When it Comes to Compliments… Wow!

I’ve been working for a few weeks on and off on a huge site for a British non-profit. It’s got over 1,400 pages and we’ve encountered script time-outs, shopping cart, user-submitted pages, and other issues that we keep working through and around. Now that we are just a day from launch, he sent me this before heading out for the day:

Perfect solution. Thanks Jesse. I really don’t get why you have been working for other people. You’re damn good – and certainly good enough to be heading your own enterprise.

That was enough to send me to cloud nine for my situation. I think I’ll keep this up a while longer and see what comes about.

How Often Do You Compliment Others?

Pardon a minute of back-patting, but you will see that it is to make a point later on. I just can’t contain myself when I get a compliment like the one I just got. Sometimes, compliments are too few and lacking gusto. Then, there are days where you can be blown over with a feather because someone took time out of their busy day to send this to your boss:

I bought the Brochure template pack this morning and I just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you. Thanks not only for providing an excellent quality product but also for making it available at such an outstanding price. I’m absolutely delighted with every aspect of dealing with iThemes from start to finish. I got my site up and running very quickly and then wanted to make a change which I couldn’t figure out. I looked around the support forum and in spite of my best efforts I couldn’t spot the answer. I posted a request for help and expected a response in a day or so. Within 15 minutes Jesse had a reply up there which hit the spot directly! As we say here in Yorkshire I’m “chuffed to bits.” –Nigel G.

http://ithemes.com/testimonials/

Then, to make things even better, my boss sent it to me, along with his reply to the customer affirming my role and superb work for the company. Amazingly, he was “chuffed to bits” over a response as simple and polite as this: “See if this topic helps you: http://forum.ithemes.com/index.php?topic=444.0” That one little thread started the rest of the day’s happy notes of affirmation.

Okay, bragging done, time for some meat… this has truly changed the way I will go about my day when someone impresses me with their performance on the job. If someone beats my expectation, I will now, at the very least, tell them that I appreciate them.

You never know when someone is having a miserable day, and this sort of thing can keep someone going on one compliment for days or weeks if they don’t get daily affirmation elsewhere. Few things in life feel as good as a verbal hug from a complete stranger.

-Note: just in case a certain client is reading this, I really adored and cherished your personal note earlier in the day, as well. I am very happy to be on your project and honored to have your appreciation.