As we return to work after observing the Thanksgiving holiday, I have a ‘thank you’ challenge for you to implement this week. One of my former sales leaders during my time with Marriott International, Michael Beardsley, had a great idea that he used to challenge the sales organization to implement. He asked us to call all of our customers ‘just to say thanks’. Do not ask them for anything…just say thanks.

I encourage you to try this exercise with your customers. Please set aside time this week to call your top customers and just say ‘thank you’. Thank you for your business, thank you for sending me your RFP, thanks for agreeing to work with me, meet with me, etc. and…nothing else. This is not a call to ask for anything…just to say thanks. After the initial shock wears off, you will be amazed at the reaction of your customer (it may even come in a phone call or email later in the week).

After you put this idea into action, please send me a quick note sharing what happened. I want to share the results with Mike so he knows that his simple idea still works over ten years later.

My thank you call to each of you is…thanks for following my blog.