Good vs Bad Profits

It stung when I had to call a client today to let him know I had screwed up. I hate screwing up. The mistake could have cost our company a good bit if it wasn't for the fact that our client caught the issue just in time. Our client was depending on us to take care of something for them, and we let them down and probably lost some trust. We'll have to regain that, but that's for another post. Today, I'm focused on a side conversation we had at the office about it. We were discussing our liability in situations like this. We talked about that fact that ultimately, it doesn't really matter whose direct fault it was. What matters is that we were at the helm when something went wrong, so guess what - its our fault and our problem. That's not pleasant news for most folks, as it leaves no room to wiggle out.

When faced with issues like this, you can try and get down to the nitty gritty details and see if there's some way you can put blame on someone else so they have to pay for the mistake. But all you will have done is forced someone's hand into paying you for something they're not excited about. You'll also probably ensure that they'll never come back to your company for future business. Your other option is to suck it up, take responsibility, pay up whatever cost the mistake incurred, and show your client that you really are interested in their success. You or your company may initially loose some money going in that direction, but you're far more likely to not only retain that customer, but have them recommend you to someone else down the road.

Deal with the initial loss incurred by giving up "bad" profits - don't chase after them. Instead focus on profits for which you've provided something excellent to your customers - profits you'll have earned that your clients were happy to pay.