It’s your money. It’s my soup.
I heard a great statement the other day.
“No more premium service for them. They don’t deserve it.”
A colleague, one of the best Account Directors I’ve had the pleasure of watching operate, was recounting a very frustrating phone call.
Her client had been demanding, short and contradictory.
“That’s OK”, said my colleague.
Great demands can help create great work.
“We make allowances for pressure.”
My colleague is one of those good energy people.
She’s a very inviting, accommodating kind of someone who smiles through adversity and has a knack of getting everyone in the project on board the project bus. She likes people. She wants the best for people.
She is also a very empathic person.
She let the contradiction slide.
Then the client got bitchy.
I don’t know what was said.
I think there may have been a personal slight.
It may have just been the wrong end of the wrong day.
But it was certainly disrespectful. And hurtful.
But one of the best Account Directors I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching operate suddenly went cold.
Still professional. Still goal oriented. But the joy of the job just went. Quicker than you can say, “Is it just me or did the temperature just drop five degrees?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll get that done.”
“Goodbye.”
I don’t believe the client will be getting anything more than what they pay for. Not anytime soon.
In one sentence, the client successfully made it a commercial relationship.
She downgraded herself to just another box that needs ticking.
She’ll continue to get good service.
But no one will be going the extra mile for her.
No one will be working late for her.
No one will be doing anything more for her than she’s prepared to pay for.
“Premium Service” has come to mean, in some industries, “Paying extra for more stuff.”
Real premium service – where people go out of their way to do more than you expect – has nothing to do with money and everything to do with respect. It’s not about costs, it’s about values.
It always comes down to values.
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