The idea that ‘gratitude is a sign of weakness’ came up in an article I was reading the other day, and I’ve been giving this some thought. Some say that if we show gratitude, we’re giving power away to the other party, and that’s to be avoided. Also, if we’re too liberal with our gratitude, others might believe they could have earned it for less. I disagree; in fact, I think gratitude is an underused tool in business.
I found this article listing dozens of benefits of gratitude, and if they’re true, we should all be thanking everything that moves.
In business, customers know that they have helped you and your company. Those of us in marketing can get swept up in our own sales messages and forget this. We think that by providing a great product or service, we’re the only ones doing the helping. But it’s a two-way thing, and we should be including gratitude in as many customer interactions as we can. When we announce our company’s success, the first reaction from our customers will be: “We played a part in that.” Telling them we’re aware that’s the case surely strengthens relationships.