The Art of the Compliment: Praise and Admiration Make You Both Feel Good

  By Mariette Edwards

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

Compliments make us try harder, aspire to greater heights, renew our vigor and refresh us. A sincere compliment can soothe an angry customer or repair a damaged relationship. The artful use of compliments is a skill and a strategy that belongs in your career tool-box.

Why compliments work
Everyone wants to be a star! We all want to feel valued, important, appreciated and prized. A well thought out compliment fulfills a need we all have.

The Rules

• Make it authentic: For a compliment to have a positive impact, you’ve got to mean it. Look for behaviors, skills and talents that you genuinely admire and lavish your praise on those.

• Turn a negative into a positive.  Does the way your customer micro-manage his account drive you crazy? That attention to detail can be an admirable quality in many situations. Instead of fuming to yourself about it, look for ways that talent has benefited you and or your business.

• Put it in writing. A personal note that expresses your admiration or regard is something the receiver will savor for a very long time.

• Make it tangible. Email is fast and better than not-at-all, but a hand written note is something that will be kept, shared and re-visited often.

Sometimes a difficult situation just needs a different point of view. Looking for the good does that and can (and often will) dramatically change the outcome.

Mariette Edwards is a business coach and consultant based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work as a business and career strategist and coach has been featured in numerous publications. Her articles on business and career strategies have appeared in print and on-line around the world. Visit Mariette at www.starmakercoaching.com .


©Copyright 2008 Mariette Edwards All rights reserved