Random Acts Of Kindness

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Random Acts of Kindness can be a great way to engage your employees and create fans of your customers.

Lots of research about employee engagement shows that the more connected they are to the customer the better they feel about their job. It stands to reason, if you feel you are helping people, you have a sense of purpose and a sense of worth.

Random Acts of Kindness can be a great way to encourage employees to delight customers. Not only that, they show your brand as human rather than corporate, caring about your customers.

In an age of Facebook and twitter where brand reputation can be destroyed with the #fail hashtag, a small kindness can make a huge difference, and people can quickly and easily pass it on.

As Jeff Bezos from Amazon puts it

"If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends"

A random act of kindness is something people talk about..... and tweets about, and blogs about....

What is a random act of kindness?

It's an action carried out by one individual to help or cheer up another.

It's the sort of thing that leaves everyone with a smile on their face - giving or receiving.



Let me give you an example. It had been a bad start to our holiday. I caught the flu and had a temperature of 103 and couldn't lift my head off the pillow.

Let me give you an example

It had been a bad start to our holiday. I caught the flu, had a temperature of 103 and couldn't lift my head off the pillow.

A doctor's visit to the hotel ( thank goodness for trip insurance ) got me mobile for the next trip of our holiday. Although a Bourbon tour of Kentucky isn't great when you're taking antibiotics.

My birthday soon arrived, but it was on a Sunday and there was only one restaurant open in the local area, we hadn't booked, and we hoped we could get in.

When we arrived, we had to wait some time, and they were looking very busy it didn't look hopeful. When they said they would find us a table, my husband's relief was palpable, as he commented to the waiter "That's good news, it's my wife's birthday"

We had a lovely meal, and when it came to dessert, a great debate ensured but we opted to share a slice of lemon pie ( if you are ever in the Shaker Village near Harrodsburg, Kentucky I'd highly recommend it - the best I've tasted )

It arrived with a candle, and a simple "Happy Birthday, the pie is on me tonight, I hope you enjoy it"

Such a simple thing, but it bought a tear to my eye...... and a good tip for the waiter. But more importantly, I smile every time I think about it. He felt good about himself, and he knew he had done a good thing.

How can random acts of kindness improve customer service?

What kinds of acts are appropriate for your business?

How can you help make your customers feel special?

Could empowering your people with random acts of kindness help reduce and handle complaints within your business?

These simple questions can create a great debate in your customer service training.

Find more customer service training ideas by clicking on the links below