This is a guest post from Zane Safrit, Small Business Consultant

Mistakes are part of life. Some say they are the bigger part of life for entrepreneurs.

Maybe.

Mistakes will be the bigger part of our lives as entrepreneurs unless we have a path to turn them not only into learning lessons but also for opportunities to create stronger relationships with our stakeholders.

Here are the 5 steps I have mastered* that helps me turn mistakes into opportunities:

GIVE IT IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

Don’t wait. Stop working toward that future opportunity. Give this mistake, real or perceived, your immediate attention. It offers a golden opportunity for a meaningful conversation with your stakeholder about what is important to them.

ACKNOWLEDGE IT IMMEDIATELY

The mistake is very real to the person who suffers from it.

They have honored you by coming to you for a solution. Albeit, their first few words may not be honorifics. We have no time for idle chit-chat when a mistake has landed on our lap. We go to the first person we think can solve it.

You may be the right or wrong person to solve their problem. That is up to you. The first step though is to acknowledge they have a problem and they brought it to you.

BE A HUMAN

Talk like a human. Use real language that you use in everyday conversation within a professional environment. Standard scripts are for standard procedures. Mistakes are not standard.

Do not…do not…say “I understand your feelings.” If you did, then you would not use that canned line because it only serves to escalate those feelings.

TAKE OWNERSHIP

They came to you for a solution. Honor them by taking ownership of finding a solution AND reporting back to them your progress towards it.

WHAT ELSE?

Here’s where the opportunity for a stronger relationship rests. Many companies operate under the assumption that the conversation ends once the mistake has been corrected and no longer interferes with the stakeholder’s day. That denies reality. Their reality is that their time and money has been lost in bringing this mistake to your attention. Like the current oil spill in the gulf, it is not enough to merely stop further oil leaks into the Gulf. You must also clean up and restore what was undone by those leaks.

What else do I need to do to make this right for you?

I was called on as CEO of a small company only a few times to address a customer’s unhappiness. I have seen many executives in my position hide behind technicalities or finger-pointing to not only avoid responsibility but avoid even the conversation. I could have taken the same path blaming suppliers or mother nature or hiding behind contract terms.

Instead, I would call the customer after the spill had been cleaned up. I would go through each of these steps again with them. And then I would ask:

What else do I need to do to make this right for you? Tell me what else I need to do to make this right for you.

I held my breath each time. Had they asked for…anything more I would have given it to them.

We were fortunate. Never once did the customer ask for anything else. And not only that, but they brought more business and sent more referrals to us.

Try these. Let me know how it works. And, if you have other approaches, then share them.
We need all the tools and we can share with each other.

Zane Safrit, Blog: www.zanesafrit.com