Last Wednesday when I got home from the studio there was a message on my voicemail from a customer. The week before we spent a few days making a set of “Conquistadors” flasks for him. His message said something like, “The flasks look really good, but I’m torn – they say ‘Conquistadors’ on them.”
My heart sank, and I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what had gone wrong. My husband looked at the flasks and suggested, maybe it was supposed to be “Conquistador.”
He was right.
When I talked to the customer the next morning I agreed to re-make every single flask. I had one assistant out sick Thursday, and one came in Tuesday and was taking Thursday off. I called the gal who usually does just the stitching on an emergency and she helped a bit. But, 50 flasks in a day is a lot even for two people.
I got the flasks to the post office just after 3pm and they arrived in time for the customer to give them away at the event, “The Conquistador” - most importantly, everyone loved them.
I beat myself up about this – it was totally my mistake. We never got printed artwork from the customer so we were doing it all by phone with a poor connection most of the time. Somewhere along the line, my brain over-rode the singular version because I thought – they are all conquistadors that they are giving the flasks to, so it must be plural, right?
Well, now I have a limited edition of 50 flasks. And they’re cool, too! So here’s the deal: I will sell 25 of them at a discount through my Etsy shop. The other 25 I will give away, All you have to do is tell me the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, and how you conquered it. That earns you the right to be one of our conquistadors (and gets you a free flask).
xo
c
5 comments:
Oh man. There are so many. Probably my most horrifying mistake was this one: several years ago I was in the throes of a new relationship. I wrote a long, gushing email to my new love, including some naughty bits...and proceeded to send it to a male coworker (who is also the office gossip) by mistake. Yeah....
Forgot my email in case I win. littlebird00@gmail.com
Oh! And I looove my bee clutch wallet so much!! It's fabulous!
Sounds like you handled yourself very well! Shows a lot of commitment to your customers.
Mine involves letting some information about a friend slip to his newly ex-girlfriend. It was an honest mistake, and my friend was pretty mad about it; I owned up to it and talked it out with him. Sometimes just being honest and accepting your blunder is the best way to go.
I recently submitted a grant application and was working on it on my birthday...well I signed it with my birth date instead of the current year. Need less to say, a co-worker who was copied on the application submission asked why it was signed 1985! In front of a roomful of other co-workers and I had to explain. I'm still hoping the irretrievably online application is not rejected by the foundation by my blunder...
lttlmjh2004@yahoo.com
First off you have incredible customer service!
I've made a lot of mistakes over the years. A lot! My worst business wise was very similar to yours, I misspelt a word on a custom stamped piece. Now I spell check everything!!!
Post a Comment