Background of the story

A helicopter engine manufacturer specified a very lightweight ignition unit to start their new engines. They required 2 units per engine for redundancy. 

Our product could meet the technical requirements including the lightweight. However, instead of offering 2 separate units, we proposed a single unit with 2 outputs. 

The customer rejected our solution as it did not meet their requirements to have 2 totally independent circuits. However, they agreed to continue talking to us as they couldn’t find a supplier capable of meeting their stringent weight requirements.

We proposed to visit the customer in the South of France, which at the time involved a long trip from the UK. 

On arrival the customer could only see us for 10 minutes in a corridor. We explained briefly that we could demonstrate the reliability of our twin-output unit and we offered to send them one for testing.

The customer was sceptical but agreed to test a unit on their rig. Despite our disappointment with the way we had been treated we were pleased that the door was not closed and that they had agreed to test our product.

What happened

On our return to the UK, we quickly shipped a unit to the customer. We also provided them with a paper analysis substantiating our claim regarding its reliability.

The customer fitted our unit to their rig and started testing it.

However, to our horror, they called us shortly after the test started to inform us that our unit had failed!

How we responded

Our engineers immediately carried out a thorough analysis to identify the most likely cause of the failure.

To regain the confidence of the customer, we offered to travel to their site again and investigate the failed unit in front of them.

We arranged another trip, this time with our chief engineer who had practiced the investigation on another unit in our lab.

On arrival he opened the faulty unit and swiftly identified the failed component.

He explained to the customer why the component had failed, and he detailed the design changes identified to ensure this failure could never happen again. 

The customer asked many questions and seemed impressed by the answers given.

On our return to the UK we sent a unit of the revised design to the customer, who agreed to test it on their rig.

This time the modified design performed faultlessly on test.

A few months later the customer informed us that we had won the tender, and we received an order for the first batch of production units!

Lessons learnt

Persistence

• Proactively helping the customer to solve their problem rather than just reacting to their detailed (but unrealistic) specification.
• Continuing to try and persuade the customer to use our solution despite the serious setback during testing.

Openness

• Not falsely pretending to be able to meet fully the original technical specification.
• Being prepared to investigate the faulty unit in the presence of the customer.
• Explaining in detail the proposed design change and the reasoning supporting our analysis.

Proactivity

• Offering to visit the customer in the first place despite their apparent reluctance.
• Responding to the failure within a couple of days and offering to investigate it on-site shortly after.

Technical competence

• Understanding our design thoroughly so we could diagnose the problem in our lab.
• Detailed preparations before the investigation.
• Investigation carried out by our most experienced and technically competent engineer.

Conclusion

In business, the temptation to delay or soften difficult messages is strong. However, immediate transparency, while initially painful, often proves to be the best long-term strategy for building and maintaining strong relationships.

When we choose immediate honesty, we demonstrate respect for our customer and for their confidence in our ability to weather challenges. In the end, it is not our successes but how we handle our failures that truly defines our professionalism.

I can help you

I work with overstretched leaders of engineering SMEs to help them prepare their business so they can achieve profitable growth.

To explore how I could help you, please use the link below to arrange a free 30-minute conversation.

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