Headaches

At our company we try extremely hard to give great service to every single customer. However, last week we failed on an order for one of our best customers. This particular customer (who I admire because of his great attitude and positive outlook) placed an order on a Friday for immediate delivery. Unfortunately the paperwork was accidentally misfiled into a “Pending Folder” instead of into our “Daily Deliveries Folder”. We did not discover the mistake until the following Monday which made the order very late and caused a major “headache” for our customer.

Nobody likes to make a mistake. But sometimes if you handle the situation properly, it can be a chance to shine and show people how much you truly care. As soon as I received his phone call I went to work researching the problem. My staff helped me to locate the missing paperwork and as soon as we did, we began filling his order and loading it into our Sales Manager’s car, who personally drove it over to the customer. Included with the delivery was a hand written apology that I wrote out personally along with a gift card to help offset the customer’s valuable lost time. I followed up with a phone call and found out the customer was extremely pleased with our rapid response and sincere apology. I also held a Sales Meeting at our office to review the problem with our entire staff and discuss ways to prevent it from happening again.

When it was all said and done, we had a stronger relationship with our customer. And because we made an effort to learn from our mistake, we were able to put procedures in place to help us prevent that type of problem from happening in the future; a win/win for all of us!

Learning from mistakes is crucial in business but it’s just as important in our personal lives. Obviously as human beings we are going to make mistakes and we are going to commit sins. It’s just part of our nature to be imperfect. But when we discover we have done something wrong we have a choice as to how we respond….and how we respond is what will ultimately define our character. The next time you make a mistake, see it as a chance to showcase your true character and chances are instead of a “headache” you will come out “ahead”.

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.
~ John Powell