Winning Over Others’ Confidence
The director of a renowned institution had occasion to place an order for the printing of five thousand copies of a particular book. When the copies reached the institution, the owner of the printing press received a telephone call from the director of the institution demanding that he come and meet him immediately. The moment the owner of the press reached the institution, the director stormed in and vented his anger on him. He said to him, showing him a few printed copies: “Look how badly they are cut!” The owner of the press inspected the books and found that the cutting was actually skewed and because of this, one angle of the book was out of shape. He looked at the copies but remained silent. On the other hand, the director went on displaying his anger. At last when the director was done, the owner of the press said quite sincerely: “Why are you so upset? It’s my loss and I should be the one to be upset.”
“What do you mean? How is it your loss?”
“It is obvious that I cannot give you the book in this condition. I will take these books away and print new copies for you. It is my responsibility. I have to give you proper work, no matter how much of a loss I may suffer.” The director’s tone changed as soon as he heard the owner of the press talk like this. The same person who had been expostulating angrily now became sympathetic, simply because the owner acknowledged his mistake. The director had not been expecting such an attitude. But when he saw that the owner of the press was not only acknowledging his fault but was also ready to compensate for it, it was natural that he should be impressed.
Changing his tone, he said, “No, you need not suffer so much of a loss.” When the press owner saw that the director had become sympathetic he said, “There is a solution to this. Please give me a few copies of the book, I will try to mend them and if I succeed, perhaps reprinting will not be necessary.” The director said: “Please do whatever you can.” The owner returned later with ten copies of the book, having carefully cut the corners of the book again. The director was pleased with the result. He said: “This is perfect. Please mend all the books in the same way.”
The press owner said, “A mistake which is an inch in the customer’s eye, I am ready to consider as a foot.” Such a procedure is very important if success is to be achieved in any business. By satisfying the customer, you can have him agree to anything. The press owner added: “In fact my thinking is that if I make a mistake and it comes to my notice, I must myself inform the customer that I have made a mistake and be ready to compensate for it any way he wishes.” The result is that the customer is won over, and without any inconvenience the matter is resolved.
