Here's my dirty little secret. I am terrible at expressions of gratitude.
Don't get me wrong - I'm full of gratefulness for all things associated with this creative job of mine - my retail customers, wholesale customers, wholesale orders, getting paid to make jewelry, etc., but expressing it verbally is just not one of my strengths. Saying "thanks!" should not be so hard! Of course, saying "Sorry" isn't super easy either for me either, but I digress.
I'm really good at fixing issues that arise in my business. I've gotten better at calming angry customers (which thankfully doesn't happen very often). I'm excellent at schmoozing in person, face to face, and I enjoy it! But whenever I receive an email from a happy customer expressing how pleased they are with their jewelry, I clam up. I have no idea how to thank them so I say nothing.
I even received a glowing voicemail from a happy wholesale customer - seriously it was the nicest voicemail ever. I saved it, I played it for my husband. It was so sweet. But I never called them back to say "thanks!". I felt like it was akin to sending someone a thank you card for a thank you card, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have done it!
I'm better at giving gifts to show my gratitude. My way of saying thanks is buying someone a cup of coffee, or sending them a little something. It's my love language (along with acts of service - yes I'm a bit high maintenance). Speaking of, I still haven't finished reading that book (I'm more of a Cliff's Notes person although I hear now they're called Sparks or something like that).
I don't know what's wrong with me. I need to get better about this. Do you have problems expressing gratitude? Do you have any pearls of wisdom to make it easier for me to do so? I'd be so grateful.
