Thank you

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Just over two years ago I posted about a ’lost cat’ poster stapled to trees in my neighbourhood, but a poster with a difference… this was a ‘cat found’ poster saying thank you to everyone who had helped recover the treasured pet.

Sometimes in business it’s too easy to think that the value exchange, where I give you what you want in exchange for what I want, is the be all and end all… the customer has the product or service they were looking for, and we get money (or other currency, like attention).

But every business must strive for a relational rather than transactional customer, moving the focus from the once-off purchase to the lifetime value of the customer and the network of friends and family he / she might bring with them; so emotion comes into it, not just economic arithmetic.

Moreover, perhaps the transaction doesn’t complete. I always check my shed to make sure I haven’t locked the latest lost cat in there – and whilst I wasn’t directly responsible for returning the cat in question above, I was thanked anyway.

Do you say “thank you”? If you do, do you do so in a way that’s believable? Authentic? Or in a “have a nice day” automated sort of fashion that communicates no emotion whatsoever and just constitutes pollution?

I have a hypothesis that only those that are passionate about what they do and what they sell can find genuine feeling when conveying their thanks. And I look for this enthusiasm when considering my lifetime patronage of a cafe, bank, web host and, well, everything.

Thank you.

Thank you for your attention, to this Friday Roundup and the previous 160 or so!

Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team.

Thank-You on Philip Sheldrake

Thank you