Saying Thank You

I am writing this week about two small words that seem to be disappearing out of the business world.  “Thank you”.  Many suppliers and retailers take their customers for granted.  Looking for opportunities to thank your customers will reap large rewards in the future for very little effort.  Those two words breed amazing loyalty and help build business relationships, yet how little they seem to be used today.

For example,  I know my sales team sell more products within our range from those suppliers which thank them for their efforts.  Being grateful and supportive creates an emotional deposit within them so (consciously or subconsciously) they are more determined to get those products on the shelves when they are in front of customers.

One of our new suppliers (Besmoke) has recently gone much further than many older suppliers by offering a free holiday to the sales person selling most of his smoked garlic before the end of March!  Although the feel-good factor has been instilled by simply making the offer – win or lose.

Another example comes at Christmas.  I am amazed at how few suppliers send Christmas gifts any longer.  When I started the business 10 years ago, I used to receive a few presents from suppliers.  These days we are lucky if we get 2 or 3 from out of 100 suppliers.  It doesn’t take much, just a small token is enough to make us feel all the effort is worthwhile – and please don’t send one of your own products, I have a warehouse full of them!  As we are currently well over two months from Christmas, hopefully any suppliers reading this won’t feel too much pressure!

On the opposite side, occasionally suppliers can take actions that can achieve completely the reverse effect i.e. the opposite of saying “Thank you”.  When these things happen it feels like a punch to the stomach – and makes one feel like you are banging your head against a brick wall.  I had this feeling last Friday when finding out that three of our suppliers have started supplying a new national wholesaler that has started up less than 10 miles down the road.  If it were the case that we weren’t performing with these supplier’s products I could understand this – although it would have been courteous to talk to me first.  However, with these three suppliers we are, on average, more than 35% up year on year – not bad in a recession!  So even more of a kick to the groin than it would have been otherwise.

In trying to reverse the lack of gratitude culture, as a small way of saying thank you to our customers, we have launched a reward scheme and this is the week that customers are issued with their first points that can be spent on a rewards website.  They can buy anything from DVDs to days out or holidays to health days.  The rewards are based on amount of money spent with us but also the growth year on year with us, so there is as much potential for small and large customers.  Some customers are receiving up to £150 this quarter whereas others £10, but even £10, I hope, will make them feel that little bit more special to us than their other suppliers!

Have a rewarding week!