As a consumer, I tend to be loyal – almost to a fault. I buy Nissan cars, LG televisions, Maytag appliances, and, until recently, Hewlett-Packard computers. Like most people, it takes a lot for me to shift my worldview away from the brands I feel strongly about. Three months ago, I bought a new laptop from Hewlett-Packard (HP) and have had nothing but challenges with the machine since it was delivered. In short, the hard drive was corrupt, causing the computer to freeze up and shut down. After numerous online chat sessions and phone calls, I finally persuaded the company to take the product back for the necessary repair – which was done over a two-week period.
Sadly, the saga continued two weeks ago as my repaired machine simply refused to function after it froze while I worked on a presentation. I was finally able to power up the laptop only to find that no Microsoft programs – including Windows – would work. As the product is only three months old and well under warranty, I quickly reached out to HP and asked to return the product for a full refund. As I write this blog, I am still waiting for a final resolution to my request.
This got me to thinking that the real definition of business is problem resolution. Perfection is impossible – both in life and in business: things break, merchandise is not decorated properly, colors don’t match, deadlines are missed, and some products are lemons like my HP laptop. Therefore, success lies not in the elimination of problems but in the art of creative, profitable problem solving.
Business is problem solving.
The way in which an organization navigates rough seas and addresses mistakes define its heart and soul. The worst mistake, however, is to not figure a way to be in a better place after having made a mistake. I call this controlling the outcome.
When a mistake happens, the person on the receiving end will naturally tell their friends about it – that’s just human nature. While you can’t simply erase the mistake, you do have the power to control the outcome so at least the story will end the way you want. If you create a great outcome, you can earn a victory with your client. In addition, the person will have no choice but to focus on how well you responded to the mistake when telling anyone about it. When you acknowledge a mistake has been made and genuinely express regret for having made it, clients will almost always give you a chance to earn back their favor.
The time frame for addressing mistakes is critical. When something goes wrong, it is essential to contact the client as soon as possible – no longer than 24 hours. At the same time, immediately analyze and review your own performance to determine exactly what went wrong. No matter how much you want to try and erase what’s happened, you can’t. Therefore, there’s no reason to wait for a second or third email from someone who has now cc’ed his boss on your failure and lack of responsiveness. Instead, take the initiative to control the outcome:
1) Respond Graciously – And do so immediately. You’re going to have to resolve the mistake eventually and it’s always much less costly to resolve the matter as early as possible.
2) Be Generous – By erring on the side of generosity, you defuse the inherent frustration in the situation. Apologize and make sure the value of redemption is worth more than the cost of the initial mistake.
3) Write the Last Chapter – People love to share stories of adversity. Use this to your advantage by writing the last chapter the way you want it to be told. Use all your imagination and creativity to create delight in your response turning a negative into a positive.
4) Learn from the Mistake – Use every new mistake as a teaching tool with your team. Unless the mistake involved a lack of integrity, the person who made the mistake has helped your organization by providing new opportunities to improve.
5) Make New Mistakes Daily – There’s no reason to waste time by repeating the old ones.
To succeed in business – any business – you must welcome the inevitability of mistakes. It’s critical to accept and embrace ongoing mistakes as opportunities to learn, grow, and profit.
At the outset of my issue with HP, I wasn’t upset as I know that there is a failure rate of approximately 8% on laptop computers. However, as I moved through the “customer service” process, my irritation multiplied exponentially simply because the company refused make it easy for me to get a refund on the computer and, at times, seemed to intentionally make it as difficult and time consuming as possible. The result is that HP has lost a life-long client and I have no issue sharing my experience with others because they didn’t control the outcome.
In business, the road to success is often paved with mistakes well handled.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.