As an over-scheduled overachiever, obsessed with perfection, I can tell you this – it hurts when things don’t go as you planned. No, wait, it doesn’t hurt – it’s worse. It’s humiliating. It’s like walking out on stage to speak and realizing that you not only forgot your pants, but you are also wearing dirty underwear (Oh, the shame! What will people think? What will your mother tell her friends?).
I know…I could have a nice Hollywood career, right? Dra-ma!
Here’s the thing I’ve learned in my stint as business owner and observer of the world – it’s not so much what you messed that matters, but rather, it’s more about the way you handle the clean-up. (Unless of course, you are tweeting nasties of yourself and then, well…you’ve got other problems and I can’t help you.)
If you are on my fan list, you know that I do this killer live show every Tuesday called Tuesdays with Laurie. It’s my fun thing I do in place of writing a weekly newsletter. I usually record the show, and yesterday, I was REALLY excited because I was talking about all my favorite programs, tips, and tools for virtual teams. It was great show. Like – really great! When I went to type in the description after it was over, I realized – DOH! I DIDN’T PRESS RECORD! Sigh. How long have I been doing this? How could I have missed that step? So, after I got over it, I thought – this would be a good topic to write about.
Here are my steps to take when something doesn’t go as planned:
1. Pick one or more of the following: When nobody is looking or can hear you, bang your head on the desk, scream, have a good cry, shout profanities, write an email that you don’t intend to send, or do whatever you do that brings immediate relief, but doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. Alternatively, call your best friend, business partner, mom, or anyone who will listen and vent.
2. Assess the situation and damage – is this something that will require a PR firm to fix? (Like – are you a public figure, and word just got out about your illicit girlfriend who “looked 18”? Or are we talking about a misspelled word on a Tweet to your list of 20? Or, somewhere in between?) – Likely, after this step, you will be able to calm down a bit, and here is where it matters how you handle the “fix.”
Whatever energy you put out there about whatever went wrong, is how it will likely affect you and your business – for better or worse (just relaaaaax, man).
Is there a way you can spin the mistake into something awesome, or use it for an opportunity?
Here are some creative (real life) ways that I’ve seen mistakes remedied, starting with how I will remedy mine (which – it’s likely nobody will have really noticed if I hadn’t chosen to blog about it)…
Problem: I forgot to record my ustream broadcast…sigh.
Solution: Woo-hoo – Content! Take the opportunity to blog about the topics covered.
Important Points: I can always re-do the topics I covered during the week, or cover them another week down the line for people who might catch the show another time. OR, I can take the opportunity to blog about what I covered. Nobody died or suffered bodily harm, so in the end, it’s not THAT big of a deal. The information is not lost. It’s just…delayed.
Problem: Link didn’t work in a marketing email.
Solution: Laugh it off, blame it on Mercury, etc. – send a follow up email that says: “Hey! That link didn’t work – try it now” / “Oh, that darn Mercury – it’s in retrograde again!” / “So many of you tried to access the page, that the server crashed! Try again now.” / Any-of-the-above + …and as long as I had to send another email, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you this other really important thing…”
Important Points: Don’t blame. Don’t explain. Remain calm and carefree. Go to your happy place and feel the wind in your hair, and the grass on your feet. If you don’t get weird about it, it’s likely that nobody else will. I think it’s good to send out the right information or the corrected link if your link doesn’t work. Now, if you sent out an email that had 10 links to your sales page, and ONE of them didn’t work, don’t draw attention to it. But, if you have to send out another email, use it as an opportunity to give more information, create value, give a bonus, crack a joke, or write a poem:
Roses are Red.
Violets are Blue.
The link didn’t work.
Oh, poo.
So we sat and we thought – what do we do?
And now, the link works.
It do! It do!
Buuttttt….spend a little more time on your poem.
Problem: The recording didn’t work on your teleseminar or webinar / you got a bad recording / etc.
Solution: Do an encore call 2-3 days later!
Important Points: Oh, this sucks. It really does. A teleseminar or webinar is a lot of work. But, all is not lost if the recording doesn’t work. The important thing here is, again, not to panic. It’s a great opportunity to make your point again, or refine your message. Also, I’ve seen people say that they are going to add MORE information to the call, or cover 1 or 2 different points, or add a Q&A section. That way, if people already listened, they might want to listen again.
Problem: You misspelled something in a public forum (Twitter, Facebook, email, webpage, etc.)
Solution: Delete and re-post it if you can. or, leave it alone and don’t bring attention to it.
Important Points: Twitter and Facebook posts move fast. The truth (that I’m making up to illustrate my point) is that about 10% of the people will even notice the spelling mistake (most people can’t spell or are too busy to notice, or by the time they get around to checking Facebook, your post will be looooong gone at the bottom of their stream), 9% of those people will forget about it in 1.2 seconds as they read down their stream. (Huh – Sally misspelled that wor– OH, LOOK! A PICTURE OF A KITTEN IN A HULA SKIRT DRINKING COFFEE!!!!!), and the other 1% of those people will forget or not care soon after. A misspelled word or two won’t bring your business down. Now, if you CONSTANTLY misspell words, and seem like you don’t care, that could potentially have an adverse affect on your credibility. But the occasional “big thumb” typo is okay.
In the end, Every opportunity to reach out to your list / fans / tribe / followers is an OPPORTUNITY to showcase your personality, business, and products. If you’re cool, they will be cool. (Everybody, just be cool.)
Question: How do YOU react when you make a mistake? – let me know in the comments!