One afternoon last week I arrived for a meeting at The Funky Door Cafe in Southeast Portland to be greeted by a notice on the door: “We’ll be closing at 2 pm today. Sorry for the inconvenience.” No big deal: there’s another coffee shop a few blocks up the road (a Starbucks nonetheless). Still, the apology prompted me to ponder: Why do companies feel the need to apologize to their customers if they did nothing wrong?
Though I don’t go there enough, I like The Funky Door Cafe. Close to my office, it serves good coffee and treats in natural light, tables are made out of old doors, the background music is unobtrusive and wi-fi blazing. Perhaps the barista got sick, or her child, and no sub could be found, perhaps it was another emergency. I didn’t care – I trusted they had a good reason for closing early. Why apologize?
Although the movie Love Story dripped too much sap for my young taste, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” was just about the most instructive quote I heard as a teenager. If you love someone and she loves you back, if you love yourself and she loves herself, apologies are unnecessary. To love means to forgive honest mistakes or well-intentioned missteps. To love also means not apologizing for the “inconvenience” your reasonable action may have caused the one you love, because you know she’ll love you anyway. This is what I remembered reading the note on the door.
Companies, unless you screwed up, don’t apologize to your customers. While saying “Sorry for the inconvenience” may be standard practice, it adds nothing to your relationship with your customers other than put you on a defensive. Sure, your customers may be briefly unhappy when you’re not there when they need you – but you’re not their servant. You’re their partner. If you love your business and your customers, they’ll love you despite any minor inconvenience you may have caused them because they’ll know your reason and intent are good and that you’re there for them at all other times.
That said, do your utmost best to earn and keep your customers’ love. Any relationship requires investment. Instead of apologizing, be helpful. Instead of reminding them about the inconvenience, speak in terms of your customers’ interest.
Let’s take The Funk Door Cafe as an example. What could the notice have said, instead of the dry statement, to deepen the relationship with me as a customer?
- Thank me for my continued patronage or express appreciation for my planning to come in.
- Expand on the closure statement by saying “Due to events beyond our control, we’ll be closing at 2 pm today.” Anyone can understand that, and it’s more human. Of course, this presupposes the reasons for closing early were really beyond control. Otherwise, there’s no need to explain reasons for the closure or it could come across as making excuses.
- Suggest alternative coffee shops or refreshment establishments in the vicinity, perhaps with an attached map. A Google Maps “Search nearby” for “coffee” yields at least 7 places within a 15-block radius.
- Invite me to come in the next day when they’re open and remind me what they have in store for me. “Join us tomorrow from 6 to 5 for all the delicious coffee and fresh pastries you love.”
- Offer me a freebie to compensate for the inconvenience. “Mention this notice tomorrow from 6 to 5 and get a coffee drink on us.”
What’s your take on companies apologizing without having done anything wrong?
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Image credit: jessie.millan
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It wouldn’t have occurred to me that there was anything amiss with the sign until you pointed out how much better it could have been so I don’t have any thoughts on your question. However, I’m taking this idea to heart. Conversational “sorry”s pop up in my every day language a bit too frequently and this helped me consider taking a new approach instead of implying wrongdoing on my part.
@Beth: Thanks, Beth. Perhaps we’ve become too sensitive. It’s easy to get sidetracked by apologies.
A very Interesting observation, this past summer I got sent through the ringer by a customer over some misplaced ad copy(the problem was addressed at least a month before the ad ran). I apologized as I think should have. In retrospect I should never have apologized and simply taken responsibility for the mistake. He smelled weakness and made me jump through hoops for over 2 months. The relationship between us has been strained and I’m to the point with the customer that his business is not worth the hassle.
On the idea that we are partners, I can’t agree more. The advertising campaign I put together for him targeted two areas of his business. One area we increased his sales by 33% and the other area we were able to maintain even levels with last year while the industry lost about 30% in year over year sales.
Oddly he never mentions this and only brings up my initial weakness.
Any thoughts?
@Rob: I haven’t considered the power dynamic in this context, but it makes sense – an apology puts you in a weaker position. Perhaps the client is staking out a negotiating position for future deals.
If there’s trust in a business partnership, an occasional mistake can and should be forgiven. It’s so much easier to focus on the negative, so I’m not surprised the initial weakness is all the client sees. Could you have a conversation with the client to highlight the success of your work and suggest your results vastly overshadow your initial misstep? If not, I think you already answered your question. That the client’s business is “not worth the hassle” suggests it may be time to fire the client.
Oddly enough I have this information about his success directly from him. We actually had a great conversation about his business which took a turn for the worse when I didn’t bend over and get him a feature article in tourist publication we put out. I did what I could for him and had him put on a list to get one done. The editorial department opted not to do it because he was interviewed and included in several other articles. When i explained this to him he said,” I guess your reporter will find my number about the same time I find the number for the Sandpaper(our direct competition)” and hung the phone up.
Since he is a seasonal business and this was at the end of the season, I’ve decided to let him cool off for the winter and hope he has a better attitude towards me next year.