An expression of thanks is an important tool to use for success.
Confirming Receipt
At the very least, a thank you for something you have been sent in the mail is confirmation that you have received it.
Museums must be selective about what they accept simply because of space limitations. I have donated some things to a museum that can only accept things that I used during circus performances. I need to find another place to donate items from my stage career.
I had some rare props that had been used by another entertainer. I found a small museum that said they would accept them. I included one of my own props in the shipment as a test of their interest. I paid a lot to ship them via UPS. The clerk told me that she was not sure the label would stay on the way that I had attached it. I was nervous about the package being delivered. I did not hear anything from the museum. Finally, I contacted them asking if the package had arrived. They confirmed that they had received it. They did not say anything about the contents of the package. I do not know if they would be interested in any further donations. I do have some things that might be appropriate for this museum’s collection. However, I decided that I am not willing to donate anything else to them.
By contrast, when I donate something to the Circus and Allied Arts Special Collection at the Milner Library on the Illinois State University campus, I always get two emails thanking me for my donation. Maureen Brunsdale, the Rare Book and Special Collection Librarian, always sends me a thank you letting me know that the donation has been received. Eric Wiley processes the new material adding it to the finding aids and deciding where it should be stored. He always sends me a thank you when he has finished his work. I usually send several items at one time. I include an inventory. Eric lets me know whether everything on my list was received. If something is not listed, he asks if I really meant to donate it. As a result, the Milner Library is usually the first place I think of when I have something appropriate to donate.
Displaying Interest
I do not know if that museum was interested in my donations. Thanking somebody for something shows that you are interested in possibly receiving more.
Mary Beth Martin appeared as a clown on a weekly local TV station program around 1990. That meant she needed a lot of new material. I would occasionally send her some possible ideas. She always promptly responded thanking me for sending them. She did not always use my idea. Often, she would write informing me of how my idea had inspired something else that she did use. She had seen something in my idea that I had not seen. I was always willing to send her ideas because I received just as many, if not more, ideas in return. The main reason that I kept sending her ideas was because I knew that she wanted them.
I recently sent a clown an email with some ideas for something we had talked about at a convention. She thanked me for those ideas. I am not a face painter, but I occasionally have an idea for something that a Face painter could use. I knew that this person is a face painter. I sent her a face painting idea. She immediately thanked me and said that she would have fun playing around with the idea. I do not care if she is able to eventually use that idea. Just the fact that she was receptive and grateful means that I will send her further ideas that I think might fit her performance style.
Customer Relations
Sending a thank you note is considered part of maintaining good customer relations. Many businesses do it routinely.
After each show, I send a thank you to my contact person. If I book the show myself, it goes to somebody in that family or organization. If I worked through an agency, I send it to the person who booked the show for me. If I booked the show as a result of a referral, I also send a thank you to the person who referred me.
Sometimes I will send a quick thank you by email, especially if I have worked for a booking agent and want to report on what happened at the event. I usually follow that up with a thank you card sent through the mail. I believe the extra effort increases the effectiveness.
I would not send a generic thank you. I would always try to refer to something specific about the event. For example, if the hosts of a birthday party made a sign reserving a parking space for me to use when unloading my equipment, I would specifically mention that in my note. If I do strolling entertainment at a festival, I might comment on how much I enjoyed the music groups that were performing. If it is a repeat customer, I might comment on this being my tenth time working with them.
I do not perform many clown shows at the moment. However, something that I have done in the past is send a thank you note to my clients at Valentines Day, Thanksgiving or New Years. Thank you notes are expected immediately after an event. However, sending another note at an unexpected time has a great impact with repeat customers.
How can you thank your customers? What type of card would you use? How can you personalize it to demonstrate your interest in your that particular customer?
Positive Re-enforcement
Saying thank you is a type of praise, and can be a powerful motivator. There was a dramatic increase in the number and variety of articles submitted to Clowning Around magazine when Lee Mullally was the World Clown Association President and I was the Education Director. Each month we would each send a thank you to everybody who had their first article published in the magazine. Then we selected one of the regular contributors and wrote them a note thanking them for their long-term commitment to the magazine and organization. We did not coordinate which columnist we thanked. That meant they each received two thank you notes sometime during the year. I knew from my own experience and discussions with other writers that written feedback to an article is rare. It is easy to wonder if anybody is reading what you write. I heard from some of the writers how much it meant to them to be sent an acknowledgement of their work. I know it means a lot to me when somebody responds to an article I have written and thanks me for doing it. That encourages me to continue when I begin to wonder if it is worth it.
I like to receive positive comments on my Facebook posts. If somebody leaves any type of response, I try to at least thank them by clicking on like. If they take the time to make a specific comment, I will often respond, “Thank you for your comment” or “Thank you for your kind words,” depending upon what is appropriate. If they spend more time making a comment, I will usually thank them and respond with some more information related to that topic. However, if somebody makes a negative comment, especially about somebody else, I usually hide that comment. I don’t want to encourage them by engaging in a conversation. I know that I will not be able to change their mind and I do not want to subject others to those types of comments.
Lee Mullally and I both became part of the Clown Camp core staff in 1990. He became the Assistant Director a few years later. One of the ways he trained the staff members to be better instructors was using thank you notes. At the end of each week, Lee presented each staff member with a hand written detailed thank you note. Some years there were multiple weeks of Clown Camp. One year I was on staff three weeks in a row, and I received three thank you notes. In one note, Lee thanked me for how I included customized routines in my Staff on Stage show. In another note, he thanked me for assisting another staff member by being the stage hand during her show. I made sure to repeat what he had committed on the next time that I was on staff.
One season when I was working at Raging Waters, the secretary in the Operations Office was supposed to announce the times of my shows using the public address system. She had many other duties, and kept forgetting to make the announcements. I could tell she resented it when somebody called to remind her. One day, she remembered without being reminded, so after my show I called to thank her. She remembered to do it again the next day, so I made another thank you call. After that I did not call her each day, but the next time I was in the office I mentioned how much I appreciated her taking time from all her other demands to make the announcements. I told her I could tell it really made a difference in attendance at my shows. (That was true.) She told me that when there were many different demands at the same time she got depressed and frustrated because it seemed that nobody appreciated anything she did. She felt that the only things they noticed were what she had not been able to do. She said it meant a lot to her that I took the time to let her know I appreciated her efforts. She didn’t miss making my announcements during the rest of the season. At the end of the season, I sent her a written thank you note, and sent a copy to her supervisor. The next year she was promoted, and because of the relationship I had developed with her, she helped smooth out some potentially difficult situations. When people feel appreciated, they are more willing to expend extra effort.
How can you use expressions of thanks to motivate actions that you would like to see continue? Instead of chastising somebody for their failures, how can you encourage them for their success?
I was part of an alley (local clown club) in Southern California that was experiencing decreased event participation. In each month’s newsletter, the president scolded people for letting the club down by not supporting the activities. People resented being treated that way, and participation continued to plummet until by the end of the year only two of the sixty members were active. When new officers took over, they decided to use a positive approach. Each newsletter expressed thanks to those who had participated during the previous month, related some of the fun things that had occurred, and invited others to join the enjoyment. The meetings included an “atta boy” game. A timer would be set for a period ranging from five to ten minutes. Then members could nominate somebody for the Funny Bone award in recognition of something good they had done. To make a nomination, you had to deposit ten cents in a clown bank. When the bell went off, the last person to have been nominated won the award. At the next meeting, they got to wear a dog chew toy bone on a necklace. It was a fun way to raise a little money and acknowledge member’s contributions. By the end of the year, average participation at events had reached 30 and attendance at meetings averaged 50.
What would you like to encourage members of your group to do? How can you motivate them by expressing thanks to those who do that? How can you have fun while expressing thanks?
Members of an organization expect their officers to thank them. A thank you from somebody who is not an officer sometimes means more, especially if it comes at an unexpected time. One year, I sent a Valentine’s card to each of the women in my alley. Each card contained a note thanking them for something they had been doing for the club. When we did a parade, one of the ladies always parked her car near the end of route and had a jug of water and cups in the trunk. She told me she appreciated my note because nobody had ever thanked her for providing drinks and she was thinking about discontinuing the practice. To be fair to the others, they did say thank you as she handed them a cup, but since it seemed like an automatic response, she didn’t remember that.
Being an officer in an organization is often a discouraging task. It seems like the only time you hear from somebody is when they have a complaint. It is a common practice to give officers a thank you gift at the end of their term, but often by then, it is too late. They have burned out. It is common for somebody to drop out of an organization soon after serving as president. Another seemingly thankless job is that of convention chairman. A note of appreciation and encouragement can sometimes make a big difference in how they perceive and approach their job. If you want officers who do a good job for you, you can help them do that by providing them with emotional support.
I was a Cubmaster in a Cub Scout Pack for several years. I was blessed to have a great group of volunteer leaders working with me. At a midyear meeting, I asked the leaders to come forward and form a line. Then I presented each with a key ring that had a blue and yellow fob that I had made out of pony beads. I announced that the ring symbolized that they were the key to the success of the Pack. As I was going down the line handing out the rings, I heard one woman whisper, “I think that I am going to cry.” A man commented, “I can’t believe that he took the time to make all of these.” That effort to create something special made it more than just a routine expression of thanks. It made it more important. I noticed later in the year that some of the leaders had placed their keys on that ring to remind them that their efforts were appreciated.
Who has been making positive contributions to your organization? How can you encourage them to continue? What unexpected way can you use to express your thanks? How can you make an effort to show them that it is important?
A principle of psychology is that you get what you encourage. If you reprimand somebody for doing something unacceptable, they may repeat that if it is their only way to get attention. I was a children’s teacher with Bible Study Fellowship for a year. One of the techniques I learned there was the use of saying thank you in positive discipline. We would explain the type of behavior we expected in our classroom, and then we would watch for the opportunity to thank children who were acting that way. We tried to ignore those who were acting out. When meeting our expectations was recognized as the quickest way to gain attention, it was amazing how quick the kids were to adopt and maintain that behavior.
The application for entertainment is to explain at the beginning of your show that you will need some help during the show and you will pick people who are seated, smiling, and raising their hand. Then when it is time to pick a volunteer, you select somebody who has been doing that, and say, “you have been seated the entire time, and I’ve noticed your beautiful smile. Thank you for being such a good audience member. Would you like to join me on stage to help with this next trick?”
How would you like audiences at your shows to act? How can you communicate that to them? How can you find the opportunity to thank those who do what you expect?
After each of my shows, I try to go around and personally thank every person who had played some part in it, whether it was running the sound or setting up the chairs. The show is not about me, and many people contribute to it. I believe establishing a good working relationship with them is important. I always learn and use their name.
As a clown, I am an easily identifiable member of a group. I believe that each time I perform I represent all clowns. Sometimes I am the first clown the people at that venue have worked with. Their attitude towards clowns could depend upon their experience with me. If I can create a good working relationship with technical people, and let them know I appreciate the service they provided me, the next clown they encounter may get improved service. So, even if I don’t expect to return to a venue, I still want to create a good impression.
I was hired to do two shows at a church on the day before Easter. There would be an Easter egg hunt between the shows. When I arrived, I could see the janitor inside. He walked past the glass doors several times and ignored me. I had to wait for my contact person to arrive to let me in. It took a couple of trips to get all my equipment in. My show included a performance of Timothy Wenk’s Punchline which results in some little paper circles falling on the floor. After the show, I got out a dirt buster to clean up that confetti. While I was doing that, I noticed the janitor walking down each row of seats straightening things up. He came backstage to get something while I was still resetting my props. I thanked him for getting things ready for the second group of kids I mentioned how beautiful the sanctuary was and that I could tell how hard he worked to keep it looking that way. After my second show, he brought a large cart backstage for me to load everything onto. Then he pushed the cart out to my car for me. My contact person wanted to know what I had done. She said that he hated it when the church hired variety artists because they always made a big mess creating more work for him. I told her that I had simply been polite and told him that I appreciated his efforts.
It is not just the technical crew that contributes to your success. Kenny Ahern has a performance style based on audience interaction. He uses a lot of audience volunteers in his performances. They contribute to the success of his shows. At the end, he expresses his thanks to them by having them stand and be applauded. It always strikes me as an especially strong moment in his shows.
After my stage shows, I try to go out into the house to say goodbye to audience members. If I notice somebody how had been one of my audience volunteers, I always thank them for doing such a great job assisting me.
Who contributes to the success of your performances? What kind of a relationship do you have with them? How can you let them know you appreciate their contribution?
Conclusion
Saying thank you must be sincere. Otherwise, it comes across as manipulation, which people resent. However, when done creatively from your heart it can make a big difference in your relationships with those who contribute to your success.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article,
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