I hit send and was happy that my blog post about marketing to massage clients on Facebook was going to be read by Make the Most of Massage readers. I waited for responses.
Strangely, the first response I got was from one of our PressurePerfect Massage (PPM) business clients. Hmm…. It took me a few minutes, but then it hit me: I had sent the Make the Most of Massage email and blog post link to my PPM clients, not my Make the Most of Massage readers!
Thankfully, the post wasn’t a deep dive into which posts on Facebook work best with our PPM clients. O. M. G. It was!
Damage Control
Once I could think straight I went into I action. I realized that I could use the metrics on Mailchimp to see how many people opened the email and how many people clicked on the link to read the post. Eighty-five people opened the email. Five clicked on the link. I could retrieve the names of the five with one click and send them a personal apology email along with a group apology email.
But what if more people would click on the link and read the post? Then I remembered that I could unpublish or password protect the post so no PPM clients could read the post unless they had the password. Perfect.
Now for the group email: I didn’t want to go too deep with an apology for fear of making someone who didn’t open the email want to investigate. So I settled with this:
Subject: Apology for Earlier Email Mix-Up
I am so sorry! My email from earlier today was supposed to go to the massage therapists who read my massage blog – and obviously I hit the wrong button.
I don’t want to waste any more of your time but I do want to let you know that I’m taking measures so it doesn’t happen again.
Again, really sorry!
Have a great rest of the day!
Mark
Then I went to work on the ones who read the post. For clients who I didn’t know well, I came up with this:
Subject: Apology for Email Mix-Up
Hi Fred,
Sorry about the email mix-up today. You got the one that was meant for my massage business/marketing blog group.
I was never a big fan of marketing, but I am forced to do marketing because I am a small business owner. So the only way that I could see myself succeeding with marketing was to blog about it so that I would have to learn about it.
That said, if you found the marketing post that I accidentally sent to you in any way offensive from a client perspective, please accept my apology. My heart is and always will be with clients above all business responsibilities. I hope you have a great afternoon.
Mark
Two other post readers were in the business world and one was in marketing. So I apologized to them and asked them directly how offensive the errant email was so that I could gauge whether my reaction was too over-the-top.
The Surprise Reward
Writing the apologies helped me understand for myself that my clients are still my emotional driver. Yes, they are how I make money. But they are more than that to me. If they walk, yes, I lose their money. But I can get more clients. However, if I lose their respect that would always gnaw on me.
That said, the responses I got from my clients with the apology email allayed my fears because they were all positive. One said that he was intrigued by how much work went into making a small business run. Another one thought it was a behind-the-scenes reveal at first, then it made her laugh once she realized it was a mistake.
My Marketing Lesson
The very next day, I got back on the horse and sent out an email advertising two free raffle tickets to win a massage for anyone who gets a massage with one of our therapists on two particular days. I started the email with: “Yes, this one is meant for you (LOL).”
This is a big difference from my reaction to a factual mistake I had made in an Op-Ed I had written for the Philadelphia Inquirer fifteen years ago. After my mistake I didn’t write another Op-Ed for a year for fear of making another one.
Moral of my marketing story to me: By addressing your mistakes head-on and with sincerity, you not only rectify the errors but also build stronger connections with your clients. Mistakes are inevitable, but how you handle them defines your business. In other words: Get up. Spit the tooth out. Make them smile again.
