Part 2 - Life's Lemon ...ERRORs

2. The Errors

As a promotional products distributor and a creator of marketing collateral, our company Innovative Marketing, is basically involved in printing which means there are a hundred zillion ways things can go wrong. We’re very fortunate that the number of errors we actually encounter is very, very small (knock on wood!).

I’ll bet the dozen or so errors we’ve encountered in the 30 + years we’ve been in business can be attributed about 90% to faulty proofreading (usually the clients!).

However, we would rather have our client’s complaint to overcome then to have them go away angry and never know why we lost the account. When someone tells you about a mistake you've made, it means they value your business relationship and you better care enough to do something about it.

Recently we had an expedited order to a local university. On time delivery for a special event was the most important factor. While complaining about the poor quality of the imprint, the client said they could overlook it because we delivered on time. They reluctantly used the product because it was better to have it to give out at the event, then nothing.

This account is too important and prestigious to leave hanging like that so I let my supplier know of the displeasure and he suggested a win-win idea that was going to relieve my anxiety, get him off the hook and really make my client shine. It ended up costing me a few dollars because the supplier greatly reduced his production and material charges and I was able to do a very neat imprinted first aid kit which was unexpected and very well received.
The Lesson: This gave me a great opportunity to put another idea in front of my client that they are enjoying and will probably order again for themselves. Plus I gained additional client loyalty and a new sense of respect from them to allow me to make suggestions rather than just be an order taker. Furthermore, the relationship between my supplier and I has been enhanced. What could have been the “last order syndrome” (THE LEMON) turned out to be a closer relationship with more mutual respect between the three of us (THE LEMONADE).