Messed up? Fess up! (updated June 2010)

by Jane-Michèle Clark

“If you mess up, ‘fess up.” When things go off the rails (and face it, they often do in business), I believe in telling the truth...and taking accountability. When I said this once, someone added (more than half seriously), “or as much as you can without jeopardizing your relationship with the client”. In my experience, if you’ve been doing a good job for your client, then you will never get into trouble by saying, “We made a mistake. These are the ramifications and this is what we are going to do to make it right.”

This is from my blog post, but felt the topic important enough to warrant its own article, so here goes.

Today I had the unfortunate experience to deal with a customer service rep who was not willing to concede that a mistake had been made with my account, even though I had the printouts to prove what I was saying was true and offered to fax or e-mail them. Her response, in a very condescending tone: “That won’t be necessary; we don’t make mistakes.”

Needless to say my blood pressure jumped 10 points with that comment – and I am not feeling too kindly about that wireless carrier at the moment. Dumb considering that I have been with them for 15 years and my “new” contract is about to expire!

Which brings me to this week’s post: “If you mess up, ‘fess up.” When things go off the rails (and face it, they often do in business), I believe in telling the truth...and taking accountability. When I said this once, someone added (more than half seriously), “or as much as you can without jeopardizing your relationship with the client”. Not a good idea.

My advice: Always tells the truth – especially to your clients. In my experience, if you’ve been doing a good job, then you will never get into trouble by saying, “We made a mistake. These are the ramifications and this is what we are going to do to make it right.”

This includes accepting responsibility for an error made by any member of your team – from a more junior employee to a third party “supplier/ subcontractor/ vendor” (I avoid all these terms as I find that by treating people as members of the same team, that the working relationships are better and the work more effective, but that is grist for another article mill). After all, you hired them. The client doesn’t care whose fault it is; they just want it to be fixed, and fixed properly. Now.

This will include paying whatever charges are necessary to make it right. It is important to let the client know what is being done to solve the problem, and to keep them informed along the way. Once you’ve explained how you will correct matters, it’s important to ask, “Is there anything else you would like us to do to make this right?” I have yet to have a client come back and add anything unreasonable to the mix. More often than not they have offered to contribute financially to the solution, or have suggested ways in which we can correct the problem more quickly and/or less expensively.

The only exception: When your client is partly to blame, you need to have a heart-to-heart with them and figure out an appropriate way to share related costs from the get-go.

Once the matter has been resolved, apologize one last time and move on. Do NOT bring it up again in the hopes of getting kudos for how you handled the problem. After all, you or your team made the mess; it’s only right that you were the one to sort it out.

The same advice holds true when you are the one who had screwed up at work. Own up to it, apologize and fix the problem and manage the fallout.

I was once asked if there is a process to follow when the yoghurt hits the fan. There is. The fleshed out version of this will be the subject of another blog, but here are the bare bone basics:
1) Investigate immediately.
2) Activate your response plan according to what has happened (and yes, this means you must have one!).
3) Be – and be seen to be – sympathetic and pro-active.
4) Get the press and social media on your side.
5) Apologize as appropriate; be sorry for what happened, even if it’s not your fault.
6) Do not deny culpability at the outset when it is not your fault; get a 3rd party to exonerate you.
7) Go the extra yard to make things right… be perceived to be doing the “right thing”.
8) Use the ‘incident’ to make improvements, and even become an industry leader in some areas – but do not use this as a PR tool!

For more on each of these steps, please read the “When the yoghurt hits the fan article”.


Copyright @2005-2010 Jane-Michèle Clark. All rights reserved.


Jane-Michèle Clark is president of The Q Group ( www.theQgroup.com ), a strategic positioning and marketing communications firm that has worked with many blue chip companies over the past 30 years. In addition to being seasoned business strategist and marketing expert, Jane-Michèle also teaches MBA level marketing at the top-ranked Schulich School of Business York University). Jane-Michèle is also a corporate trainer and speaker and 9-time nominee for the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Jane-Michèle can be reached at jmc@theQgroup. or by calling 416-424-6644.


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