Words suitable for a parent, not a business.

Ah yes, those six words – You’ll Get Nothing and Like It – the result of a few dinner time stand-offs in my days both as a child and a parent. You may be familiar with the situation, here is how it goes for me as a parent…

My wife willingly prepares dinner for 5, including kids with a variety of preferences. One who won’t eat anything he doesn’t like the look of, one who won’t eat anything he doesn’t like the texture of and one who will eat just about anything on her plate. The kid who eats anything on her plate may seem like a good deal but is really just an opportunity for her to act like an angel, rub it in her brother’s face and generally perpetuate an already bad situation.

So we tried a few remedies. After a short career of negotiating which resulted in compromised parental control the next natural and not-so-well-thought-out step was bribery. We bribed with desert, Wii time, TV time etc…which resulted in kids who expected a reward for every choking bite they managed to get down AND a noticeable increase in the number of foods the kids thought should qualify for a bribe. I mean when your kid expects to play video games in return for scarfin’ down that plate of chicken nuggets, you have an issue.

So then we began to ponder providing a variety of choices at each meal, catering to each child every meal, but the logistics and implementation quickly rose beyond our abilities – not to mention a clear loss for the parental team. So as it happens to many of us, those traits possessed by my parents which clearly made my youth miserable became the best solution. And though we do not shout “you’ll get nothing and like it!” – the message remains the same with the simple use of an under utilized word in the parental lexicon – NO.

• Do I have to eat this?      No.
• Can I have something else?     No.

It’s a beautiful thing to see what a kid will eat after only once making the choice to prove they can go to bed hungry. And over time we continue to try new meals we think will be a success and add any meal with moderate reward to our menu. The result is a broad menu of kid pleasing items, most of the time. It is a win/win.

But as a business, those six words are unacceptable. And even though our willingness, action and outcome of providing a variety of products for a medley of customers in a collection of industry are unmatched, we will still get an unsolvable application or two. And it is at this point where the process differs because we will then negotiate with the customer. This allows us to see if modifying an existing product could provide a solution.  Or we will gather more information about the application to decide if we can offer a different solution at a different point in the process. And at the very least we have listened to the customer and try to offer a potential solution even if it does not involve EXAIR at all.

We will not, however, bribe a customer – though a 30 day unconditional trial is a perk for an application we have not yet solved. And if the customer begins to expect it every time, no problem, it is a standard policy for every cataloged item.

Providing a more diverse product line to cater to each customer is the result of our ability to listen and act. For many years we have listened to what our customers need and want. After listening, we act. Our actions have produced completely new product lines of  Line Vac air operated conveyors and Air Wipes. It has also caused us to expand existing lines, Long Super Air Knives and Large Super Air Nozzles for example. And though we do not shout “you can get anything you want” – the message remains the same with the simple use of an under utilized word when a business is listening to a customer – YES.

• Do I have an application you can help with?     Yes.
• If I need something else, are you willing to help?     Yes.

It’s a beautiful thing to see how a customer responds to a business willing to help beyond selling their wares. And EXAIR recognizes the benefits of treating those customers  to the best of our abilities. It is a win/win.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
KirkEdwards@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_KE