It’s Thanksgiving! It’s the coolest holiday of the year to me. I love Thanksgiving. Food, family, you name it. It’s a time to be thankful.
But I want to challenge you on the way that you’re thankful, and I want to give you some things to think about during this holiday season – the kickoff to the holiday season, Thanksgiving. (or is it now Halloween?)
I don’t want you to just be thankful for things. I also want you to thank. Thank people. Not be thankful for something, rather be thankful for someone. And don’t thank them by email and don’t give some insincere Thanksgiving card to people and think you’ve gotten away with it.
You thank people on the phone if they’re far away. Not with a voicemail but person-to-person. If they’re far away that’s sometimes the only way you can thank them. And you thank people in-person if they’re in your marketplace or in your area.
Here’s a list of people to be thankful for and to personally thank:
• Your customers. Without them you’d have no money.
• Your co-workers because without them there would be no team or family of people to help your customers win.
• The people of influence in your life because those are the people that have actually created the atmosphere for you to become successful.
• Your prospective customers. Thank them for the opportunity.
• Your vendors. They’re the people who have actually made it happen in your business.
• Your close business friends because they’re the ones that have given you the referrals.
• And then there’s family. Start with your extended family, the big picture of who your family is all the way out there to those distant relatives.
• Then thank each member of your immediate family. You know the ones who really mean a lot to you. The ones you really love.
And around your Thanksgiving table, prepare a short talk about the gratefulness and the gratitude that you have for all the people that surround you. Tell them how you really feel. Use the words “love” and “appreciate.” Thank each one personally for something that happened, or something they did for you, or something you learned from them during the past year.
Thanking other people for something makes them feel great – but it makes you feel better than great.
Here’s the secret: Early in the morning on Thanksgiving Day, begin the day by thanking yourself. Go in the bathroom, look into mirror, and thank yourself.
Be thankful for the lessons that you’ve learned, the successes that you’ve had, and the issues that you’ve had to overcome during the year. Be thankful for your family. And while I recognize some people in your family are closer than others, on this day be thankful for all of them. And be extra thankful for the ones that you really share genuine love with.
Thanksgiving is not a holiday, and it certainly isn’t the day before Black Friday, and it definitely isn’t three days before Cyber Monday.
Thanksgiving is your day. A celebration day. A family day. It’s the day where you come to the realization of who you are and how thankful you are. A day to celebrate who you have become. And a day to acknowledge others who have helped you become who you are.
And for all of you who are reading this, I’m thankful and grateful for you, my customer. Thank you for your contribution to my business success and thank you for your loyalty, your continued loyalty, to my message.
I’m going to make you a promise. 2015 is going to be an amazing year. All you have to do is show up and work hard. Give thanks for that. Celebrate that.
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of 12 bestselling books including The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude, and 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling. His real-world ideas and content are also available as online courses at www.GitomerVT.com. For information about training and seminars visit www.Gitomer.com or www.GitomerCertifiedAdvisors.com, or email Jeffrey personally at salesman@gitomer.com.
