How Much Room For Error Have You Built Into Your Business?

The other day I read Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless. Customer Loyalty is Priceless by Jeffrey Gitomer, the self-proclaimed Chief Executive Salesman, mind you (Check your library. Don’t even think about wasting money). Among the loads of crap I found a very healthy thought:

Things that go wrong in any business are measured by the quality of the relationship that exists at the time they go wrong. If the relationship is great, it’s no big deal. If the relationship is non-existent, it becomes a huge deal. The molehill becomes a mountain.

[…]

Everyone makes mistakes; every business has its problems. If you give great service, you will be forgiven for a mistake, or even a series of mistakes. If your service is bad to begin with, you eat the mistakes. How do you set the tone for a mistake? How much room for error have you built into your business?

Very true. I’ve witnessed this time and time again. Things do go wrong. Sometimes they go very wrong. The manner of your recovery makes a big difference. Good recovery only strengthens your relationship with a customer. Bad recovery can get you fired.

As David Ogilvy wrote in his Confessions of an Advertising Man, If you can make yourself indispensable to the client, you will never be fired.