Repairing Reputation With a Client After Making a Big Error

How do you repair your reputation with a client if you’ve made a significant error?

Paul

Hi Paul,

That you’re asking shows a lot about the quality of your character.

What your client likely desires is that you take prompt and full ownership of the significant error, offer up immediate, sincere remorse and extend the highest-quality apology that shows you clearly realize the magnitude of the error and how it negatively impacted them.

They want to see you put yourself in their shoes and really, deeply care about how the error has negatively impacted them. Then they want to see you care enough about the relationship to make it right in every way that requires.

If you do this humbly, with generosity, commitment and with great skill, you could very well restore or reconstruct trust, credibility and your reputation with them.

Hope this proves helpful. :) Great question.

Michael

Michael Toebe is a reputation analyst, consultant, advisor and communications specialist, serving individuals and organizations. He has provided analysis and advisory for Chief Executive, Corporate Board Member, Physicians Practice, Corporate Compliance Insights, New York Law Journal and Training Industry and regularly publishes at Red Diamonds Essays and Reputation Specialist Essays (both on the Medium platform) and LinkedIn.

(Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay)