Hold the Wedding! We have One More Guest
How important is trust, trustworthiness and being a trusted advisor to your clients? Important enough to hold off the wedding for one late, but important, guest.
The following true story came directly from the mouth of a very senior private bank executive at a UK based (with large operations in Singapore) bank.
He was accentuating the importance of his relationship with a dedicated client.
“The wedding was to be a large Indian wedding- large as most Indian wedding are. This wedding happened to be on the mystical island of Bali.”
” So we packed up our bags and boarded the plane, ready for a relatively short trip to Bali.”
“Low and behold, the plane was late taking off. We would inevitably be late. What to do? This was my best private wealth client. This could embarrassing and more importantly, could seriously hurt my relationship.”
“We arrived about 30 minutes late, sped to the hotel to change. Of course, in Bali, the traffic can be horrific, and it was. After speeding to the hotel, bouncing off the traffic, we arrived one hour late. What was I to say?”
“When we got there, hundreds of people were waiting for the wedding to start. Why hadn’t it started?”
“Well, my friend,” said the father of the bride, “we have delayed the wedding for you. You are an important guest.”
Wow. Trust can go far.
This is a classic case of what happens when one is the trusted advisor.
It goes beyond the business relationship.
(for more on how to achieve the Trusted Advisor status based on the four levels of client relationships, see the following)
Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore
Tags: Banking, Private Wealth, Trust
