Have you ever received a “thank you,” that made you feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy and you had to tell people that you were having an allergy attack so they wouldn’t know you got all teary?
Have you ever received a “thank you” that felt weird and awkward, like when you were 9 and your mom forced you to give some distant family member you barely knew a hug because they bought you a Barbie for your birthday?
There’s a big difference between the two, right? Today, we’ll focus on how to express your gratitude, sincerely and genuinely– to your clients and colleagues.
Showing your gratitude to not only clients, but photographers, directors, talent, and other colleagues can go a long way in helping to keep you memorable, favorable, and recommendable. Deciding when to express your gratitude is a matter of who your client is and when will make the most impact, yet still be sincere. Here are some quirky and fun ideas to say, “thanks!” to your clients and colleagues:
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| Gail, here, is winning for neatest hand-writing on the planet. Photo swiped from Pinterest. |
The Handwritten Thank You Note
It’s old school, but it has a major impact. These can go to your brides, private event clients, photographers, models, directors — whoever hired you onto that project. Could you send a quick email? Yep. Does it have the same impact as a hand-written note? Not really. Think you can’t send a hand-written note because your handwriting looks like a blindfolded toddler wearing potholders wrote it? Never fear! You can hire people with great, legible handwriting to fill your cards out for you. Craigslist, Upwork, even Fiverr.com all have people who are willing to do this for mere cents per note. Hey– maybe hit up your mom. Moms have the best handwriting.
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| Stand out by sending a customer appreciation card on a holiday you didn’t even know existed! Photo: www.greetingcarduniverse.com. |
Send a Card– But Not When They’d Think You Would
Clients expect a holiday card around the holidays. If you send one when every other wedding vendor, family member, or friend is sending a card, yours is likely to get buried or overlooked. Sending a card on their “
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| Photo: dreamstime.com |
Free Education
If you have a subscriber database through a service like MailChimp, ConstantContact, or AWeber, you can send your subscribers a short pdf that helps them learn something new or gives them
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| It’s an army of cute! Photo swiped from Pinterest. These are Nature Republic Friends Hand Cream. |
Small Gifts
Presents, generally, go over well with everyone! Sending your clients a sheet mask, hand cream, or lip balm along with your handwritten note, can be a great gesture. For me personally, the cuter the design, the happier I am. Who can resist a hand cream shaped like panda bear!?
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| Guys! It’s cookie monster macarons EATING COOKIES!! Photo Credit: www.sumpocky.com |
You don’t have to limit these kinds of gifts to cosmetics. You could also send cookies or some other dietetically naughty confection your clients will hide from their kids. 🙂 A bride once sent me a handmade mini banana bread as a thank you for her wedding services. I thought that was great! I also ate that whole thing before my husband or son could get their grubby hands on it.
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| Image: Ramy |
Vouchers
If you’re careful about it, sending your clients a voucher for a free service can boost your business. I will reiterate — be smart about this one. Don’t go ham and send every client you had in 2012 a voucher for a free application just because you got all the feels around the holidays and wanted to thank them for their business. (Not that I would know …. ) On the other hand, if you send them a gift of free individual lashes when they book a makeup service …. well, now we’re bringing in more services, gifting the client a small service so we don’t lose money, and still expressing how much we appreciate their business.
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| Photo: iStockphoto |
Donate to Charity in Their Name
If you’re making good conversation during your consultations or sessions with clients, you can get some great notes that will tell you if this would make a great gift for this client. For
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Throw a Party
If you have a great network of clients and colleagues and you’re the party-throwing type, you can organize a celebration with
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| Who remembers Care Bear Cousin, Loyal Heart Dog? I suppose this means I’m old. Photo: Posole |
Create a Loyalty Program
Rewarding your clients for their loyalty is a win/win. Repeat clients are key to keeping busy, so when you get them, reward that loyalty by giving them a (manageable) discount after so many services or a referral. Loyalty programs work best when they are an experience, making it fun for clients to advance to the next level. Come up with fun and interesting ways for clients to earn rewards in addition to just services/product = points.
Other Things You Can Do On The Regular:
If a client makes a suggestion and you change something in your
Giving your clients a shout out on social media is a great small gesture to show your gratitude. Doing this randomly, at an unexpected time is even more effective!
No matter what methods you choose to show your gratitude, make sure you show it, somehow. Without clients, we’d have no work and each job is truly a blessing in the path to living your dream — even the commercial where you had to listen to “What Does The Fox Say” 30 times because the talent was 5-years-old or the bridal party that all had hangovers — yes, even those jobs. 🙂 Always express your gratitude, sincerely and genuinely, and it’ll come back to you in the long-run.
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