Very soon into my practice of spreading thanks, I discovered that gratitude had the power to affect my sales career in a big, big way. I was amazed at how something so effortless — like sending a little thank you note each day — was bringing me incredible results at work. When I made this connection, I thought, I really have to share this idea! And that’s ultimately what I did, through my book, my speaking, and my daily thank you notes. Let me tell you about the moment I knew I was really onto something big.

Making The Call

I was working from home when got a voice mail message from a client. This was a loyal client and she asked me to give her a call back. I knew her company had already renewed their annual license for the software programs within their school district, so I wondered what she needed to ask me about. Maybe it was a question or a referral, I thought, so I reached for my phone.

As I did that, I remember thinking that my sales figures for the year weren’t all that good. This was not from lack of effort but because the company had decided to be very aggressive when they set out that year’s sales expectations. The year was already more than half-way through, and I was so far behind that I told myself that I wasn’t going to meet those targets, and that was OK. Next year would be better.

I dialed the client’s number, wanting to help her with whatever she needed, and I was so surprised when she started talking. The question posed was this: Could they possibly renew their contract now, a full year in advance? I thought I was hearing it wrong. Really? It sounded too good to be true!

Hearing The News

The client went on to say that they were worried that the school board officials would be making changes later in the year which could affect funding for the coming years. The best thing for them would be if they could renew the existing contract with our company right away rather than take a chance.

I took a moment to process this request because I didn’t remember it ever happening before with our company. I assured the client I would check into it that morning to see if we could work out the process for the advance renewal order. It was so exciting because I knew that this extra order would really be a boost to what was such a disappointing year.

Imagine my surprise when the client kept talking and expanded on the idea! She realized that if she could get one year in advance, maybe she could actually pre-purchase for a number of years and not have to worry about the future politics of the school board’s decisions. In my mind, this would be a miracle order: someone actually purchasing multiple years in advance!

As soon as I hung up, I called my manager. He was floored but thought that it could be done, that we would be able to work out a system to get the order processed. Less than a month later, with a lot of admin help from the in-house team, we completed the paperwork. The client was happy and we were ecstatic. It amounted to a total yield of more than $1 million in revenue.

Recognizing The Miracle

What had been a mediocre year had turned around in an incredible way! No one in the company had seen it happen before. I wondered what could have caused such a dramatic turn around in my fortunes that year. Was it just a lucky break? Or was it something more?

I thought about my life and wondered what was I doing just before this supposed stroke of luck. And then it hit me. The only thing I was doing differently was that I had started my daily thank you note practice. And at that moment, I just knew in my heart that the renewal order wasn’t merely a coincidence.

Even in the short time I had been sending out my daily thank you notes, I was finding that surprising little serendipities kept happening. But this was the first one that was so life-changing. It set my manager and me up for a stellar year. And sure enough, this was just one of many incredible coincidences that have become part of the fabric of my life. Since then, so many good things, big and small, kept happening and they still are. I know I am experiencing all this good because I opened myself up to the power of gratitude.

But really it was this miraculous sales order that really became a pivotal moment for me. That was when I knew I couldn’t keep this simple practice to myself. I had to share it with the world. If I could do it, if I could manifest things like this, I knew it could work for anyone. Just sending one daily thank you note out in the morning sets you up for all kinds of goodness to flow — including million-dollar sales orders!

If you’d like to welcome more good things and this kind of prosperity into your own life, just check out the resources on my website and the how-to steps within my book. It would also be great if you would share your own ideas below and thank you for spreading thanks each and every day.

Elena Anguita is a change agent, speaker, and author of Spread Thanks! Create Miracles Through The Power of Ink who supports education and passionately believes in the transformative power of gratitude. You can connect with Elena on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and SpreadThanks.com.

Image courtesy of Andre Furtado.