Do You Make it Easy For Your Customers to Give Compliments?

Sitting in the reception of Central & Cecil Housing Association, one of our clients, I flicked through the information leaflets. Alongside the pamphlet on how to make a complaint was a more unusual one – a Compliments Guide. Yes, Central & Cecil had taken the trouble to create a guide to how let their people know when they’d done well.

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I thought this was a fabulous idea. That night happened to be the Governing Body of the school I chair. And, as we discussed how to clarify the Complaints Policy for parents, I passed on the suggestion. Let’s make it easy for parents to tell the school when people have done well too. Our hard-working teachers and staff deserve that positive feedback.

I was reminded of this when I saw a tweet just now from Shawn Achor on people who phone up to give compliments to New York City taxi drivers

So think about it. How easy is it for your customers to let you know when you’ve done well? What can you do to ensure your people get the praise they deserve?

Praise at Happy

As a training business, we get daily feedback. And we are careful to phrase the questions so we hear what we’ve done well as well as what we need to change. Here are some of my favourites from recent weeks (all of which go directly to the trainer):

‘Who knew Excel training could actually be enjoyable!?’
Iona Bergius, NSPCC, Excel 2007/10 – Core Level 2

‘Wonderful experience, the time flew by as the Powerpoint course by Ed was so interesting… Thank you!’
Maureen Nichols, The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, IT Apprenticeship: Powerpoint 2007

‘The course was great and when Meera realised I was competent in Visio she offered me tips on the rest of the Microsoft office programs! Excellent’
Sheri Skinner, Catch 22, MS Visio 2010 Essentials

‘The best catering I have ever had on a course!’
Caroline Knapp, London Deanery, Excel 2003 – Core Level 2

‘The best course I’ve been on in 20 years!’
Lisa Waterman, Haig Homes, Excel 2003 – Core Level 1

‘My computer skills have improved dramatically since I started this course. Brilliant training centre.’
Frances Ditroia, Childcare Business Consultancy Services, IT Apprenticeship: Word 2007

‘Your approach to learning is the most innovative I have come across, the structure of their course kept my attention all day and the teaching was fantastic.’
Ellie Kent-Plummer, London Deanery, Excel 2003 – Core Level 3

Related blogs

A Radical Idea: Try Listening to your Customer – What does really listening to your customers look like? This blog explores the value of truly hearing your feedback.
3 Ways to Improve your Active Listening Skills – Listening well is a skill. We have some tips for you in this blog.
6 Tips for Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback – Learning how to give and accept feedback is a crucial skill if you are wanting to develop. This blog gives you some great tips on both giving and receiving constructive feedback.

Learn the 10 core principles to create a happy and productive workplace in Henry Stewart's book, The Happy Manifesto.

Support your aspiring and current managers to be empowering and confident leaders with Happy

Happy offers leadership programmes at Level 3, Level 5 and Level 7, from new managers/supervisor level all the way up to senior leadership teams and CEOs. These programmes are based on the ideas of trusting your people. They are practical and based on applying what yo’ve learnt. We aim to inspire and ignite change in your organisation, as well as giving you valuable management skills such as business strategy, decision-making, negotiation and project management.

We also offer programmes tailored specifically to people from Global Majority backgrounds. The content is the same, but have been designed to give new and experienced managers the skills they need to navigate organisational culture with a clearer perspective on their own potential, as well as building their confidence and expanding their professional strengths.

Henry Stewart

Henry is founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy Ltd, originally set up as Happy Computers in 1987. Inspired by Ricardo Semler’s book Maverick, he has built a company which has won multiple awards for some of the best customer service in the country and being one of the UK’s best places to work.

Henry was listed in the Guru Radar of the Thinkers 50 list of the most influential management thinkers in the world. “He is one of the thinkers who we believe will shape the future of business,” explained list compiler Stuart Crainer.

His first book, Relax, was published in 2009. His second book, the Happy Manifesto, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for Business Book of the Year.

You can find Henry on LinkedIn and follow @happyhenry on Twitter.