PBL Articles

Mistakes happen. We wish they wouldn’t but they do. Sometimes our suppliers let us down or our staff forget to communicate clearly to each other. Sometimes a fantastic system or process we had spent so much time and energy to setup gets forgotten or bypassed.

So, as Business Owners, how should we respond if we’ve made a mistake?

1. Quickly admit your mistake to the client and be honest about it. Transparency is important in building credibility and trust. Ask a senior staff member to follow up with your customer in person or on the phone regarding the situation so that they feel like you are taking the mistake seriously. Put an apology in writing straight away and, depending on the circumstance, also send a gift with the apology.

2. Fix it. Find out exactly what the problem was and work quickly to get it corrected. This may mean staff overtime, extra costs or replacement products but this is a key to keep your customer. The last thing we want to do is lose a customer over a mistake.

3. If necessary, compensate for the mistake. First speak with the client about their expectations before you go in and make an offer of compensation. Getting an understanding of this will save you.

4. Follow up. Even if the client is not a regular customer, a “how are we going” phone call one month after the initial incident goes a long way to reassure your customer’s confidence in your abilities.

5. Evaluate. Why did this mistake happen? What staff members need additional training? Which suppliers do we need to assess? What system or process broke down?

6. Systems and Training. Put the processes and training in place to make sure the occurrence of future mistakes are minimised. The service recovery tools described above can illustrate to your customer how much their business means to you. If handled the correct way, it is possible to turn a mistake into an amazing opportunity as your client-business relationship is strengthened and your internal processes are addressed.

Oscar Wilde said that “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” I guess some of us are just more experienced than others.

Mark Barrett is a Director of Pittwater Business Limited and the Director of CIMarketing, an online marketing agency based in Brookvale. www.cimarketing.biz