Never give up.
Another long and busy week is almost over, and on Friday afternoons I usually take a moment to reflect on what I've seen from our customers and our team. You have to share a whole lot of information to make customers happy-sometimes it feels like too much. But I understand that some customers prefer to hear about every nut and bolt while others just want to hear when something gets done. The hard part is keeping in step with each customer's preferences as you work through their open issues. This is the sort of fuzzy relationship thing that you can't simplify by writing a company policy or working it into a formal process. You have to have dedicated people who are sensitive enough to pick up on the cues customers give them. You can coach and advise to help develop this talent in your staff, but you can't expect people to learn it from a manual.
I'm very proud of our dedicated team. They have the desire and sensitivity it takes to make customers happy, and at the end of this week I feel satisfied that we made a difference for the customers who counted on us.
As a company we seem to have a knack for excelling at long shots. When we started PSS, most people thought we'd fail pretty quickly. I never believed we couldn't succeed, and I think that's one of the things that contributed to our making it happen. When I look at our team, I see similar qualities. No matter how difficult a customer problem they encounter, I never see any of them tackle a problem thinking we might not be able to find a solution. If it can be done, they will find a way.
I think most of our customers understand that this is what we bring to the table. We may not have every answer for every question, but we will find the answer if it can be found. We have a team that won't give up. We absolutely need to maintain this culture as we grow, and I consider that my most important job as an executive.
