White glove + Black glove = Gray glove
This isn't a 1v1 battle of white glove vs black glove because I truly believe that if we treat every human being with dignity, respect, and kindness and not judge by appearance or job title that we can provide everyone a great customer experience.
When I first heard the term 'white glove service' in my field it rubbed me the wrong way because I've always been taught that no matter who your customers are, you treat them well and provide the best service and experience you possibly can no matter who they are. I guess I wasn't a fan of providing white glove service just to a particular set of customers when we should be providing it for everyone. One day I came across a site and I was blown away by what they call 'black glove service' because of how they defined it.
"What is “black glove” service? “White glove” service is great for some things (see: Detailing your car), but is an incomplete experience when it comes to IT. Black Glove services continuously work behind-the-scenes to meticulously architect the perfect IT experience. Think of our team as the stage crew that ensures your performance goes off without a hitch. The user's experience is on center stage." Blackglove
Now this was something I can get behind. I've kept this idea of black glove service in the back of my mind since I came across it because it's something I always wanted to strive for when serving customers. Maybe it's the idea of the stage crew and all the behind the scenes work that I can relate to so much since I used to run the sound system at a church and making sure the service and performance goes off without a hitch. So where does gray glove come in? Good question. As I was on a run, I realized that instead of turning this into a 1v1 thing I could look at it like this. Gray glove service is providing support or customer service regardless of who they are and is never reserved for those with a title, appearance, or ______(fill in the blank). With gray glove service the experience matters and to provide customers a great experience the behind-the-scenes team all work together harmoniously to make sure the customers experience is on center stage. Not to take away from the customer's experience but the team behind the scenes is just as important because we all have to work together as a team to achieve greatness. Let's do something great. Let's be crazy amazing!