One of the words of the moment is “respect”. It probably should be printed with a capital R. I received a letter the other day that made me stop and think about whether the average professional shows enough respect, to clients, colleagues or even just friends.
When my father died about seven years ago, I was sufficiently impressed by the way that the funeral directors had managed their process and interface with my family, before, during and after the funeral, that I wrote a letter of thanks to the company. After about two weeks, I received an acknowledging reply from the managing director, saying how much he and his staff appreciated my letter. However, he had not signed the letter personally – it was pp’d by someone else.
This realisation completely devalued his warm, sympathetic words – did he not care enough to sign the letter himself ? It was all the more galling because someone had slipped the invoice into the same envelope.
When I challenged him, the writer said that he would normally sign his own letters, but on this occasion he was out of the office when the post was due to go, so his secretary just pp’d it for him. He was, to his credit, appalled by my reaction and said that he would change his procedures. He accepted that, as the reply was already two weeks old, another day waiting for him to sign it personally would have been okay. Respect.
The same might be said for e-mails sent out by a secretary on someone’s behalf – normally their boss. In today’s world, there might be less disrespect in that practice, but in my own firm, there is another message, particularly for partners and other senior staff. The younger staff are almost, without exception, much more IT-literate than the older generation. It seems that the youngsters, and some older technophobes, do notice when people do not send their own e-mails, and they probably suspect that the correspondent has not even read the missive on-screen, either. No respect.
On the wall of my office, visitors will find a collage of cuttings from newspapers, journals and magazines with a funny story, a cartoon or a telling message that takes my fancy. One that often provokes a shuddering response among business managers was culled from an advert for a mobile telephone network that reads “Would you trust a big project to someone who couldn’t record their own voicemail greeting?”
In the subtext, the ad goes on to make another killer comment: “Your business card says a lot about you. So does your voicemail greeting – or lack of one. A personalised daily greeting is not just more personal, it is more professional.” Respect.
Finally, just to return to the letter that I received the other day – it was from the managing director of the company who had just constructed a conservatory at our cottage. Again, I had written to thank him, and to commend a particular member of his staff who had made our lives that much easier by his diligence and good spirit.
The director said how nice it was to receive such an unprompted letter or testimonial. He said how much it meant to him and that he would ensure that his staff were thanked personally. Pity then that he did not take the time to sign his letter to me, personally. It was pp’d. No respect.
Barry Gilbertson is lead partner for PwC’s real estate hospitality and leisure team and vice president of the RICS
