We all like to think we are good at saying “thank you” and giving praise. But it’s hard. We get wrapped up in day-to-day activities, and sometimes, it just gets away from us. But it’s so important to make sure people feel appreciated! Employees are more likely to stay where they feel appreciated…and so do customers. As a matter of fact, 69% of customers that leave you, say they leave you because of “perceived indifference.” That’s right, nearly 70% of your customers leave because they just don’t think you care! But how do you know you are saying “thank you” in a way that matters? Here are 3 tips to make the recognition (whether for employees or customers) stand out. Make It Personal: Whether it is your customer or your employee (or whoever) your people want to know the “thank you” really comes from you. If you are an employer, make your recognition public by making a big deal at a company meeting. If you want to thank a customer, take after one of my rock star customers McWane Ductile. They create custom awards (more on that in a moment) and get them in the hands of their sales team. Their sales team then takes the awards to personally present them to their best customers. They could mail them…but they choose to make it personal and get that one extra “touch.” Make it Custom: When you can, it’s amazing to create an award that is “just for them.” McWane wanted to create an award that recognized their top volume customers. So we worked together to create an award that incorporated their new branding AND called out the customer by name. This award was larger than life and really stood out to biggest customers. Make it Public: The final step in taking recognition to the next level is to make it public. McWane does this by creating an award that is perfect for public display. This has several benefits. First, it’s a constant reminder of the appreciation they want to show for their clients. And because it’s such a nice piece, it catches the customer’s eye on a regular basis. Second, it gives credibility to McWane’s customer! Anyone visiting them sees they are a big deal to be getting awards of this magnitude. Finally, it’s a nice marketing piece. Though this is not the purpose of the award, it creates a constant reminder of the relationship between McWane and their customer. It’s recognition done right. If you want more information on creating a custom recognition program, contact us here. If you want to shop online, feel free to click here to check out our site.
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