By Garry Hojan
By the time this goes out you may have already arranged your customer appreciation for the holiday season, so I’ll speak to last minute ideas as well as the topic in general for future appreciation ideas.
A quick Google search will give you a barrage of ideas for customer appreciation, mostly gifts. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Most of my clients, and myself included at times, will usually send something like a gift basket and a card. It’s very normal to do this type of thing to show a token of appreciation.
We can deepen the meaning of our appreciation by putting effort into matching gift baskets, or any gift, to a specific client’s interests. Got a football fan? How about a gift basket with their team related merch.
It doesn’t require gifts to show our genuine appreciation. Take that pre-printed company Christmas card and add a personally hand written note that shows you specifically remember something about this client, this translates into showing genuine caring and effort. It also separates you from the “normal”.
It’s difficult to do this all at once for say 700 clients, but pick one, or a half dozen, and let them know you were personally thinking about them. This can even be done in an evening and sent a few days before Christmas and still get there in time. Even if the card with the note arrives late, the sentiment of appreciation is not lost.
Of course being able to do this requires that we take genuine interest in our clients relationally versus transactionally.
Transactionally we can host customer appreciation events, create a loyalty program, always provide excellent customer service, acknowledge their feedback, and occasionally offer discounts or special promotions as a “thank you” gesture; essentially, make them feel valued and prioritize their experience with your business.
You can also include customers in your social media, highlighting appreciation for a particular customer and what that customer offers as a business.
Along the same lines you can refer business to your clients. This shows a practical value of confidence in them that they’ll appreciate as well.
I make a point of setting calendar reminders of gratitude. It helps me to be intentional in thinking of how grateful I am for my clients and what they do.
Need help with customer relationship building? Let’s chat! My direct cell is 208-627-2565.
