Paul Greenland, president of Aetna Building Maintenance in Columbus, Ohio, believes his biggest mistake was letting his ego get in the way of servicing a frustrating customer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe customer kept changing his expectation\/specifications and that made it difficult to manage to an end result,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe were never on the same page about the price\/quality ratio.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, instead of negotiating patiently, with proper service in mind, he let his ego take over \u2014 and it drove the account right into the hands of a competitor. The customer got fed up and switched contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI forgot that the customer isn\u2019t always right, but they are still the customer,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAfter a month of reflection and self-evaluation, I went back and apologized for letting my ego get in the way of servicing the account and not listening to the customers needs. The new company\u2019s service wasn\u2019t so great.In fact, it was terrible compared to us, and the customer was so impressed that I apologized, he gave us the account back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Greenland checks his ego at the door, and his company has much higher account retention than before.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is to always be the customer\u2019s advocate \u2014 sometimes even against my own company,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n