Am I in Good Hands?

POINT TO PONDER: “If your systems are “world class”, why am I still hurting?”  - One customer

 

STORY LINE: In early 90s, on my 5^th day at a new company, my boss invited me to join a quarterly review meeting that was to take place with a major computer manufacturer based in Texas. Our sales department had gotten wind of the customer's unhappiness with the performance  of our products. The sales department had alerted our headquarters in the Silicon Valley that it was not going to be a pleasant meeting.

 

The conference room was over loaded; our side having a full entourage; President, various Vice Presidents with their staff members, and some working level people (like me) were in attendance. Twenty minutes into the meeting it was clear that our sales person's Forecast was right. The customer was very unhappy with our performance and their internal department had recommended to give us one quarter to shape up or we would be disqualified.

 

After patiently listening to the customer's complaints (we had to - there was no choice), our Vice President of Engineering got up to present his response. He explained the details of how problems occurs due to the forming, trimming and singulation tools. The next foil was an organization chart. Our VP introduced,  "this person is my chief technologist, holds 28 patents," and the foil following, "the person in the next box had a Ph.D. in XYZ with specialization..." As he was introducing the impressive technical qualifications of the person in the third box, one of the customer's personnel intervened , "Can they solve my problem?”

 

There was a stunned silence in the room. Was this an innocent question or a deliberately sarcastic one? If it was sarcastic, it was rude to do that to him in front of so many of our executives and subordinates. But thinking deeper, it sounded very basic.

 

REFLECTION:The lesson that I learnt that day was very profound and carried with me throughout my career. In final analysis, what the customer was looking for was, "Am I in good hands?” Do these people give me enough confidence that they can solve my current problems?

 

This lesson has been also very helpful to me in designing the organization structure and recruiting people with relevant qualifications for the purpose for which an organization exists. Organization composition must not be about elegance but about people with the mindset of solving “Real” problems of customer and investors.

Comments

[Ryan J Ong]

An outsider (customer) can often ask the direct question that insiders miss (or forget). Simple and to the point.

[BHSC]

Great learning / story.. thank you my friend!

[Keith Dompier]

Right on the money, Anand as usual. I worked on both customer and supplier sides of business in my career and both were the same - “Why do we have these problems? Why aren’t they being solved?” Learned this early on dealing with automotive customers

[Humble Warrios]

"Am I in good hands?”
"Do these people give me enough confidence that they can solve my current problems?"

Great questions to ask yourself and others.

I have empathy for both sides.

The frustrated customer doesn't care too much about the process. They just want the results.

The supplier was proud of his teammates and was confident in them. A great quality to have and he displayed it publicly.