The Thank You Economy Book Review

Update: The book is awesome!

The Thank You Economy is a book by Gary Vaynerchuk that hasn't even been written yet. (What?! Well... Yes.) However I believe you'll love it.

If you don't know who Gary Vee is then click on the links above and find out. If you wanna hear it from me then here it is: Gary Vee is a guy who started a video blog on wine tasting and grew it so big that he got TV shows appearances, got to write a book on how you can do it too, and he became a "social media sommelier" launching his personal blog where he talks about social media, business and hustle.

At some point in the video above he came up with an alternative title - "The Giving a Crap Economy". Now that's a title that would definitely make many people want to read it - including me.

Gary starts with a permission act by which any of you can submit a cover design for his book. He decided to do this after many voices said that his first book - Crush It! - didn't benefit of the best looks for its cover.

If you're a designer this your chance for world class publicity. Should your design be accepted by Gary then you can be sure you'll get tons of exposure and enough chances to work with top clients - and even if I'm wrong here, wouldn't you wanna have the cover of The Thank You Economy in your portfolio? Submit your design at gary[at]winelibrary[dot]com and dazzle the world! You should know that Gary answers each and every email so if you can rock he's gonna roll with you for sure!!!



Since the book hasn't been released, I can only guess about what he's gonna cover:

Customer service - As he often says: "We're all in the same business. The customer service business". Companies need to understand that they are in the market for the customer only - not for the shareholders, not for the love of profits. They literally have to start thanking people for buying from them, for sending feedback to them (negative or positive) and for referring them to other people (prospective customers for the companies).

Listening vs. talking - Gary stresses that the most important thing a company should do is to listen. Social media is not only a way for a business to distribute content but it's also a platform for companies to engage with their audience and listen to their problems, needs and wants. Only then will they be able to gain market share by satisfying those needs that people have. This is what he called reactionary business - you offer what people want o buy, hear, read, consume. It's not about what you have to sell is about what people wanna buy - so start by listening!

The coolest way to listen about what people are talking about is search.twitter. Here you can find real time results about what people are saying about your brand or about your problems. Example: If you sell energy drinks, type thirsty in search.twitter and engage with the people who are thirsty right now. Talk to them, send them free samples of your product, ask for an honest review and transform them into your marketing agents. You are thanking them by giving your product and they are thanking you by giving valuable feedback and publicity - this is part of the thank you economy.

Answer every e-mail - In one of his keynote speech Gary says "Forget about SEO, answer that F-ing email!" I couldn't agree more. If you as a company have a contact form on your webpage then answer those damn emails that people are sending you. Let them know you give a crap! Honestly the frustration that people gather when companies ignore them is so much higher than the joy they get when they are being served well. It's a known fact that Happy customers tell three friends, unhappy customers tell 3000! - read the article here.

This shouldn't be stressed too much coz what we really need now is for those aloft companies to sink and let others emerge. Nimble, new businesses that will connect with their clients in a friendly (and even informal) way will win.

Honesty and Transparency - We live in a global village. Every guy with an internet connection has both the power and privilege to say whatever he wants and more than that, he can find out almost everything about anyone with a simple Google search. What this means is you gotta have good intentions when you start playing . Companies cannot screw clients and then go to the next and do the same without loosing credit.

What happens in Vegas stays on... Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, Tumblr, etc.

So be honest, be transparent. Whatever weakness you have as a company or individual embrace it and ask for help - people love to be helpful. Don't hide, show your true nature. And if your true nature is not desirable you'd better start doing something about it!

Saying Thank You! Literally. If people are buying from you or if people are sending you emails just create a habit of saying Thank You! And it's not just about the words - consider that people have so many options these days so you being the chosen provider is a privilege. What you really must convey is gratitude. Be grateful towards people, help them out and they will say ThankYou! in addition to sending new business to you.

Share, don't keep it to yourself. The social web is more than just a place where we can waste our time on Facebook. It's about sharing the good stuff.

What Jason Fried calls marketing by sharing is the best business approach you can have on the web today and for many years to come. Don't just sell stuff - teach instead. You can do that by creating valuable content that people find useful. Basically you should do what all the great chefs do: teach people about cooking, giving away for free all their biggest secrets. In return - they get more clients in their restaurants, they build trust, they build their personal brand by empowering people to do what they do. They aren't scared that competition will take all that knowledge and open a restaurant next to theirs coz this kind of things just doesn't happen (watch the video below).

So the lesson to learn here is that content marketing (find out more on Copyblogger.com) is way better than any other classic marketing approach through paid adverting - which doesn't really help people but rather interrupts them. The funny thing about marketing by sharing knowledge (which is way too often overlooked) is that it's incredibly cheap and the ROI is huge to say the least. If you don't have a blog you should create one just now and start creating content around your field of expertise, build an audience and develop a genuine relationship with them.

Instead of selling fish, teach people about fishing and you'll be amazed about the scope of the opportunities that will come at you.



Ultimately all this is about people and about being a good dude. Just observe yourself how you are attracted towards good people and acknowledge that being friendly and helpful is not that bad.

Now I'm not saying you must become an actor and pretend you want to help everybody. If you think you can't be friendlier overnight (which is okay), think of it from an egotistic perspective - what kind of attention and behavior would you like to receive from other people? No matter what the answer is, do that onto other and you will get the same.

I can't wait to read The Thank You Economy! What about you? Are you a fan of Gary as well?

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