A lastminute call to the assistant manager, Jordan, at one of the North Norfolk coast’s busiest hostelries, the newly refurbished The Globe Inn, explaining a large group booking was delayed due to a late running cricket match, was met by a reassuring “we look forward to seeing you, no problem”. When the group that arrived was nearly double the planned size, thirsty cricketers and their families, space was quickly found for excellent food and drink.

Try calling a major life insurance company, a high street bank or a rail booking service with a last minute request, and you are lucky if you can find a customer service representative without waiting 15-20 minutes. Small businesses and their entrepreneurial managers are putting large corporates and their excessively paid executives to shame. When you read this week that publicly-listed insurance company executives in the UK and Europe are earning 180x their average employee’s annual salary, service is clearly not on their performance and reward metrics.