Post written by Paula White, Finance and Operations Manager at Bloq Management
When did it become unfashionable to care? This is something I have been thinking over this week.
Sales Visit
I had a meeting organised yesterday with a sales person. This was something that was set up a month ago and I knew the man was visiting me in Bristol from Manchester. I contacted him on Monday, prior to the meeting, to confirm if it was all still ok to come and to make sure he had other things organised that brought him this way. I was concerned that it was a long way for him to drive if it was just to see me, and if so could offer to see him on a day that suited his other diary plans better. As it was he was all set for the appointment and it worked with his other plans. However, when he arrived one of the first things he said to me was that in all his years in sales no-one had ever cared about him before. No-one had ever shown concern for his long drive or him and it seemed to please him that for the first time someone had seen him as more than his function.
House Purchase
I’m in the process personally of looking for a home to buy. This supposedly nice experience of finding somewhere to make a home has pulled me into a world that I am really struggling with. My eyes have been opened to the way of the industry being sellers who are ready to dump any already agreed sale for the chance of a few more pounds, and estate agents who are happy to encourage them to do so. My reluctance to offer on a home where a sale has already been agreed because of my care for the individuals who would be let down, seems to make me an alien in the house-buying world and probably unlikely to find a home any time soon! How can I not think of the people who had their offer accepted though and are already planning lives in their new home? How can I feel I want to give my money to an estate agent who doesn’t give these people a thought or a seller who shows no care for these people and is therefore unlikely to show any to me?
Life in the Bloq team
I often think that one of the strengths in our team at Bloq is in our team of a mix of people of different ages / backgrounds / experiences, we have a strong bond in that we all care. We care about each other – both as a member of the team at work and also as a person at home. We care about the buildings we manage and wanting them to be a protected investment for the owners and a nice place to live for the residents. We care about the developers building new homes and sharing our experience of how people might live in their development to ease their transition through handover period. We care about our supplier and contractor who provide us with services that allow us to deliver a good service onwards.
The extra mile
We smiled today as I was talking over how much it matters to me to care in an industry and a world where people seem to be more remote and more uncaring than ever before. We recalled the time we had a call from a couple on honeymoon for 3 weeks who had a panic at the airport that they’d left their food bin un-emptied in the kitchen and we popped into their flat on our site visit later that week and emptied it for them. Or the time when we had a call from a lady in Spain who had lost her contact lenses and we went to her flat, got her spare pair and posted them out to her. Well beyond the call of duty perhaps but when it’s not greatly out of your way and you’re blessed with the fact the you genuinely care about the people in need, then why not?