Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL)’s Post

Last week, our Sales & Customer Service Team shared an exciting update: we welcomed our first customer from Cameroon, bringing our tally to 173 countries! As I was thinking about writing a post about this milestone, I recalled a story from the early days of our company when Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) was staffed by Ed Schweitzer and a small team of people. Mark Weber, one of the first employees Ed hired and who still works in our R&D Division, received a call from an unhappy customer who was experiencing a problem with an SEL relay. Unsure of how to handle the situation, Mark put the customer on hold and asked Ed for guidance. Ed's response was simple: “It’s not his problem. It’s our problem. If he wants a new relay shipped next day air, let’s get one built and ship it to him.” When Mark asked, “What should we charge? He wants to know how much it’s going to cost him,” Ed replied, “We’re not charging him anything. It’s our problem. No questions asked.” I love this story because it so clearly illustrates our commitment to our customers from the very beginning. We understand that they are under no obligation to purchase products from SEL ever again. Every day, we need to earn their business. Our customers have important work to do, and all of us at SEL are privileged and empowered to help them do it. And when we earn a new customer—we celebrate it! #CustomerService #Engineering #Manufacturing #CommitmentToExcellence