One thing I have ZERO relationships with?
PERFECTION.
As Queen frontman, Freddy Mercury sings in We Are The Champions… “Bad mistakes, I’ve made a few…”
And that list of miscues… Well, it’s longer, and in some cases more egregious, than I’d care to admit. More than a few instances are downright embarrassing.
But hey, I’m only human. And to error is (or so I’ve been told, usually in a vain attempt to cheer me up after some spectacular blunder) to be human.
And guess what, friends? So are YOU! (Human, that is.)
Meaning, mistakes, more than a few, and even some — like Freddy’s “bad mistakes” — are in your future (never mind all those in your rearview).
Thus, running, hiding, or otherwise attempting to avoid mistakes is a futile pursuit, more likely to turn you into a crazed loon screaming at the top volume with a light pole at 4th + Broadway.
But while mistakes are ultimately unavoidable, that doesn’t make them inexcusable.
Yet on the other side of the coin, at some point, you have let your mistakes go a move forward.
Obviously, this is a balancing act, and far easier said than done. But fortunately, there is a protocol for handling your missteps.

The key to managing and overcoming mistakes?

It’s a two-fold process.
PART I: Owning Your Mistakes
We ALL make mistakes, right? Yup, we’ve already covered that.
But worse than making a mistake is denying your error or trying to avoid the inevitable consequences. It’s like old adage in political scandals: The cover-up is always worse than the crime.
So, rather than obfusticating or contradicting the facts, just admit the truth. And do so as soon as you discover your error.
There are bound to be consequences. But accepting those consequences is central to owning your mistakes.
PART II: Apologize
Acknowledging your error with regret and humility, and offering to make whatever restitution possible is the first step to repairing the damage.
Apologizing doesn’t erase the error or resolve the problem. And in some cases, there is no clear path to restitution.
But admitting your error demonstrates your character. And offering to make restitution shows your willingness to accept the full measure of your mistake’s consequences.

There are An Inevitable Costs to Your Mistakes — Be Prepared to Pay The Toll

In some cases, you may have to cover the monetary cost involved in resolving your mistake. In other cases, you may be forced to surrender your fee. And you might wind up losing a client.
But if you attempt to hide your mistakes, the toll is likely to much higher than if you fest up from the point of realization.

What Does All This Apology Business Have to do With Marketing YOUR Business?

…is the question you’re likely asking yourself right now.
Cooked down to its essential ingredients, marketing is communication.
Two things are key here…

Communications Is Critical

Your ads, your website, your email + social media campaigns are all communications vehicles. And the best of these vehicles clearly and persuasively communicate your message.
Consider great customer service (an unheralded aspect of effective marketing) for a moment… It always hinges on clear and direct communication that doesn’t leave a customer on the phone with a service rep attempting to “decode” the incongruent blather they’re being fed.
And functioning from this perspective… Fessing up to your mistakes, in both acknowledging the full measure of your miscue and in doing so in a timely manner, is part of effective communication.

Owning Up is Integral

As we’ve noted, making a mistake may lose you a client. It may even cost you money, whether you sacrifice your fee or are forced to make restitution if your winds up error cost your client money out-of-pocket.
But consider the cost of denying a mistake you’re ultimately found guilty for, attempting to shift blame, or delaying the admission of your mistake… You’re still likely to lose the client and take the financial hit.
Yet, by obfusticating, you also damage your reputation. The offended client may bad-mouth your services to colleagues and associates and other would-be customers. And even if they don’t actively criticize your business, they’re highly unlikely to refer you.
More troublingly, in the age of Yelp, Google + Facebook reviews, along with other online rating services, you run a serious risk of a disgruntled client posting a scathing review.
And thanks to the inimitable search ranking power of those sites and services, any negative reviews are likely to come up very near the top of search results for your business.
Alternatively, if you own your mistake, apologize, and make restitution, you’re likely to earn your client’s respect. And while the may not hire you again, they’re not likely to openly criticize your business. And they may even refer you.
I’ve had clients who weren’t happy with the outcome of a project and never hired me again. But given my willingness to own my part in the failed campaign, they still referred me to associates and colleagues (quite often, in fact ;—)
And I see that as a direct result of my willing acknowledgment of falling down in doing my job, a stumbled that ultimately hurt my client. But we ALL make mistakes, right? And clients realize that, too.
It’s the owning up, however, that makes clients sympathetic to the mistake making we’re all guilty of.
So, the lesson here? When it comes to mistakes… Acknowledge, apologize, make restitution, and move on.

Have You Ever Made a MAJOR Mistake in Your Business?

Drop by my LinkedIn page and share the details… What happened? How did you deal with the situation? And what was the ultimate outcome?