Working for a national company that is approaching its 100 year anniversary, I often get questions from curious friends and newer customers asking about our formula for success in maintaining and growing our business. They are especially interested when they hear Western is a third generation family owned entity.
My short answer to these questions is, “It’s magic”.
To see and understand the magic first hand is relatively easy. One only needs to spend some quality time with any one of Western’s long time employees. I have a colleague at Western with whom I have worked closely the last couple years and who has been a mentor to me and become a good friend. This individual has served Western more than 30 years and plans to retire soon. To witness his vast inventory of relationships and detailed knowledge of his long time customers, from across the country and spanning decades, one quickly realizes that the magic of Western’s longevity and growth has everything to do with extraordinary customer relationships.
So what is the magic, exactly?
At its core, it is having a complete understanding of how our various customer businesses function in order to help us design and perform our services in ways that fulfill each customer’s unique definition of value. Achieving this understanding means establishing collaborative relationships with key customers that clear pathways to learning each other’s ideals, requirements and expectations. Finally, exercising mutual respect for these ideals and consistently meeting our customers’ expectations instills confidence and trust.
This earned trust is the magic. Pretty simple as magic goes. It’s trust that leads the way to loyal customers, new referral opportunities and successful outcomes of our restoration projects. The founding family at Western understood and initiated these principles of trust and current Western management continues to nurture this cultural heritage which thrives inside Western today.
As for my retiring colleague, his Western career achievements and vast contributions along with his inspiration in the art of gaining trust will be duly celebrated when the time comes. His legacy will solidify into the next layer of our historical foundation helping define Western’s past success and influencing Western’s future destiny.
Respectfully,
Doug Phillips-Regional Business Development Manager