Practicing Random Acts Of Thoughtfulness

I spoke to a former client of mine last week who owns an International Sales Company. He has owned his company for over twenty years and has built his company up from working out of his basement to having offices worldwide.

We spoke about how he has built a highly successful sales force by doing what he encourage them to do with their customers, showing them that he cares about them as individuals.

Mike makes it a daily practice to do something nice for others, something they are not expecting. It may be something they are not expecting. It may be emailing 25 or 30 notes of encouragement to sales directors, or may be a half dozen phone calls to give someone a needed boost.

When they get over the shock of hearing from the president and CEO, he tells them, "I just called to see how you are." He tries to find something to compliment them about.

He told me that, once when telegrams were in vogue, he sent out 25 telegrams, and all he said was, "Congratulations!" and signed them, "Mike." Every one of the recipients called to ask, "How did you know?" "I didn't know anything, I was experimenting, but nearly every person can find one reason why you would be calling to congratulate them."

Mike says the payback from such random acts of thoughtfulness increases exponentially. "It's amazing how quickly word gets around," he said "You call 10 people and they tell 50 others."

Does it work? Fortune magazine says, "When somebody takes an interest in your it feels good. The 325,000 consultants try to treat their customers the same way, remembering their birthdays, sending them little notes, showing they're interested, That's what sells their products.

"It makes me feel good too," Mike said. "Many of them say, "You know, after you talked to me, I decided I'm going to go for broke. I'm going to do it!"