How do you bounce back from business blunders? 😬 😓

[ElisabethB]

Mistakes, missteps, and miscalculations: we've all been through them, but even a minor slip-up can be a make-or-break situation for a business. What were some of your biggest "oops!" moments, and how did you set things right? Share your experiences below! 🙂

[DinaLRosenberg]

Sometimes I feel like I have a slight advantage because I went to Business School and got a MBA in Entrepreneurship before it was a thing.. and we did a ton of case study analysis and one of those cases was Nordstrom... which has the BEST customer service around. When I went into business I knew the only way to diffuse any customer dissatisfaction was to provide that level of service. Of course there will be times that people will try and take advantage but I find that they're few and far between. When you listen to people and do your best to not make excuses but solve their problem they're usually OK.

the biggest problem we have in our business is the postal service losing or destroying our packages.. we do our best to replace and/or refund even when it isn't our fault.. 

[ElisabethB]

@DinaLRosenberg oh, wow - I recall reading something similar about Nordstrom's customer service in a book about reducing customer effort. 

[TCSlaguna]

We took down a TV that highlighted all our services while we were remodeling the store. After a couple weeks, we looked at the Square Dashboard app and realized our services had dropped A LOT during that time. Took out my toolbox and hung the TV up right away. 

[AdamB]

While the TV was off the wall, did you have anything else up that listed your services?

[TCSlaguna]

At the time, I don't think so. Maybe we had something small in the back of the store, but nothing like the TV when you first walk in. We have definitely learned from our mistake. Now we make sure to highlight all our services in the front of the store when you first walk in and in the back of the store by the register. 

[kinza]

Your story is very inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. As I was coming to the realization that I was not the only one experiencing the same thing, I started to feel isolated.

[KCCPA]

Hi Elizabeth,

Thats how we all learn. You're taking risks and making your own decisions based on your own beliefs, experience, education and brilliance.  If you make the wrong decision, it's you who made it and have the responsibly.  When you make the right decision that's rewarding on its own. So, you win every time! I think you're courageous for being self-employed, I salute you! You will succeed.

All my best,

Kevin

[ElisabethB]

This is such a positive outlook, @KCCPA! Totally agree about learning from mistakes being a win! 🙌

[PartyManiaMD]

The only business blunders we typically make are dud products when we bring in a new revenue stream. For example candles where the scented ones sold horribly but the pop culture ones sold out. Ordering for a party store is a shot gun approach to success, vintage candy sells super well while the stuff you can find everywhere sells terribly. 

Seasonal products are a huge hit or miss depending on the day each holiday falls on, what people are in the mood for, and honestly pure luck. St Patricks Day was really good this year but last year it was like a ghost town, yet last year we sold out of our most popular hat but this year sold 0. 

A lot of it is head scratching and just over-stocking and eventually discounting years later if a holiday item just isn't moving. Our main philosophy is having stocked shelves because the big corporations look at stocked shelves as a bad thing and yes we flip slower but our customers are extremely happy that we're reliably stocked. Every time my competitor runs out of something they risk losing a customer permanently when they discover us.

Inventory is expensive and it's a balancing act but I'd rather sacrifice profit and have happy customers and it's served us well for the last 2 decades. 

[AndrewDjack]

you dont

[RickyRoots]

We have had a handful over the last 10 years.

1. being ignorant to the sales tax laws in our state and being audited for it.

2. not understanding the importance of negotiating rent for the long haul and the impact it can have on your break even.

3. thinking sales is the only way to increase income. decreasing expenses is just as important.

4. over expanding and not understanding cash flow.

5. the cost of implementing leadership within your business.

Roll with it, put yourself into corners and fight your way out. Very happy I chose business over college.

[ElisabethB]

@RickyRoots All excellent points! Thank you for sharing!

[NB1]

Eliminate the burdensome task of requiring a customer to give permission to receive a digital coupon

I successfully lobbied Square to eliminate the need to get the customers permission to send them a digital coupon, but that now looks to have been replaced with a time consuming and annoying task for the customer to fumble through. Nobody gets upset by receiving a coupon, but what they don't like is to be bothered with all the back and forth it now takes with email to explain the clumsy and unwanted process of submitting feedback and giving permission to receive feedback / coupons. I already have the customer email and phone number, so I can communicate with them (and I'm forced to do this now because of this new coupon policy). All they want is their coupon, and all I want to do is send it out and move on with my day. It now takes a couple days sometimes to send a customer a digital coupon, and they really don't want to be bothered. Please allow merchants to effortlessly send a digital coupon to their customers who are already in their POS database with email and or phone number. This is a valuable tool, and one I use often to compensate for a mistake or missed item. We are one of the largest in volume of processing with Square on the east coast, and I don't have a Square account rep, and when I call in, Square can't find me by my name, email, or business name (Neato Burrito). Not super great.    

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