Recently, I called a major hotel in the Melbourne CBD, not far from Exhibition Street, to book three days for a training course. The hotel was fully booked and their events manager explained she could not help me. Fair enough, it was at short notice, but what happened next was disappointing. Could she recommend another training venue in the CBD? The answer was a big, flat final "no". So, if we take this events manager's response at face value, there are no other venues in central Melbourne worthy of recommendation.
Having run many training courses in and around Melbourne for over a decade, I know it is patent nonsense to suggest that the event manager's venue is the only place worthy of using. In fact, from what I know of the joint, it wouldn't normally make my top 10, let alone my number-one choice. Yet this manager was so blinkered, she obviously felt it was better to be unhelpful, and I would go so far as to say wilfully lie, than to pass on business she could not accommodate. What a pathetic state of affairs.
Mean-spirited behaviour is always unattractive. Perhaps this manager never had to share her toys as a child. Perhaps she was following orders not to promote a competitor. Just maybe, she was sold a corporate line that recommendations are inherently risky, because one can never be responsible for the service one refers to. However in this context, none of these excuses pass muster. It is a niggardly, self-interested attitude that has everything to do with personal concern, and nothing to do with customer service. It is a sign of insecurity in one's own offer.
Sharing is one of the most effective ways of building rapport, respect and trust. Companies generally invest huge amounts in trying to generate that level of customer goodwill. The abundance mentality whereby everybody recognises that there is sufficient to go around is a powerful and successful approach to developing a positive reputation in the market.
It seems particularly absurd in this day and age, when consumer choice is fuelled by an abundance of information online. All this silly manager achieved was to waste slightly more of my time searching for an alternative. In fact, they achieved a lot more. They damaged their hotel's reputation in my eyes. They annoyed me, and provoked me to ensure they never get my business. If I continue to feel so annoyed I will extend this ban to all the other hotels in their chain. If you want a positive reputation and the business that flows from it, there is nothing more powerful you can do than be helpful to others.
Jim Bright is Professor of Career Education and Development at ACU and a partner at Bright and Associates. Email opinion@jimbright.com. Follow @DrJimBright
