I recently heard an anecdote about a top executive who, upon visiting a client, was asked, “why are you here?” The client was curious that this executive would come out personally, rather than sending a junior employee. He didn’t think his account was “worth” the executives’ time.

Is this the new normal? Working at a) an agency, b) that represents many B2B, service-oriented firms, all of whom aim to deliver service excellence, I find this distressing.

I am very much in favor of the greater efficiencies technology can afford us. Sometimes, a video call can get the job done, and we all know there are certainly meetings that could have been an email. But there is still a time and a place for, quality in-person time. And sometimes, just making the effort to be there is a statement in and of itself—as the anecdote above shows.

A brand consultancy, like any firm, is above all a people business. We need to understand the people behind the brands, to help them articulate those brands in an authentic way. Here at Tenet, we pride ourselves on working collaboratively, ensuring the final product is something we helped our clients realize, not something we dictated to them. All of this takes a level of connection. We can make those connections in many ways, and technology frequently plays a part in that, particularly when working with global, remote teams. But at key moments in any engagement, we still find it invaluable to be there, in person, to feel and feed off the energy in the room.

Does this now count as “concierge” service? Has the highly engaged executive become the elusive phantom of the business world? Based on the many dedicated, invested clients with whom we work, I would say no. But maybe it’s selection bias—maybe, because those are our values, we are engaged by clients who value the same.