WOW Word-Of-the-Week #392: Regard
February 6, 2012 by Susan Clarke
Regard – consideration and respect for a person.
Do you feel you treat the people in your personal and professional life with consideration and respect? Do you feel that you are treated with consideration and respect by your customers, guests, clients, members, co-workers, bosses, or employees? How about your family and friends?
This is the third in the series of WOW’s from my book, “The FUN-Damental Secrets of Service: How to have FUN and make your 
customers feel good about spending their money!” The R in SERvice stands for Regard. I believe in the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as though you are the others.” If you want to be treated with high regard then you need to treat the people around you with consideration and respect. Every person that you come in contact with deserves to be treated with high regard.
Your customers, guests, clients, or members are not just “another transaction.” They are human beings with wants and needs – the same as you. They want and deserve to be treated the same way you do when you’re a customer, and that is with courtesy, dignity, politeness, and respect.
By the same token, you must hold yourself and your job in high regard too. You’re not just filling up time and space, but you are helping people make their lives better, no matter what you do. Each thing you do has value and is worth something.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO: when you serve people, you are affecting their lives. Look at your customers, guests, clients, or members as part of your extended family. Which brings me to;
FUN-damental Service Secret #3
“It’s Not a Customer; It’s a Guest!
It’s Not Your Business; It’s Your Home!”
This week focus on how you much regard you hold for the people in your life. Could you treat your customers, guests, clients, or members with more consideration and respect? How would it feel to treat everyone like guests in your home instead of strangers in your business? How does it feel when you are treated with consideration and respect as a customer?
Reader Responses
“I absolutely love this and try to stress it in our office. Thank you so much for sharing it – I have printed it out and taped to my monitor!“ – Mary
“Great word. I have to admit that when I first saw the word it reminded me of a “Seinfeld” episode. One woman was having a conversation with Elaine when the subject of George Costanza came up. The woman told Elaine to “send her regards” to George. Elaine told George that the woman said “hi.” When George called the woman, she agreed to meet him. George, thinking it was a date, was obviously excited to see the woman, whom he had been interested in the past. While driving, the woman asked George if he considered their meeting a date. George said that he had, because of what Elaine had told him. The woman said, “George, I never told Elaine to say hi to you. I told her to send my regards.” I guess that is not the same thing as saying hi. In any event, I liked what you said about the Golden Rule. Treat others as if you were the others. Not enough of us do that on a regular basis. When I am at work, I treat my co-workers and bosses with dignity and respect. I try to listen to everything they ask and request during the day. I give them the benefit of the doubt. While it certainly has a lot to do with the fact that I like the people I work with and for, I like to be treated as well. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I make it a point to remember the birthdays, anniversaries and special events in the lives of family and friends, with cards and/or phone calls. Whether I receive them in return does not matter, because it is important to me to do that every year. While it would be nice to have it acknowledged, I do it because I WANT TO; not because I will get that acknowledgement. It helps me to get out of myself. Besides, we don’t do enough writing of letters, cards and thank you notes in our society today. I regard all of them as special. My younger brother has six children. On a regular basis I would send birthday cards, congratulatory cards and other remembrances to them. My brother told me not to send the cards anymore because his kids and his ex-wife would throw the cards in the garbage without opening them. They figured since I did not put money in the envelopes there was no point in opening the cards. So, I did not send cards to his kids anymore. I was tempted once to put money or a gift card in one of the envelopes, and then call to ask if they received it. But, I decided not to. I guess these are the times we live in, Susan. But it is important to still treat others with respect, whether others do it or not. WE have to show the example. Whether others follow it or not is up to them.” – “Warrior” Joe