“Thank You” is our signature
Our customers are the lifeblood of our company. It’s true! And I’m not even saying that in the sentimental and sweet way it may, at first, sound. This paragraph started out intensely logical. We have to have customers. And the fact that we do is downright remarkable. For that reason, we handwrite “Thank You” on every single order that goes out our door. Every single one.
Even as we have grown over the years we never stopped writing “thank you” (sometimes “thanks”) on every order. I used to be in charge of production. And I am ashamed to admit that I can remember trying to convince John (best friend and owner of Carved) to let us stop writing “Thank You” on every single order. It just took too much time. Especially during our usual holiday busy season. He would never allow it.
“Thank You” is the only way we know how to say it. This is the sweet and sentimental part… seriously, we say and mean "thank you" from our hearts. We can’t say it enough and we won’t stop saying it. Ever.
Here’s where this story takes a fun turn.
FanMail turned Packing Slip
We get lots of thoughtful and heartfelt feedback from our customers every day. We have an entire Slack channel designated for sharing all our customers’ kind words with our team. If you don’t check it for a day or two you will be inundated with reviews, replies, and DMs from around the world.
In February, we received the most creative “Thank You” we’ve ever gotten from a customer. As a personal growth challenge, Zoë was handwriting cards every day for a month, and she wrote one to us here at Carved. None of us could believe it. We thought our media guy, who will remain nameless (Alex) was tricking us… really. He made a video about it.
The letter was well done and screamed with artistic style. I mean we are a team of artists and we couldn't believe our eyes. Her kind words and unique creativity were so inspiring.
So inspired that John reached out to Zoë and… well… first expressed his thankfulness for her thank you note. Then pitched his idea. We found ourselves so in love with Zoë’s FanMail that we had to find a way to share it with all our customers.
The idea was to have our team write “Thank You” notes to our customers. Then hire Zoë to illuminate them with her incredible artistic style. So that is exactly what we did. Likely you are reading this blog post because you scanned a thank you note that Zoë illuminated with her personal style.
We love our customers. We especially love when we get to have more than a digital transaction. Again, not being sappy, we need the money to pay our team. But what we love most is sharing interactions with our customers marked by mutual appreciation and gratitude.
Lead with Gratitude
The world can feel big and cold and distant and just plain unkind at times. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about putting on any rose-colored glasses. But I am talking about taking the first step to making a difference. And a great first step is to lead with gratitude. Gratitude is creative. Gratitude is inspiring. Gratitude is (in this day) unbelievable. Gratitude is a beautiful thing.
