Turning mistakes into gold
OK, so we built our site as one of our first projects when we started our business. Being in the web development business we thought that just maybe that might be important. We proofread till we were cross eyed and happily launch our new WordPress website.
Months go by and business is good, clients are happy and we are on our way.
We attend a small trade show in our target market with the obligatory attendee swag bag stuffer and following the event I receive an email from a show attendee and potential client. Yes, it worked! A new client could be in the works. “Really liked your card in the show bag but I found a spelling mistake on your website.” Panic sets in along with how could we be so stupid and there goes a potential client moan.
But wait….
I have an Ah-Ha moment. First I track down the spelling mistake. It takes 10 seconds to fix it because in a site built with WordPress, even a caveman…. So I email my new editor/client back and thank her profusely for alerting us to our embarrassing mistake. I then explain how simple it was to fix the mistake and that it only took 10 seconds and, yes, we can build you a site just like that for your business, so when you have to fix your spelling mistakes you won’t have to call an expensive programmer. Just fix it yourself in 10 seconds.
I hit send and wait…. All this happens within 5 minutes of her initial email. The phone rings and she says “That’s the best sales pitch I’ve ever heard. We have to get together. When can you be here to meet our CEO.” I was there 3 days later and we’re in the running for a long term contract! I can’t say I’m planting new spelling mistakes in our site, but I know how I’m going to handle my next mistake.
Got some mistakes in your marketing strategy?
Need a website built that you and your team can manage easily? Give FirstTracks Marketing a call at 603-924-1978 or fill out our contact form. We’d be happy to help. Here’s to mistakes and what we do with them!
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On typos — A smart person once told me that the Greeks (Romans?) used to build one minor mistake into every project as as not to offend the Gods. Also, Seth Godin once said to a boss of mine when told about a typo on page 160-something of his book The Purple Cow, “Nobody ever made a million dollars correcting typos.” Snarky, yes. True, yes.
Excellent point Steve! Love the quote from Seth Godin, he is one of my absolute favorite marketing authors right along with David Meerman Scott. I also like the idea the Greeks had about building imperfections into their work. I am going to use that next time someone discovers a bug in my web code!
What a great way to turn a potential problem into a solution. As they say, how you handle a mistake says more about you than the fact that you made a mistake. Your story proves that to be true. Thanks for sharing a great example and your web expertise at the same time!