A Scottish Compliment

To continue with the wedding theme, I decided to send my second compliment to Daniel Henderson who runs a jewellers in Edinburgh. I got engaged in Edinburgh last year and we walked up and down the main shopping streets looking for somewhere to buy a ring. For anyone thinking of getting engaged I would recommend choosing the ring together. For one thing the man can't be blamed for choosing something horrible or tacky (both things I'm prone to doing!)

We walked into Daniel's shop and he was very welcoming. He helped us to create a ring from our budget and treated us just the same as if we were spending thousands. He obviously knew a lot about his products and was passionate about his business. Perhaps most important of all, Daniel wasn't afraid to let us walk away to think about things. He even recommended an amazing independent coffee shop (worthy of a Compliment Corner letter if I can ever remember their names). We went back to buy an engagement ring, and have since bought the accompanying wedding ring and some cuff links.

Here's the letter I sent to Daniel:

Dear Daniel,

I'm writing to thank you for your great service to us over the past year.

Last year my partner and I walked into your shop, having just gotten engaged, looking for a ring. You took time to help us find the ring we wanted and have since arranged for the accompanying wedding band. We really weren't sure what to expect when looking for a jewellers, but you definitely exceeded all our wishes. I hope you'll accept this Compliment Corner letter by way of a thank you.

Compliment Corner is simply a way for me to say thanks to people who given great customer service. I wanted a way to share these stories with other people so have created a blog, and I hope you don't mind that I posted this letter and a little description of your service on there.

Thanks again, and I look forward to doing business with you again in the near future.

Phil 

Our first compliment!

I posted our first Compliment Corner letter yesterday. I sent it to Stuart who manages Claridges Print and Copy shop in Warwick. Stuart was a great example of someone who really cared about the service he delivered and not just getting the job over with.

I am soon getting married and needed to create invitations. Producing them at home wasn’t going well, so I looked up Claridges online after seeing a recommendation on Twitter. Stuart responded to my website enquiry with a phone call. We discussed what I wanted and he managed to come up with an excellent design and turn around the whole project in a couple of days.

It was a positive experience and I would definitely do business with him again. Stuart thoroughly deserves this first ever compliment sent from Compliment Corner.

Text from letter:

Dear Stuart,

I am writing to thank you for your kind service to us recently.

My partner and I were hoping to produce wedding invitations at short notice but were having difficulty creating them at home. We came to you because we saw your service had been recommended on Twitter. You very kindly spent time creating the invitations we wanted with a quick turnaround and wanted to send you this Compliment Corner letter by way of thank you.

Compliment Corner is a new initiative to allow people to thank individuals for providing excellent customer service. Yours is the first ever letter. It has been added to our blog and I hope it will be the first of many. If you like the idea, you might like to publicise it or perhaps send a letter yourself. 

Thanks again for your work. It was a pleasure doing business with you.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Phil

Tools of the trade

I haven’t done any research – that would be expensive! – but I know anecdotally that a handwritten letter is a powerful thing. In today’s digital world we rarely receive letters, and hardly ever handwritten notes. Christmas cards might be the closest we get to handwriting messages these days. Even then the sloppy text and rushed “love from bob and family” content often relegate these once-treasured seasonal letters to the recycling bin.

I like to handwrite letters wherever possible. I do it because I like to receive handwritten notes myself. I’ve even handwritten the occasional business letter of introduction, and they’ve all gone down well. Whether that’s because the recipient likes the effort I made to write a letter or simply that they feel guilty about ignoring something so personal, I often receive a response.

When I’m offering a compliment I want people to know that I mean it. And when I mean something I like to make it personal. So, wherever possible, I’ll try to send handwritten Compliment Corner letters.

The tools for this are simple:

-          Good quality paper

-          Good quality (matching envelope)

-          Fountain pen (just like we used at school)

-          Stamp

Optional extras:

-          Lined paper

-          A steady hand

-          Ink eraser (as rarely as possible)

Phil