National Compliment Day – Make someone smile with a genuine compliment.

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Today is National Compliment Day! Yes, there is a day just for giving compliments. When you think about it, it’s not such a bad idea. Sometimes, we need a prompt to compliment someone. Even when we might think nice things about people in our heads, we very rarely verbalise them. I went to a New Year party and saw a woman with a gorgeous green dress and beautifully coloured hair. I wanted to say something to her, but sometimes you have second thoughts and don’t want to seem creepy or slimy. 

Now let’s think about how colleagues or clients might feel when you compliment them. If you are close with your colleagues, you might feel comfortable giving compliments when they pop into your head. However, if you are not particularly close, it could feel strange. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t; it just means you might have to overcome your discomfort to give it.  

Boosting Morale

Workplace morale is vital to the culture and feel of a company. If people feel unappreciated, ignored or attacked, they will not likely feel goodwill towards your business. You probably know that ‘employees as advocates’ is a recognised and valuable marketing technique, so if your staff aren’t acting as valuable advocates, they probably don’t feel appreciated. 

For staff members and subordinates, you are probably better at giving compliments about their work or how nice it is to work with them rather than personal and possibly inappropriate compliments about their appearance. Personality and attitude are also good targets for a compliment.  

When we asked about what acts of kindness made people feel good in our offices, “a genuine compliment” came up multiple times.

Client Compliments

You may want to tread lightly with your clients. Again, choose compliments unrelated to appearance or body. However, if you are in the beauty, wellness or fitness industries and noticed a marked improvement in a regular client, you can compliment them on something that you know is important to them.

Regular clients are easier to compliment because you should know a little about them from their previous visits. However, that doesn’t stop you from being complimentary to new clients. You might have to wait until the end of your session to deliver it once you have discovered something about them. 

Think about how it feels to receive a compliment. If you can make clients feel like that, how will they think about returning to your business? They will begin associating that good feeling with their regular appointments with you.