Feeling and expressing gratitude is a highly impactful tactic you can use to help improve your team’s morale and performance and enhance your customer experience and loyalty.

An effective sales strategy often hinges on continually striving for the next milestone, whether it’s securing a new client or closing a big deal. However, there’s immense value in pausing every once in a while to genuinely appreciate what makes such success possible, including the trust and loyalty of your existing customers and team. By embracing gratitude, you can not only develop stronger relationships but also foster a positive mindset that helps drive sustainable sales growth.

Why gratitude matters

Gratitude isn’t just a feel-good emotion— it’s a powerful practice that can affect all aspects of your business’s sales process for the better. It doesn’t have to be complicated either. Simply train your mind to recognize and appreciate the opportunities and resources you have as well as the gains you and your team have made, and you may experience resounding benefits across the board.

It all starts at the individual level. For one, taking periodic moments to reflect can help you slow down and reset, which is especially valuable in sales because of the stress that comes with constant rejection and the pressure to meet challenging quotas. It can be easy to let that wear you down, falling into a negative cycle of self-doubt about your sales ability or, if you stick to the manager role, your sense of leadership. But if you instead focus on the positives—such as what you can learn from said rejections about how to adjust your strategy or the resilience displayed by your team members—you can instead cultivate greater optimism. In turn, you become more able to weather new challenges that arise and keep pursuing potentially lucrative leads.

Of course, expressing gratitude can be even more powerful than simply feeling it. Showing thankfulness for your team’s efforts and performance, for example, can profoundly boost their morale and motivate them to perform at their best. A 2023 study by Gallup and Workhuman found that those who receive recognition are more likely to be top performers dedicated to their duties and less likely to seek other job opportunities. And in a previous report, the organizations surveyed indicated that employees who feel valued also tend to experience less burnout and have better relationships with their coworkers.

As for your customers, making it a point to share your appreciation for them can help you avoid the trap of seeing them merely as numbers or transactional targets. By demonstrating genuine care, you can strengthen your ability to build authentic connections with them, fostering greater trust and loyalty that translate to higher sales.

All that said, while gratitude may seem simple in theory, it can easily be overlooked in daily practice without intention. Apply these proven strategies to develop a lasting mindset that can drive meaningful results for you and your team.

Start your day with reflection

The best way to begin is by setting a few minutes aside for it every day. Rather than diving straight into work, try taking a moment to reflect on the positive aspects of your job—perhaps you had a recent professional win, such as receiving an especially promising referral. Consider jotting down your thoughts as well, which may help solidify the feeling of gratitude. You don’t need to give it too much commitment: just a quick acknowledgement or single sentence will suffice to set the right tone for your workday.

Recognize your team’s contributions

As indicated earlier, sales can often feel like a thankless job, so make it a habit to deliver such thanks for your team’s contributions. You can do this in daily meetings, a monthly company newsletter, or other communications, giving both general recognition and individual callouts; experiment to find the frequency that resonates best and yields the greatest impact. You could also institute more formal expressions of gratitude, like instituting an employee of the month program, or plan surprise tokens of thanks, including an extra day off or gift card to a local restaurant. The latter type gift is particularly effective since you can tailor it to an individual’s interests, helping you show your gratefulness in a meaningful way.

Foster team building

You can further amplify the powerful effects of gratitude by encouraging your team to express appreciation for one another. For instance, consider creating a forum on your communication system where they can celebrate each other’s achievements and hard work. Seemingly small gestures like these can be surprisingly contagious and foster a culture of positivity, collaboration, and efficiency while better preparing employees to tackle challenges with confidence and persistence.

Appreciate your customers

Likewise, recognizing the value of your customers is crucial for sustained sales. Find ways to consistently show them how much they mean to you, such as by offering discounts and other perks through a loyalty program. Inviting them into an exclusive club will incentivize them to return and actively engage with your brand. Equally impactful are nonmonetary demonstrations, including allowing active customers to preorder or get sneak peeks of new products and services. By incorporating gratitudedriven practices like these into your strategies, you can make them feel like part of your inner circle, fostering stronger customer loyalty and, ultimately, long-term success.

Once you fully embrace gratitude, you’ll begin to see its benefits multiply. And the deeper your commitment to it, the greater its positive impact will be on both your mindset and that of your team.

TAKE ACTION:
Start practicing gratitude today by writing down one to two things you’re currently thankful for.