Can you think of a time your organization made a mistake and then handled it so well that the customer was pleased, kept doing business with you, and maybe even recommended you to others?
If so, congratulations! I hope it’s part of your company folklore so that everyone there can learn from it – both the mechanics and the philosophy.
And I hope you will share the story here so that people outside your organization can learn from it. Who knows…you might be on the receiving end of better mistake management because of it!
Need some examples first to trigger some memories? Here are a few stories we have collected over the years.
We spelled “university” wrong on the spine of a university publication!
Our contact at the university had overlooked in the proofing process. So had we. But it was okay, because there was still plenty of time to re-print the cover and get the books to campus on schedule. But our contact at the university didn’t want to wait. She felt like it was a small, unnoticeable error and preferred to be done with the project. And so – instead of taking the time to re-print the cover. We shipped the books with a known typo.
As soon as her boss’ boss saw the typo, he gave firm instructions to return the shipment to us and demand a re-print which would cost us $10,000. We could have refused. After all, she did approve the proofs and she gave instructions to ship “as is”.
But refusing would do nothing but destroy the relationship.
But $10,000? That would destroy our bottom line.
We had to come up with something and we did. We figured out a way to remove the type from the spine. It was a $1,000 solution! We made final delivery – and they accepted – 16 days ahead of schedule.
If desired, you can read all the details in What a mess. And YES! It WAS a MESS! With this mess though, was the opportunity to show the customer our commitment to making things right for them. And we certainly did that.
Fortunately – over the next 15 years of working with them – we never had another mess like this to resolve. But the entire time, they knew that if there ever was one, we would clean it up and make it right. This mess actually made them more loyal to us!
And that was certainly something to celebrate!
We Lost a Truck Somewhere in Mississippi!
We printed 15,000 books in North Carolina and sent them to Mack on a truck headed for Mississippi. The truck was due to arrive there in 3 days….a week ahead of our delivery deadline. Three days later, it hadn’t arrived. The trucking company gave a different excuse each time we called.
On the third day, Mack said to us, “If the books aren’t here in 24 hours, you’ll have to reprint them. And then, I’m going to cancel my contract!”
He didn’t care that it would cost $15,000 – 20,000 to reprint the entire shipment. He didn’t care that the truck would most likely be there any time. He just wanted his books and he felt like he was getting the major run-around. We did too – from the trucking company, which still couldn’t tell us the whereabouts of the truck and driver.
In deciding on how to handle various problems, my boss often said “Err on the side of action”. That meant I got to get on a plane headed for Mississippi the next day. To do what? Ride up and down the highways looking for a truck full of books?! She suggested I just show up in his office with coffee and doughnuts. And so the next day, I flew from North Carolina to Mississippi, got a rental car, bought a dozen doughnuts and a thermos of coffee and drove to Mack’s office. He was shocked to see me. I said, “You can hold me hostage until the truck arrives.”
He laughed hysterically. Then he got very serious and said, “But I still want my books.”
By just showing up in his office, he saw how serious we were about his concern. Then he heard me on the phone – frequently – with the trucking company. We were no longer some far off company saying in essence, “the check is in the mail.” He set me free from my hostage status so that I could get a hotel room that night. At 7:00 the next morning, I swung by the loading dock on my way to his office and … THE TRUCK WAS THERE!!!
I grabbed a box to show as proof of truck arrival and booked it to Mack’s office. He beamed when he saw it.
He had been ready to fire us two days earlier. But now, he was grateful. He knew it wasn’t our fault that the truck didn’t arrive as scheduled, but he appreciated the way we took responsibility for it – the strong action we took. He appreciated it so much that he offered to sign an early extension of his contract – for another 5 years. He was a customer for at least another 15 years and as far as I know, he is still a customer today.
In addition to my time, it cost us $850 (plane ticket, rental car, doughnuts, coffee, hotel room). We saved a $15,000 potential printing bill and we saved the relationship, which if lost, would have cost us several thousand dollars times at least 15 years. An additional benefit was the morale and productivity boosting effect the happy ending had on those back at the office.
Certainly a lot to celebrate!
Do you have a story to share? Please type in comments section below!
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