One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in marketing and customer relations is the idea that most people don’t really care if you make mistakes. No matter what business you’re in, you or your employees are going to do something wrong. Waitstaff are going to bring a customer the wrong sandwich. Auto mechanics are going to misdiagnose a problem with your car. Your cable or wireless phone provider is going to overcharge you. We’re all human. It happens.

But while you’re busy beating yourself up over the error – or worse denying it happened – your customers are just waiting to see how you’re going to rectify the issue.

Contrary to some opinions, you don’t lose customers by making mistakes. You lose customers because you don’t go that extra mile to ensure that even a customer who has experienced an error walks away with a smile and the knowledge that you recognized and acknowledged the issue and did everything you could to make it right.

See, customers want to be loyal. They like to have a favorite restaurant. They want to be able to recommend a mechanic to their friends. They don’t want to have to change mobile phone providers every six months. What they want is to believe that their business is important to you. And there’s rarely a better chance to show them that than when you’re trying to make things right.

So, here are a few tips on how to deal with a mistake:

• Acknowledge the mistake – Okay, you and the customer both know a mistake was made. Don’t make excuses, don’t try to blame it on someone else. Just acknowledge that it happened and then you can …
• Take responsibility - Just acknowledging the mistake isn’t enough. You need to own up to it and let the customer know that you know you need to make it right. It’s important to be sincere. You don’t want to appear like you’re just going through the motions. And that brings us to the point where you should …
• Apologize - It amazes me how hard it is for some people to just utter the words, “I’m sorry.” It’s like expressing regret is a form of weakness or will expose you to some risk of being sued. Get over it. Most of us learned early on that when you do something wrong, you should apologize. It applies in business, too. And, it’ll make your mother proud, which is a nice bonus.

The apology phase is where you can really take it to the next level. Offer to reduce the price of the service, or, in the face of a particularly bad mistake, offer the service on the house. Or, offer something free or at a reduced rate on their next visit. Any money you’ll lose will be made up in keeping a customer rather than losing one who is unlikely to return and will, most likely, make sure their friends hear about their horrible experience.

Mistakes are going to happen. Don’t sweat it. But when they DO happen, treat your customers as you’d want to be treated: with respect. Act as though their business and satisfaction truly matter to you, because they do.

It’s 8:15 a.m., and I’m driving up MLK on my way to work.

Perhaps it’s the fact that everyone is half-awake on the roads, or people aren’t paying attention, or texting, or whatever, but when lights turn green, cars stay put. This is where I come in. Maybe I lack compassion or patience, but I’ve lived places where people know what green means. So, I lay into the car horn. It’s effective, but also results in some drivers freaking out. But, why? They weren’t paying attention, and now they’re mad because I noticed the error of their ways.

I personally tend to apologize when I get honked at. It’s a reality check — I wasn’t paying attention, and someone else noticed. The horn is the communicating factor between two parties — the beeping individual, and the individual or individuals getting beeped at. The party on the receiving end obviously did something wrong, even if they didn’t realize it. This is where I think people start to get angry; cutting me off and getting sassy is not a way to handle your errors. Best way is to dust off your shoulders, apologize if necessary and move on.

This is just my morning commute. Crazy thing is, people are becoming more like cars on the road. You add commentary, or even a slight joke about something, and people take offense.

People are terrified of being wrong, and they’re scared of being considered a loser. They want to appear to know everything without having to study anything. It would be amazing if we didn’t have to learn things to know them, but that isn’t how life is. You have to lose a few games to know how amazing winning is. Competition leads to innovation, which leads to the expansion of knowledge. Without competition, the incentive to prove yourself vanishes into thin air.

What happens when we’ve eliminated losing to compensate for the others who did not exactly win, so as to not hurt their feelings? First place doesn’t seem as awesome as before, obviously. I mean, what good is first place when you did the best, but the guy who did half as well as you is also getting part of the prize? In an age of heavy political correctness and fear of offending others, we’re hurting ourselves by holding our tongues and lowering the bar standards. Competition relies on communication and observation — finding strong points and weaknesses of yourself and the people competing with you.

Perhaps it’s time to break the mold a bit. If someone says something that offends you about your work, be prepared to defend yourself. Don’t take it personally and let it destroy you. If it’s a valid point they’re making, take it into consideration. Pay attention to what others are communicating to you, and be prepared to back your story up if you disagree with them. If it’s something they said that was completely inappropriate, realize it’s not you with those crazy views, it’s them. As Fred Armisen posing as Joy Behar would say, “So what, who cares?”

Your greatest triumph might be as memorable as your most miserable failure, but without either of the two, you would have less perspective on life. Communication is necessary for the expansion of one’s ability to acquire knowledge. If knowledge is power, then why are we weakening ourselves by not communicating and being honest about how we feel about life?