[IMGCAP(1)]Good manners were instilled in me at an early age. I couldn’t have anything without a please or a thank you. It wasn’t until I started my first job that I realized how important it was here, too.
Showing appreciation toward my colleagues helped build trust and respect. Showing appreciation with our referral sources helped encourage more proactive referrals, and showing appreciation with our clients was just good business.
Yes, technically most of the things we ask for are part of our jobs and yes, our clients pay for the services we provide, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t show appreciation. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, I leave you with these 10 ideas for giving thanks year round:
1. Call a client after you complete your service(s) and say thank you.
2. Hand deliver as many client gifts as possible and thank them in person.
3. Give back to a clients or COIs charity or attend an event with them.
4. Give an employee unexpected time off that doesn’t come out of PTO, especially if they just put in a lot of hours.
5. Recognize when an employee goes above and beyond and tell them you appreciate them.
6. Provide small gift cards to your managers and encourage them to provide them to staff as a thank you for a job well done. Do the same for the staff and allow them to reward their managers or partners.
7. Send a hand-written card (outside of the holidays or birthdays) and say thank you.
8. Proactively make introductions for your COIs.
9. Do something unexpected for a client, COI or employee that interests them.
10. Say, write, text, tweet, post, update: THANK YOU!
Thank you to those that read my blog and have taken the time to comment on my posts here. I encourage you to thank at least one employee, client or COI each day.
Sarah Johnson is the chief growth strategist with
