Personal Service – A Thing of the Past
Personal service is a thing of the past.
“Sorry we are just too busy and everything is automated now”.
It is a very sad time in our history when unemployment is at an all-time high because our work ethic has tanked and companies use the excuse of poor customer service because their people are too busy.
Common sense and courtesy in service seems to be a thing of the past.
I have watched our local bank go through teller after teller. It’s been a year since we could actually go inside the bank so I really have no idea if any of the account managers or loan officers are still there or if everything has been moved to a centralized location now. The end result is no personal relationship with anyone there. AND even with service declining the cost of doing business with the bank continues to rise. I know my interest rates for funds on deposit certainly haven’t gone up. So what is really happening with this industry?
And it’s not just the banking industry. We had a couple of building projects which we have simply put on hold. The cost of construction has risen 70% in the last year which means the deal just doesn’t pencil. We are told it’s because of COVID. Is it really? Or again did the work ethic tank due to expectations of higher payouts at every step along the way, some of which went into the greedy level, and here we are.
There is a cap in the marketplace as to what the values of some things are. This statement really needs to be understood. If we just keep raising the prices of things with no increase in service then the value is truly meaningless. For example if we just keep raising minimum wage to provide better quality of life will it truly be a better quality of life when a gallon of milk costs $10? That is what will happen if at every step of the production line the costs increase because wages go up. Or the farmer will just not create a job and there will be less milk on the market.
As consumers, we cast a very strong vote with our spending.
This is why I encourage my clients to look at every expense as an investment. In investing there is an expected ROI (return on investment). What do you expect when you pay the bankers fees? Do you expect customer service to be nonexistent? What do you expect when you hire a service provider? What do you expect when you go to a store?
When the end user begins to say this doesn’t work for me and either just doesn’t invest (spend) or takes their business to another vendor, one who still has a strong work ethic and is providing great service at a reasonable cost, this is the only time the greed meter will truly get looked at.
It’s still early in the year, now is a great time to look at all your investing and truly check in on the ROI you are either getting or expect to get. I would love to hear what you discover!
In Abundance,
