Professionalism.

This last week, I got the opportunity to attend Mecum Auto Auction in Indianapolis. If you don't know, it's basically a big car show/auction. Over 3000 cars were there to be sold and most all of them have significance of some sort. It was a really fun weekend and I got to spend some quality time with my friend Brady and his dad, Justin.

While in Indianapolis, we stayed at a bed and breakfast downtown, and as you might assume, parking was limited. After the auction on our last night there, we pulled in and sure enough, the lot was full. Looking for parking, the lady working came outside and asked if we were looking for parking, and then continued to tell us we could park on the street. Then, in an attempt to save her seemingly unwelcoming suggestion, she offered us the employee parking spot. Great idea, however, it was extremely unprofessionally delivered. Her suggestion was, "Well, I'm leaving so you can park in my spot. I'm not working in the morning so it doesn't matter to me. The other girl working in the morning will probably bitch about it, but I don't care."

The initial suggestion of giving up the employee parking spot for a customer was indeed a great one. However, the lack of professionalism in the suggestion made it once again unwelcoming. We then spent the next 15 minutes laughing about how someone could take such a great customer service approach while having such a terrible customer service performance. The correct answer obviously would have been along the lines of, "I'm sorry the lot is full. I am actually getting ready to leave if you would like to park in the employee spot. I can message the person working in the morning to let them know I approved of you parking there so it doesn't become an issue for you."

The point of this story is that when working with customers, and really anyone for that matter, acting professional is just as important as being professional. A serving solution should still be followed with a servant attitude. If our attitude and delivery don't align with our intention, we can totally miscommunicate our intention as well as destroy our attempt at good service. A professional attempt with an unprofessional attitude and delivery will most always appear as unprofessional.

Whatever the job, professionalism is always deeper than just the intentions. Aligning our attitude and delivery with our intention is just as important as the intention itself. When our attitude and delivery align with our professional intention, we appear professional.