Unyielding Integrity | Building Long-Lasting Business Relationships with Openness and Honesty
By: Meaghan Ziemba, Marketing Communications, MackingChips
In today’s hyper-competitive, digital world, consumers have access to more information than before right at their fingertips. The bar has been raised for companies in terms of honesty, transparency, and integrity and consumers quickly dismiss those that do not meet their high expectations and standards.
Companies need to be transparent, open minded, and honest in order to be customer-centered and customer-focused. These characteristics make up a company’s integrity, and are important for long-lasting, successful business relationships.
Advanced Machine & Engineering (AME) established Unyielding Integrity as one of its core values, because without it the company will fail to grow.
Unyielding: Not apt to give way under pressure
Integrity: Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty
Your Word is Your Bond
AME CEO and Industrial Entrepreneur, Dietmar Goellner, recalls a time when he took a shortcut in terms of offering a product to a customer. He claimed to have deviated from a certain spec which created an issue in the part later on. At that moment, he failed to act with integrity.
“We had to make it right, and from that point on I made the vow that integrity would be first and above any potential costs benefits,” says Goellner.
Switching to a customer-focused culture allows AME to develop long-lasting relationships based on trust.
“Your word should be your bond,” claims Goellner. “People will trust, honor, and respect you if you consistently demonstrate integrity.”
Dishonesty - The Recipe for Disaster
A critical component of integrity is honesty. AME strives to be the manufacturing company in the industry known for its transparency.
“If we cannot manufacture a certain part, we not only admit to it, but we also recommend other manufacturers to our customers to help build a trusting relationship,” says Steve Schubert, Chief Operating Officer at AME. “We want to be known in the manufacturing community as a company with integrity that doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. We don’t make commitments we can’t live up to.”
Schubert explained that dishonesty is a recipe for disaster. If you make a mistake and do not own up to, the people who work around you will adopt or evolve that same type of behavior. As an organization gets larger, more opportunities for distrust can develop.
Manufacturers need to develop a business culture that focuses on their customers’ need and goals to drive everyone towards their mission. Unyielding integrity is the first step towards the right direction.
Read more about our Core Values