Like sand in the Sahara, there is plenty of it around. Complacency seems to be the inevitability of lots of business, no matter what size. A visit to No.15 Cafe in Penrith, Cumbria at the weekend was a very visible and tangible example of complacency. The service was terrible, the care of customers of tertiary importance and the experience non existent. It left me feeling extremely irritated. They truly didn’t give a stuff.

It’s tragic because with the advent of abundance, there is too much scarce exceptional experience. The introduction of some ‘branded’ cafe’s shouldn’t make a jot of difference. Competition should not keep us on our toes, we should be there already. An old boss of mine used to say, the worst thing you can do is become complacent, he was more than right.

This experience is a jolt into reality. It got me thinking about my business and whether we are complacent. Every three months, all businesses need to be asking “where have we got complacent?” It’s our obligation to ensure we don’t let ourselves down nor our clients.