger ways to show joyful appreciation to your customers

This week we’re talking about showing appreciation to customers by spreading joy to them in bigger ways.

Remember a good old-fashioned phone call from a real human being? This concept is starting to disappear in our society. With more texting, emails, and the occasional “robo/telemarketing/scam” call, sadly, talking to someone on the phone is not as great as it used to be. Thank-a-thons can bring that positivity back!

A thank-a-thon involves a group of people such as staff or board members from an organization or business making phone calls of appreciation to customers. Everyone usually calls five to 10 customers with a short script that goes something like this:

“Hello, Joe? This is Amy from ABC. We wanted to take a minute today to call and personally thank you for your recent donation/purchase/visit with us. It’s already making such a difference and we appreciate you very much.”

Then, they stop talking. Chances are that your customer will be flabbergasted, in a good way, if you reach them versus their voicemail!

How about having a business owner, manager, director, or someone else in a high position call and thank a customer occasionally? Can you imagine how good that would make someone feel to have, for example, a founder of a company call them and share their appreciation for a minute?

No matter who makes that call, even if it just goes to voicemail, it may be a welcome relief to hear and it might make someone’s day. People won’t soon forget your sincere phone call of appreciation!

Just like with staff members, another way to show appreciation to customers is through food. And what’s better than breakfast – the most important meal of the day! Spread the word on social media, email, newsletters, or other avenues that you’re hosting a free annual “grab and go” breakfast to thank your customers.

Keep things simple by serving a variety of bagels, coffee, juice, tea, and fruit. Host it in an easy, accessible location where customers can park, stay and chat awhile if they like, or simply grab a bag and their favorite morning beverage and be on their way.

Finally, here’s something that makes a big visual impact – if you frequently see your customers throughout the day, why not create a wall of fame” showing off a customer of the month? You can select a customer of the month for numerous reasons.

As we end this topic of thanking customers by bringing them joy, just remember, like all the steps discussed in this series, to take things one at a time when exploring new ways to show appreciation to customers.

If you’ve never gone above and beyond to thank your customers, start slowly with one or two new methods. Divide and conquer as well – many of these can be done by several different employees. Some methods might appeal to one type of employee more than others.

Be prepared as you slowly build your arsenal of appreciation, however, to increase your business like nothing you’ve ever done before; begin to feel incredibly warm and fuzzy; gain an unbelievable number of new customers; and leave a lasting impression upon your existing customers that will have them remembering you fondly for years to come!

We’ll wrap up our joy at work series next week. In the meantime, have a glorious Fourth of July!

Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.