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It’s time to take thankfulness to the next level

We get to the latter half of November and brands start spinning up their thankfulness/gratitude messages. Don’t get me wrong. I think it's great that a brand pauses to express its gratitude. Whether that’s to their customers, team members, or partners (or all of the above). We need more gratitude in our world. But if you’re sending out a lone thankfulness message in November, you’re missing a bigger opportunity.

What gratitude can do

Gratitude can provide a boost for everyone from your clients and prospects to your own team members. Here are a few things gratitude can do for you.

  • It refocuses you - when you express gratitude you focus more on those you hope to serve and less on yourself. That is incredibly appealing to your clients and prospects.

  • It helps build trust - when a brand expresses genuine gratitude, it fosters authenticity. That authenticity helps you establish trust with your clients and prospects.

  • It creates emotional connections - genuine gratitude can elicit an emotional response from those you hope to serve. We all know that creating emotional connections with clients and prospects is invaluable for building loyalty and even brand advocacy.

  • It builds good juju with your team - showing gratitude demonstrates to your team members what you believe is important. Things like honesty and thankfulness. All those traits are appreciated as much by your own people as they are by your clients and prospects.

Gratitude needs to be incorporated more than once a year

Those you hope to serve will feel good about your late November gratitude message. But imagine extending that feeling all year long. What would that look like?

One of the simplest ways to show gratitude is to deliver great information and tools that help your prospects solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.

I do work with an architectural metals company that has a history of creating incredibly useful posts for those they serve (architects, owners, and designers). It’s not sales bluster or promotional hype. It’s great insights that can help these people accomplish their goals. In addition, the company creates interactive tools that allow their prospects to model how the products could come to life for their projects. It’s this kind of commitment to giving back that I would categorize as gratitude. After all, you don’t see an immediate return for this giving. But it does result in clients and prospects who hold you in a little higher esteem. Because you demonstrate your appreciation for the challenges they face.

I’ve also worked with a bank in the past that made it part of their purpose to help people work towards financial well-being. It would have been easy for the bank to just focus on their own financial performance and go on. But it truly appreciated its customers. So it created a plethora of great information on how to buy your first home, how to get yourself out of debt, and much more. It would be easy to look at this kind of appreciation for those you hope to serve and say there is no immediate ROI. And again, you would be missing the bigger picture of what demonstrating gratitude can do.

The next level

The great news about taking your gratitude to the next level is that you probably already have the knowledge and insights that can fuel it.

Here’s a starting point. Think about what your prospects really need. Or think about the biggest problem they struggle with (that you can credibly help them address). Now, brainstorm some ideas that you could share with them that would make their lives easier or alleviate the struggle. Maybe you’ll even dream up an online calculator, a reference resource, or some other tool that they would find invaluable.  

I’m betting that you could come up with something that does more than express your gratitude to those you hope to serve. I’m betting that you could come up with something that demonstrates your gratitude for them.