As the story goes, many years ago, Gordon purchased insurance from a company that somehow got his name wrong and sent him correspondence addressed to ‘Dear Bernard’.

Fast forward a decade or more to our meeting many years after the relationship was terminated; Gordon has just received an unsolicited message addressed to ‘Dear Bernard’.

It provided a trail of evidence about where the company had purchased his contact number and served as a reminder of the original, bad customer service experience from the insurance company! Oops!

Names are so important and when people greet us by name, we feel respected, yet how often do we get it wrong or don’t even bother to remember them in the first place? We might get away with this in small social circles and be forgiven for never remembering names, but in business, this can make the difference between a client feeling seen, heard, and cared for and a client feeling as though they are disrespected and treated like a number.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying this is easy or simple, either on a personal level or on in business. On the contrary, as the business grows, getting names right, keeping our customer databases pure and correct, and doing everything we can to ensure that our customers feel cared for is really hard!

But it is the one thing that we must get right if we are to ensure that our customers feel that we ‘get them’ and know that we care. It is the reason why presidents, royalty and those in places of influence hire assistants just to ensure that they call everybody by their right name.

So, this week, I want to apologise if you have ever received messages from me or from Fetola that made you feel like a number. As we work on improving our communication systems and our database, I hope that we will always make you feel seen and heard, loved and respected.

The last thing I ever want is to do a “Dear Bernard” on you (unless, of course, your name is Bernard).

Have a fabulous week, stay in touch, and stay strong.

Kind regards,

Catherine