Company Blog

The Art of Thought

by Adam Zack — July 1, 2015

Shining gold gift box Is being thoughtful a natural gift, or a determined choice of action? The most wonderful people I know are the most thoughtful. They are the ones that listen to the things unsaid. They pay attention when most people don’t. They store little bits of information in their brain of things that are important to others and remember them at just the right times. They give gifts that you really want and appreciate. They do things for no reason at all, like make you a copy of a CD (yes, a lot of us still do listen to CDs) and say something like “I know you like The Smiths, so I made you a mix CD of their best songs.” Thoughtfulness is the by-product of people who really, truly care. They do it because it makes them feel good to make you feel good.

Just like thoughtful people, some of the most successful businesses are the most thoughtful. That doesn’t mean that they sacrifice profit just to be nice. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They are able to achieve consistent, rewarding profit margins because they are thoughtful to their customers, their vendors and their employees.

I had the pleasure of running a market over the last 4 years that did incredible sales volume. We served over 15,000 customers a week out of a 12,000 foot store. So when the holidays rolled around, we identified our top 100 customers who spent the most money AND we identified the top 100 customers by frequency – Single people who came in every day. Students. Employees of nearby businesses that maybe didn’t spend as much, but who were everyday supporters. We hand addressed cards, assembled a very cool assortment of foods and put them in a gift box. We hand delivered every one to their homes. They were astounded. No business had ever thanked them for their loyalty, let alone delivered a gift to them! We spent maybe $3,000 total for customers that represented almost $3 million in sales per year. It was a thoughtful way to take care of our owners and customers. Their loyalty was further cemented, word of mouth was on fire, and sales continued their torrid pace. And then we did the same thing with a different gift 6 months later when they least expected it. They think we are pretty thoughful.