Client Relations - Being In Service Is An Honor

We fought back a tear as Nigel said, without a hint of anticipation or excitement,

“I’m leaving.”

“Leaving, what do you mean?”

“I’m no longer going to be here at the hotel, here in the restaurant.”

It was a blow of staggering proportions.

Arguably, the Sheraton Belgravia had the best captive eatery in London.

After a day of shopping, museum hopping and taking in matinee performances at the feet of the likes of Maggie Smith, Albert Finney, and Anthony Hopkins, we could always look forward to freshening up and taking the brief elevator ride to Nigel’s hospitality and cuisine.

Rituals die hard in Britain, even for tourists, though we were more than that, I suppose, in the regular habit of taking in the Winter theater season there, hitting the pre-Christmas sales, of which there were plenty, joining elaborate Christmas and New Year’s feasts, and getting away from the demands of clients.

Now, Nigel was telling us he was escaping our demands, fleeing our corner of Paradise, but to go where?

“I’m going into service,” he replied.

“Into service?”

It was obviously a cultural reference, a code phrase we didn’t understand. Noting our befuddlement, he went on to explain what going into service means.

“Yes, I’m going to be the Head Butler at an estate in the Cotswolds.”

Visions of countless Masterpiece Theater episodes danced across the screen of my imagination.

“So, it’s a step up?” I asked, smiling through, trying to see the bright side, at least from his viewpoint.

“Yes, it is,” he said, flatly, with just the smallest hint of remorse.

His thoughtful, artful, careful conveyances of carrots and meat and pastries was perfection itself that night, but an unmistakable pall crept over the dining room, in which we were, as usual, the solitary, and therefore perennially pampered guests.

“So, going into service is a promotion,” I thought, with newfound respect. “How different things are in America.”

Nigel represents something significant in the annals of “service.” Akin to the proverbial canary in the coal mine, he symbolizes something that can permit us to understand that age-old question:

“Why can’t we find good HELP, anymore?”

Britain’s class system provided, and to an extent still provides, incentives for people to “serve.” As Nigel implied, being a Head Butler at a magnificent estate is an honorific position, a lifetime engagement, a compact between the gentry, the land, and him.

It links him to an aristocratic way of life that dates back centuries, to a tradition, to the seasons, and to all of those things you and I have seen in movies and read in books.

In America, being “in service” is much more synonymous with being servile, with groveling, with being consigned to a state of inferiority.

Let me give you a dramatic example. The other day a technical support provider was speaking to a professional stock trader and investor who was upset that he lost millions because of the inability of the technician’s company to execute his trades, efficiently.

The caller was in obvious distress but instead of saying “I’m sorry that happened, let’s see what we can do for you,” the technician replied, in so many words, “Oh, really?”

He didn’t console; he taunted, and the instant effect was to enrage the client even more, who immediately got the President of the firm on the line.

The technician had been a trader, but was now in a one-down position, which he didn’t have the maturity to handle. Perceiving himself to be the caller’s equal or even superior, the rep simply refused to serve, to do the appropriate thing in the circumstance.

In a milder way, this refusal to serve, equating it with being servile, with fawning for favor, with begging, precludes many people from taking on the right role when they perform work in client or technical support.

Their self-importance is so pronounced that they feel the “real them” must come through, even at inappropriate times, otherwise they are being insincere and phony.

We cannot be self-important and make the client important at the same time. There aren’t two, number one’s.

I’m reminded of the scene in a recent film where a father is speaking about what he told his Navy bound son:

“Get on the ship. Do your job. Come home.”

In other words, do your duty.

Nigel knows what this means.

I’m sure he's serving with distinction.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books and more than a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is quoted often in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week. President of Clientrelations.com and Customersatisfaction.com, his seminars and training programs are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities. Dynamic, experienced, and lots of fun, Gary brings more than two decades of solid management and consulting experience to the table, along with the best academic preparation and credentials in the speaking and training industry. Holder of a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies along with successful family owned and operated firms. Much more than a “talking head,” Gary is a top mind that you'll enjoy working with and putting to use. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

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