OUR MVP'S WANT TO KNOW!
This morning our MVP group had a lively discussion around a simple question: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received in your career? The conversation was both fun and thought-provoking but there is room for more advice. I thought it would be nice if we joined in the conversation and shared our words of wisdom. I’ll go first:
When I first started out, I really struggled with errors—whether it was something that slipped into the paper when I was designing, or mistakes I made as a sales rep. One day, I made a pretty big error of omission in a client’s ad. I was the sales rep, and the error was probably my fault (doesn’t really matter—it was big!), and I knew the client would be unhappy… if they noticed.
My boss at the time—who also happened to be my Grandma—asked me what I planned to do about it. I admitted I hadn’t decided yet and was hoping maybe the client wouldn’t see it. She quickly set me straight. She said, “No, you are going to pick up the phone and tell them about the error—better they hear it from you first. Then you’re going to ask what we can do to make it right. Ask what they want—not what you want.”
She went on to say that mistakes will always happen, but the important thing is to be in front of them: open, honest, willing to accept responsibility, and committed to setting things right. That advice has stuck with me ever since.
Another important lesson I learned later is that sometimes you need to “fire” a client. In my career, I can only think of a handful of cases where that was necessary. In one instance, a landscaping customer bought a 1/8-page full-color ad. This was in the early days of 4-color, and while the color was good, it wasn’t perfect. He expected it to look exactly like the color print he had supplied us. It didn’t.
I tried everything—doubling the ad size, rerunning it multiple times at no charge, and carefully explaining what to expect from a reproduction standpoint. Each time, the ad looked fine, but he was still unhappy. Finally, I calmly told him I was sorry we couldn’t meet his expectations and suggested he might be happier at the daily newspaper. Then I handed him a check refunding his original purchase.
I felt pretty good about that decision—until a month later when my regional manager stopped in to ask if I had fired a client. Apparently, my client had called him. I explained the background, what I had done to try to fix the issue, and then braced myself for his disapproval. Instead, he fully understood, said we had been more than fair, and told me to move on—that our entire team had wasted too much energy on trying to please a customer who was never going to be happy.
So, while “firing” a customer isn’t something to be taken lightly, sometimes it’s the right call. Both of these lessons—owning your mistakes and knowing when to move on—have served me well throughout my career.
So, what’s the lesson that’s served you well? Please click below to share a story or two. I in turn will compile the responses, add them to the MVP’s words of wisdom, and share them with all of you in our next newsletter.
Thanks much and see you next month!
Lee
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