Sorry....

My in-laws unexpectedly dropped in from out-of-town one day. I took them to our favorite Italian restaurant for dinner. When our orders came, my father-in-law’s meal was missing. I flagged our waitress, Veronica, and told her.

"It’s probably coming up," she said and walked away.

Then, I noticed I hadn’t gotten my side order. So I flagged Veronica again. She still wasn’t apologetic but she was confused.

"Hmm. I’ll check on that," she said turning.

"Oh, can you check on our bread, too?" my wife chimed in.

Veronica turned on her heals and sighed

"Didn’t you get bread with your salads?" she inquired.

"No," Beth replied. "That’s why I’m asking."

The kitchen’s mistakes weren’t Veronica’s fault. But her response impacted her tip -- and our loyalty to the restaurant. The same is true for how you and your company handle mistakes.

Mistakes happen. Having a good system in place can turn comebacks into happy repeat customers. A system teaches all your employees a uniform method of dealing with mistakes and avoids "seat-of-your pants" solutions that could come back to bite you in the "seat-of-your-pants".

I don't think Veronica ever said "sorry". Some people think the word "sorry" is a sign of weakness or an admission of guilt. It's neither. It's a sign that you care about your customer. That one word can make all the difference in diffusing a customer's reaction -- or overreaction as the case may be. Start with "I’m sorry."

But don’t stop with "sorry." One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to just give your customer lip service. Work to do more than make good on the problem -- make up for it.

-- Phil Sasso