Our "Me" Generation
Back in the 1980's, the buzz term to describe that generation was the "Me" generation. It was about how can I personally benefit, grow, and gain wealth for my greater good. The term was of course given within a negative context. However, by the 1980's we had fundamentally changed as a society from the "Hippie" days of needing less to enjoy life to the 1980's "Me" generation which was about enjoying the economic prosperity that the country was experiencing at the time.
Materialistic things became more important to us as the new age of electronics began. We as individuals simply had more things that we wanted to buy and incorporate in our lives.
However, what the "Me" generation also did was fundamentally change the way we serviced our clients as well. Since it was about "Me" first, our clients and their needs became secondary to our own. As a result, as a society, we moved away from true customer service and more toward solving problems by pressing button one for this and button two for that.
It used to be that you could talk to your branch manager at the bank and they truly were interested in solving your problems and had the decision-making ability to give you true solutions.
As a commercial real estate salesperson of over 25 years, I still hold the belief that you service your client above anything else. I have been involved in many deals where I have spent so much time and effort that if I were only concerned with what I would have earned it would not have been worth the effort. Nevertheless, I continued to work on those deals because my clients needed the service.
In the long run, I believe in the old belief that if you service your clients they will reward you with not only future business and referrals but also something even more important - a good word about you. That good word from a client develops your repetition, which if you can keep it at its highest possible level will reward you handsomely for many years to come.
- Hans Hansson, Starboard Commercial/TCN Worldwide