At your service

I visited an employer's office on Wednesday for a first round interview. I checked in with the receptionist 10 minutes before the interview and told her that I had a meeting with the hiring manager at 10 am. She asked me to take a seat and let the manager know that I was there. While I was waiting at reception, a couple of representatives from a printing company showed up to visit someone else at the company. I'm quite sure that they were salespeople from the way they were dressed. I'm guessing that they were either there to pitch their business to the company or perhaps the company was already an existing client of theirs.

I was quite impressed with one of the salesmen. Throughout the wait at reception, he refused to sit down and instead stood beside a chair the entire time. He stood for at least 10 minutes and then my interviewer showed up and so I left the reception area. I'm sure the salesman kept standing until his client showed up. I have heard of consulting firms doing this for their clients/prospects. It creates a visual impression in the eyes of the client/prospect that this vendor is always at their service when s/he stands for them. I was impressed and I know if I was the client, little things such as that would make a difference to me. In marketing services, little things such as that go a long way in differentiating one company from its competitors.