Jun 18, 2008

Quick to Complain, Slow to Compliment

That's how most of us operate. We are quick to gripe and moan when things don't make us happy or go our way. But, how often do we go out of our way to pat a business on the back when they go above and beyond what we expect? I suspect most of us don't take the time to do that. I think some businesses assume the absence of complaints means their customers are satisfied. It's nice to get a compliment, though. We should make that a standard practice.

Recently, I talked about businesses going out of their way to show gratitude to customers. Today, I want to challenge consumers to show gratitude to businesses. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if everyone handed out just one or two compliments every day?

I received a very nice compliment from a member last week. She said that ScrapBiz was the only reason she actually acted on her dream to own her own business and that if we hadn't been there to encourage and support her, she probably would not be where she is today. She thanked me for building a wonderful organization. That really made my day!

Over three weeks ago, I spent a week in Florida helping my brother-in-law who was recently diagnosed with ALS. We had a great week together. Upon returning home, the very next day a BEAUTIFUL arrangment of red roses and altstroemeria (Peruvian Lily) arrived at my house while Mark and I were out. It had a lovely and touching note with it thanking me for helping him. That was 2 1/2 weeks ago. I JUST threw the flowers out today. Some of the lilys were STILL hanging in there but the roses had dried (but not dropped their heads - which is what usually happens). The arrangement lasted WAY LONGER than they usually do. I was very impressed because having worked in a flower shop in college, I know that often times SOME florists send out half-dead flowers on long-distance orders because they know the sender will probably never be around to complain.

So, today I emailed the local florist who had been randomly selected probably from an internet search and thanked them for their beautiful arrangement and superior flower quality. I will probably not hear back from them, I don't expect to, but I imagine that when that email was received, it was read out loud to all the employees and the owner walked around with a smile on her face for a while.

It took me all of 4 minutes to send that message to them.

So, my challenge to you is to thank a business or person you do business with. A few kind words go a LONG way to make someone's day. Compliments are a gift that don't cost anything to the giver, but are invaluable to the receiver!

1 comment:

Sandra @ The Memory Workshop said...

Great timing on this post. Just recently I've had some good and bad service from local businesses that absolutely blew my mind. You can read about it on my blog.

The crazy thing is...it wasn't an isolated incident. The disappointment from the bad experiences made me appreciate the pleasantly surprising GOOD experiences that much more.