The Power of Acknowledgement

Last week I purchased some sachets of electrolytes from a company called Healf. It was the third time I’ve purchased from Healf. I made my purchase, a box arrived a couple of days later, transaction completed. Customer orders products, company sends product, customer receives product. End of story … or so I thought.?

Then this morning I received an envelope in the post. It was one of those envelopes I get occasionally with a handwritten name and address and an actual stamp on it. I always open those envelopes first.?

Inside the envelope was a post card from Healf. It said …?

‘Dear Peter, I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for placing another order with us. As a small business it truly means a lot and we’re so grateful for you investing in your health with us. If you have any questions or anything further we can do for you, please reach out to me personally. With healf, Max, Founder.’

A simple acknowledgement, nicely worded and packaged and suddenly this is much more than just a transaction for me. This simple acknowledgement made an impact. Firstly, I felt appreciated. It also resulted in me sharing the details of the acknowledgement with over 1,000 people who are subscribed to my newsletter. I also took a photo of the post card shared it with my coaching mastermind and my assistant Jo as a great example of customer astonishment. I even sent Max at Healf a quick email to thank him for the post card and let him know how it impacted me.

I’ll be buying my electrolytes with Healf for the foreseeable future. I’ll probably tell many more people about Healf and recommend them.

For me this isn’t just a story about Healf or electrolytes or a post card. It’s not even a story about great customer service. For me it goes much deeper. For me this is really a story about the power of acknowledgement.

Healf didn’t need to say anything. I was already a customer and would probably have remained a customer. But this simple acknowledgment changed things. As I learned from my coach Ankush Jain, our ‘language creates’. It seems to me that we live in a world that is characterised more by judgement and criticism than by love and understanding, more by what separates and divides us than by what connects us. In this world I am finding that simple acknowledgements can be very powerful. In this case a simple acknowledgement changed the relationship between a business and a customer.?

Simple acknowledgments can change the environment in any relationship, personal or professional. I’ve been playing with this recently in different situations.?

I was in a restaurant for a special occasion. The service was excellent, and the food was particularly good. My bill came with an automatic 10% service charge. When the waiter brought the card machine I asked if I could change the amount of tip. His expression changed to one of concern and he asked if something was wrong. I told him our experience had been superb and would it be possible to double it. The expression on his face changed to surprise then delight.?

Another example was when my car was in due for an MOT while I was on holiday. The guy in the service department at the garage I use went out of his way to have me leave the car with him and arranged for it to be taken for the MOT while I was away. I was delighted and when I was picking the car up, I acknowledged how he had gone out of his way to help me and asked for an email address for his boss so I could tell them about the service I had received. He was delighted.?

It's so much fun for me now to look out for opportunities to acknowledge people and watch their reaction. It’s also interesting to see how the same people behave towards me in future interactions. It’s not the reason I acknowledge anyone, but I think because people are so used to criticism, when someone receives an acknowledgment, it almost always changes something between the giver and the receiver in a good way.

Where is there an opportunity for you to play with this and powerfully acknowledge people for what they do for you that makes your life better? Your husband, your wife, your son or daughter. A friend or relative. The person who makes you a great coffee or meal or packs your groceries. The person on your team who really delivers on a project.?

What if we didn’t just take the view, ‘they did what they were meant to’ or ‘they did their job’ and started to look for ways to acknowledge people and transform the relationships we have everywhere in our lives? Instead of focusing on what people do that we don’t like, what if we started to use the language of acknowledgment to shine a spotlight on what people do that is good and positive and great and amazing.

Try it out … it’s fun … and the outcomes you create will amaze and delight you.