Gratitude, Schmatitude

Waiting to see the first corporation to use \”BITE ME!\” as a slogan. Of course, if it is a donut company, that might work. Takes care of the false gratitude and is the call to action all wrapped into one.

Cheers for this John, I’m really grateful 🙂

I thought I was the only one who felt like throwing up every time I seem to hear these days how grateful all these big companies are as they rip me off

John — loved the insight, “Take whatever the guy says, and figure the opposite is true.”

It always creeps me out when a company has to say ‘we don’t use any antibiotics or hormones in raising our chicken’ — my guard just goes up saying ‘yeah, right!’

Or the regular, ‘Service with integrity’ — because I usually like to be served by people who will rob me!?!?

I’m printing this one out

– Riz

You said it perfectly, John.

Gratitude a platitude or some breezy corporate slogan, it’s action.

Nordstroms and snow tires pretty much says it all.

Good stuff, John. Thank you.

You have my gratitude for this post.

The truth is simple. I wish to live well, therefore I need my business to do well. And if I prosper, if I have more than the minimum I need, I’m able to offer other people help if needed.
That’s the whole mission statement I need.

Powerful message, John. Full of great reminders, as I’ve come to expect from your posts.

You deserve to be in Cana with Michel sipping piña coladas.

Cheers!

The bad news: They don’t even care that they don’t care. The good news: It makes it far easier to be a reminder in someone’s head when a reminder is beneficial to you both. Great stuff John, thanks.

It takes courage to speak truth in the way you do. It is so much easier to be popular, to go along with the crowd, and to resist the urge to be different by speaking about substance rather than fluff. Only the Truth can lead to a joy-filled Heart. Thanks.

I really get choked up when I see an ‘overdelivering mission statement’.

This goes without saying, but what some people may not realize that doing your job well and meeting your expectations is the only thing that a brand needs.

Isn’t it just about mastering the basics? I think delivering amazing value is the best way to repay your appreciation.

But then, someone needs to justify those bloated business degrees.

Hi John,
You’ve provoked some thoughts. Question for you… do you think it matters if a company treats customers incredibly well because they really care, or just because they want to be known for great customer service (to differentiate and ultimately influence their profit margin)? Must the origin of that care come from a place of authenticity? Is it even possible to make employees truly *care* about clients? Doesn’t it require some kind of personal investment that ideally isn’t financially motivated?

Dan Sullivan talks about using the word appreciate instead of gratitude. I like this idea cause the word gratitude may be ruined at this point by all the glib, flaky or clueless company it has gotten mixed up with.

The word appreciate has a good square-jawed unsentimental power to it AND a delicious double meaning: gratitude and growth. Its a financial term and a word that describes a quality of human attention. I started a gratitude journal a while ago and ended up using the word appreciate instead of gratitude and now I feel less embarrassed and more energized by the change in my entries.

Two essentials to my business rely on my attitude and my actions.

I’m convinced that some kind of juices flow more freely inside my body when I’m in a grateful state. I can’t seem to explain it any better than to say it that way. When I’m consciously in that state of mind my actions see much easier to do, including the ones that are necessary but I’m reluctant to perform. Maybe that’s a bit of willingness, too.

A few years back some major health issues restricted my movement and made doing some of the most basic things a struggle, even impossible. So, if I can remember what it was like when I couldn’t even tie my own shoelaces its much easier to put things in perspective. (I guess I’m lucky to have shoelaces, let alone feet to put shoes on).

Now as a guy who lives in Carbon Canyon, I’m really wondering what were you doing in Rancho Cucamonga?

I recall telling the daughter *she worked for me for a while) of the President of the College I had gone to, to make notes in case something happens, I can read about it and know where to go from there. She said “Why not just ask me?” My reply “You might not be around tomorrow in case you might get hit by a bus!” She couldn’t believe I said that to which I said, “Most business owners think this way.” Andy Grove from Intel wrote a book whose title was, “Only the paranoid survive.” If you can be “grateful” along the way, so much the better.

I liked “just be honest.” Short and simple and the only way to be. Period.

Hey John,
being grateful for being healthy means to take care and diet properly. That’s what came to mind after reading your piece. Your stuff works everytime. It’s fun to see you using copywriting tricks _while_ at the same time observing how they work on me, even though I see what you are doing. I still clicked on that link in the email and wrote this comment. Love it! Thank you!

Right on as usual John. The old adage has never been more true than it is today, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”.

I’d be more grateful for a bit less false gratitude.

Now, about that foot massage…

I went to college in Claremont so I know where Rancho Cucamonga is. Thought it was the most hilarious name for a place. Coo-ka-MUNG-ga! Rhymes with cowabunga.

Anyways, well written piece as always. I would just point out this: if you were really busy being grateful, appreciative or whatever you call it… you wouldn’t even notice BS. 🙂 And if you did you’d find it mildly amusing for about 2 seconds. (Using you in the third person, not you as an individual.) Airline announcements are right up there with “have a nice day.”

It’s been said that you’re never upset for the reason you think you are…. so if fake gratitude pisses you off this much, what might really be under that? Food for thought.

And speaking of food… love the picture… 47 million turkeys are slaughtered every year so we Americans can be “grateful.” Which means poor fellow in pic is probably long gone.

Avoiding abuse of gratitude is key … too many have played fast and loose with the term!

I keep coming back here because of your honesty John. I watch your videos scattered over youtube and you can tell when a fella just says what he knows instead of flubbing on. When I picked up your Freelancers Copywriting Course I read where you said if you were good, you should be making money writing for your own products…. that rang a bell. I spend less time chasing clients now and writing for products that I think are good, that I can make money on. At any rate, just wanted to say thanks.

When you lie to yourself about yourself, it’s a form of self-rejection, This self-rejection has a way of baking itself into everything you do. And other people can tell.
Self-acceptance also bakes itself into everything you do. Again, other people can tell.
The obvious question is, given the choice of doing business with someone who exudes honest self-acceptance or someone who seems to be covering up self-rejection, who would YOU choose.

“Customer is the king” – soul to our life, we the mind, what is the heart -“product we provide to customer”, we never ever forget that we all are customers of this nature, nature nourishes our life, so we all need to keep nature’s souls neat and clean.