How to Keep a Mistake from Losing You a Client
Posted May 14, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
Every freelancer makes mistakes. You miss a phrase in the client’s specs that expressly says not to use any blue in the design, and your first mockup has blue all over it. You miss a deadline, and you don’t even have a good excuse–you just forgot the project was due on that date. You accidentally copy someone who most definitely should not have been copied on that email you sent, and it created an internal conflict on the client’s end.
Mistakes happen. No matter how good you are, you’re human and eventually you make not just a little mistake, but a doozy of one.
It’s not the mistakes that lose you the clients, though; it’s how you handle them. These three little tips won’t keep mistakes from happening, but in most cases they keep the client from showing you the door–or badmouthing you to every other company in town.
Apologize
When you make a mistake, large or small, don’t justify yourself or make excuses. Your client isn’t in the mood to hear it, and your refusal to take responsibility for your error only makes them more irritated.
Think about it this way: If you heard an enormous crash from the other room right now, and you went in to see your partner standing over the shattered remains of your favorite thing in the world, would you want to hear, “I tripped on your shoes–why don’t you ever put them away? It’s not my fault it’s broken.”
Yeah, no. Even if that’s really what happened, even if the thing was broken because of your negligence, you don’t care. You’re angry. Your partner is standing over the pieces. And goddamn it, it is their fault and they’d better say so.
Your client is the same. It doesn’t matter if the mistake happened because of events beyond your control. It doesn’t matter if it could be construed as the client’s error in the first place.
What matter is that right now you are the one standing over the pieces, and the first thing out of your mouth–and the only thing that should come out for a while–needs to be, “I’m so sorry.”
Not “I’m sorry, but..” Just I’m sorry. As many times as possible. You can explain later when everyone’s calmed down. Right now, just apologize, and do it well.
Make Amends
If the problem is a tangible one, fix it. For example, if you screwed up the copy, rework it. If you missed a deadline, work as hard as you possibly can until you finish the project completely and send it immediately. If that means you have to stay up all night, stay up all night.
If the problem is harder to fix–for example, you inadvertently insulted someone’s boss–figure out a smart way to make amends. This is a little trickier: The people you affected personally may not be in the mood to tell you what needs to be done to fix the problem.
Stick with heartfelt apologies, and keep all your communication as sincere, inoffensive, and caring as possible. Don’t bristle if anyone in the company gets their hackles up with you. After all, they got screwed here. They’re allowed to be upset. If you get a terse email in response to your apologetic one, ignore the terseness and follow whatever instructions are given to the letter.
Very, very good words to use are, “You have every right to be upset.” Never start to get angry with a client because they’re angry with you. No good is down that path. Be the grown-up here. It’s your responsibility to keep the situation as calm as you can, and to work towards a resolution.
Compensate
If your client is truly angry, or if you’ve managed to screw up in such a way that you’ve actually harmed his business in some way–let’s say they’re embarrassed that they missed their product launch because your work was supposed to be ready and it wasn’t–refund their money.
This isn’t in lieu of doing the work if the work still needs to be done or re-done. Do the work AND refund their money. After all, you violated contract, and you harmed a business. If this was done to you, a refund is the least you’d expect from any company who didn’t deliver on a promise.
Include a nice note that acknowledges that you were at fault. One that says, in effect, “I wouldn’t feel right accepting payment for a job that you are justifiably unhappy with. Please accept this full refund with my sincere apologies, and if there is anything else I can do to make up for the error, please feel free to let me know.”
I know it’s hard. Freelancers aren’t people who are so flush with cash that they can afford refunds, but if you have messed up badly and it’s your fault, there are far worse things that can happen beyond you not getting that payment.
For one thing, you could lose your reputation. And in business, that’s probably the worst thing that could happen.
Handle mistakes with compassion and grace, and you may find that even the most furious client is inclined to forgive and forget. After all, your actions clearly show you’re not a bad person–you’re a good person who made a mistake.
What About You?
Have you ever made a mistake when dealing with a client? How did you handle it?
Related posts:
- Why You Are Losing Clients (How to Stop)
- The One Freelancing Mistake You DO NOT Want to Make
- Designing An Accessible Site Without Losing Your Mind
- Uh-oh! Seven Steps to Deal with an Unhappy Client
About the author: For more freelancing and online marketing strategies, check out Men with Pens, where James Chartrand normally hangs out doling out advice that brings you extra cash. Need more advice? Men with Pens now offers consulting services.
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50 Comments
Jordan Walker
May 14th, 2010 at 8:57 amGreat advise when things go wrong.
Keri
May 14th, 2010 at 9:13 amThis is great advice for any mistake you make, in any career! One of my pet peeves is when people can’t admit they screwed up. A lot of people will make excuses, or blame someone else. That just makes you look worse!
Kuldeep Singh
May 14th, 2010 at 9:18 amNICE POST I LOVE IT
Matt Pritchett
May 14th, 2010 at 9:32 amSince 90% of my business is through referrals, how I handle mistakes is huge in my business. I have come out of projects with referrals even when mistakes were made because I followed these steps. I have also NOT followed them and had negative “referrals” where my name was crucified. Thanks for writing this down for others to see!
Dr. Freelance
May 14th, 2010 at 9:51 amFantastic article, James. No matter how good you are, you will make mistakes…and you will be judged by how you handle them by more than just the affected person.
In the “compensation” area, I have two additional thoughts. I learned these from my previous job in the corporate world, but they’re equally applicable to freelancing:
First, you should come to the client with a couple of different solutions. Partial or whole refunds may be good, but there are other ways for the clever freelancer to smooth things over.
The second thought is this: Ask the client directly what they want. That puts the ball in their court, and gives them control over their destiny. You may find, as I have, that they’re never as harsh as your worst fears.
Chris Mower
May 14th, 2010 at 10:04 amNice post. :) Accepting responsibility for your own mistakes is a biggy. And the sad thing is, very few people do it.
Alan
May 14th, 2010 at 12:00 pmAs Chris above says, accepting you made a mistake is the big thing to overcome, people always try to blame someone else.
If you man-up and be honest about your mistake, you would be surprised at how credibility it gives you with the client, as they at least know your an honest freelancer.
Shari Smothers
May 14th, 2010 at 12:02 pmGreat post! As one who has received work that was not what I asked for, I know this helps. The writers who were willing to fix their work with no excuses made my job much easier. The briefest explanations were just fine. “I misunderstood.” “I’m sorry but I need more time.” We moved to the fix it phase effortlessly, which made it possible for me to explain it to my boss clearly and with a solution in the works.
Writers who do these things were the best, and I worked great freelancers. Now that I’m freelancing, I treat people the same way that I appreciated most.
Martín Centurión
May 14th, 2010 at 12:20 pmGood post! I made a mistake with a client a few weeks ago, and he was very angry. My action was respond the email he sent with my apologizes and offering my services for free for a small project he had.
Now, he recommended me to a friend, and I have a new client! :)
Cesar
May 14th, 2010 at 1:22 pmNo apologies, please.
From my experience, the only think worth it is fixing the mess immediately.
If you make a mistake, then the client has a problem and he wants it fixed. Otherwise, he wouldn´t be calling. Making excuses is time wasted; your client doesn´t want your excueses, he wants his problem solved.
If the problem cannot be fixed, then compensate.
Btw sometimes error handling can actually make you win points with your clients; it is an opportunity to show them that they can count on you in case a problem arises, or in case they have another problem you can fix for them.
Scott Corgan
May 14th, 2010 at 1:55 pmThis is a key element to life in general. We are in the economic crisis we are in today because no one will accept responsibility for their actions. You did, it’s your fault, take it like a man. We’ve lost our sense of honor and prestige; all in the pursue of “happiness”. Even web design has shown this…
Jae Xavier
May 14th, 2010 at 2:58 pm>>Have you ever made a mistake when dealing with a client?
Obviously.
>>How did you handle it?
Ask questions, offer solutions.
Here is a viewpoint that 99.990125% of freelancers miss: managing expectations of the client from the beginning. This is where most mistakes originate from.
Why do they miss this viewpoint?
The reason why is because they don’t view the process of acquiring a client as sales. The sales process is the act of communicating effectively so you can close it.
Here is a simple breakdown of the sales process:
1) Client hears about you through XYZ source
2) Client contacts you
3) Client questions and wants to negotiate with you
4) You listen and manage their expectations by defining their needs, so you question them. Question your client until both of you see eye-to-eye. This is crucial because MOST CLIENTS SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE and HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD. Get to know them like the back of your hand.
5) Have them sign the contract and close the sale.
Now…. I have had my fair share of mismanaging client expectations because I did not ask the right questions nor was I communicating effectively. And yes, I have extensively renegotiated terms of contracts, reduced my profit margins by more than 20%, lose clients, and had clients use the “F bomb” in a sentence more than 5 times.
Mismanaging expectations has a trickle down effect. It will lead to messing up the sale and when you get into production with the client.
behzad
May 14th, 2010 at 3:11 pmGreat post. Educating the client about your process is the best way to avoid misunderstanding. If you do make a technical mistake, then you should admit to it and try to ease their pain by offering a solution and correcting the mistake. Customer service is the key to keeping a client. Don’t let your ego take over your affairs, your job is to provide the best service you can give.
Lyon
May 14th, 2010 at 8:21 pmGreat article, one of the best and most useful articles at freelancefolder in my opinion, and the reason is simple, freelancers must educate themselves before they start in the business/market of freelancing. I am not saying to take a course in human relations but at least to read great articles like this one to learn how to behave and communicate with clients in all possible situations.
I have an online business, it is really growing fast, faster than i anticipated, however i am also a freelancer at freelancer.com, the best freelancer job site n the world by the way. I had over 200 clients since October 2009, thank-god i was never in a situation where my client was angry, not because of me or anybody else, i do my jobs very well, but i had once a client that was always angry because he had a bad experience with the previous freelancer that stole his money, literally, so i had an hard time dealing with him.
When it is your fault, and your client is very angry, you should immediately apologize and say you will take care of it now, if you can of course, if you can not, then you must pay a freelancer to do it quickly, you will burn money but it is the best solution.
If that is not possible, then refund all money, but if the client wants all money if you do not do as agreed, you must refund, if you still have the money!!!
Impulse Magazine
May 14th, 2010 at 10:39 pmI think mistakes are sometimes good because it makes you aware of things that you sometimes might not be aware of
TLC
May 14th, 2010 at 11:41 pmMany great points here. I just created a presentation folder for a longtime client. She gave me a file in Word that was perfect; I had to recreate it in Photoshop and created a typo in one of the six words on it. She and I looked at it together and approved it before sending it to the printer. But I still paid to reprint the folders for her because I was the one who screwed up. She admitted that it was her fault, too,because she also approved it, and we’ve gone on from there. Yes, it cost some money, but compared to what I’ve made from these people, it’s small change.
Nicole Foster
May 15th, 2010 at 12:00 amGreat article and great points!
Besides apologizing, the most important part is to compensate your client. While an apology will make them feel better momentarily, a solution/compensation will keep your reputation intact.
Thanks for the great advice nonetheless. I had a sense of what to do when mistakes occur, but this confirmed them (:
Angelee
May 15th, 2010 at 3:42 amHelpful advice! The client always has the right to get upset so simply, just apologize and if everythings too late, the last option is the refund.
DMC
May 15th, 2010 at 1:06 pmSensible stuff, for years I’d followed the advice of “Accept responsibility, but never apologise”, and it took me years to realise how wrong it was.
In extreme circumstances, apologise.
Never, EVER offer a refund.
The client may simply be using a mistake as a tactic to get their costs back, this is a service industry, so you can’t afford to lose that.
Instead, offer them some free work on the next project.
This at least draws them into hiring you again, if they hadn’t been considering it, and gives you an opportunity to do a stand out job for them.
Richard Moldovanyi
May 16th, 2010 at 4:06 pmApologizing is definitely the right way to go. Most clients are rational, normal human beings that will accept mistakes and your attempts to rectify them if they believe you are sincere. Sure, some won’t, but apologizing is definitely a helpful first step.
Most people rarely get upset when someone is actually trying to do a good job and meet their needs.
Najam Siddiqi
May 17th, 2010 at 8:03 amThis article help me lot in keeping close connection with our customers.
Andreas Papula
May 17th, 2010 at 4:47 pmI totally agree: apologize first and then – quickly – fix the problem. I’ve had a client who – after the project was finished and some issues were solved – told me: “honesty is the most valuable thing in doing business. i’ll recommend you”. And he did.
sean
May 17th, 2010 at 7:48 pmThis is common sense stuff.
You should call this article. ” How to kiss ass more..”
lame #fail
Issa
May 18th, 2010 at 3:47 amDefinitely helpful. I agree 1005 on making an apology. Clients will respect you more when you admit your own mistakes. The story doesn’t stop there. You need to make amends and offer a better solution that will make everyone happy. In the world of freelancing, it is a MUST to keep clients happy and more than satisfied since it’s easy for them to find you a replacement.
Najam Siddiqi
May 18th, 2010 at 8:35 amvery good ideas these are thanks.
MrKatsie
May 19th, 2010 at 9:52 amgreat post!
RobThree
May 19th, 2010 at 7:46 pmThis is information my dad taught me when I was, like, 5. When you make a mistake come clean about it and, if necessary, be a man and face the consequences. I’ve approached everything in life this way, also my clients. And they love me for it. Just don’t mess up too often :-)
Andrew
May 19th, 2010 at 11:59 pm“I did it”
“I’m sorry”
“lets fix it”
Anonymous
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:32 amYes, an online game got hacked and more than 150.000 fake entries were made, which would ruin the entire campaign for my client. Additionally my client got angry emails from people whose addresses were used, because they got a confirmation email about their participation.
I admitted my fault, closed the security breach and worked an entire day to clean the database without loosing the regular entries. After all the client was very positive about my “professional” reaction. So maybe this was even positive for my reputation, but at least it wasn´t damaged.
I keep receiving jobs from that client.
Gemma
November 21st, 2010 at 12:32 pmWe live in a culture where passing the buck is the norm rather than the exception. A mistake is seldom down to just one person. More often than not, it’s been contributed to by more than one party. If a mistake has been made, I always consider the part I had to play in it, and then accept my share of the responsibility. I expect my clients to do the same.
LC
November 21st, 2010 at 10:25 pmJust wanted some advice – what do you do if the mistake was yours (such as a small typo), however the file has gone to the client for checking, they have signed an approval form, the job has gone to print – then the mistake is noticed?
Who is at fault? As you mentioned, no matter how good you are, mistakes can happen. Hence the approval form. If the client misses the typo are they not responsible for the re-print?
In my instance, it was a calendar design that unfortunately had a double up of a date in Feb – i specifically told the client to check the dates when i sent the artwork. They came back with changes to the rest of the file, but not the dates, so i’m to assume the calendar has no errors right?
Now the magnets have been printed and they’ve just spotted the mistake – which unfortunately they have used on several other magnets too. All clients signed approval forms, yet they are chasing me to pay for the re-prints and take responsibility.
Where do i stand?? My client acts as the mediator between myself and their clients who request the artwork (they are a promo product company), so if they choose to pay the reprint costs (even though their client signed an approval form) then isn’t that their choice? Should i be dragged into it other than to make the necessary changes?
Gemma
November 22nd, 2010 at 2:22 pm@LC
It’s not your responsibility at all. You specifically asked them to check the dates, and they signed the approval form. It was their responsibility for not checking properly. They should fork out for the costs incurred as a result of their oversight.
LC
November 22nd, 2010 at 6:09 pmThanks Gemma
Last night I finally drew up an approval form to cover myself with the disclaimer clearly stating I take no responsibility once the artwork has been released to the client – even though I know I’m not at fault, at least now my clients will have it in black and white! Something in hindsight I should have done earlier (I always use one at my regular job but have never needed one for my freelance) But it’s great to get confirmation from others that I’m in the right here.
Gemma
November 23rd, 2010 at 1:02 amYou’re very welcome. Just stick to your guns.
seo freelance madrid
February 23rd, 2011 at 12:02 pmGreat post and useful info when you’re facing the problem: it’s hard, at least for me, that as working alone as a freelancer, sometimes I think a problem is bigger than it is or make it bigger.
So facing it thinking as a client in that situation helps a lot, and hell yea, I don’t want to know what’s broken or who did it when a service I contracted doesn’t work. I want it to be up as soon as possible and after that I’ll hear the complains & the reasons and try to consider if it’s something that can happen no matter what or not.
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