For folks newly introduced to the concept of site selection, I well understand it takes time to build up the relationship. There are no personal examples I can come up with where I have freely released my wallet to anyone without giving the situation a hard review.
Building trust takes time. One of my favourite sayings comes from Frank Navran, an ethics consultant who leads organizations to review their ethics policies. He said, “Trust is the residual of promises fulfilled”. Some corporations provide numerous cringe-causing examples in their attempts to blatantly manipulate an outcome in their favour – at my expense.
Take the national telephone provider’s recording which asks me to be patient as, ‘We are experiencing a higher than normal volume of calls. Your patience is appreciated.” My sarcastic inner self remembers this is what they told me the last time I called for help. Each time I hear it, I translate the message in my head to: ‘Sorry, we are not willing to spend the money to hire sufficient staff to help you with your issue (which we caused) because big data tells us people will actually stay on hold longer than they think they will!’. Somehow, as the customer, I am asked to simply accept this as ‘the way it is’.
It is hard in this world of vacant corporate promises to not build up a ‘cynical safety suit’; however, thankfully, I still notice the abundant examples where service providers go the extra mile to fix the situation and find a solution. Sincerity is always a good place to start.
In the next few weeks I will have my ‘cynical suit’ dry cleaned in preparation for ‘a higher than normal number of promises’ as we approach the fall election. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but I think the grip on my wallet is becoming increasingly tighter.
Timely yours,
Brenda
