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I’ll be the first to admit that I make mistakes. It is natural and there is nothing I can do about it. I work really hard, and despite how often I double-check my work, there are some things that just slip by. Making a mistake could also mean that you took a risk with a new SEO/SEM technique, and it backfired. How you handle the fact that you made a mistake with your client, however, is critical.

Let’s assume you just found out you made a mistake. Instantly you fall into one of two categories: you discovered that you made a mistake, or your client did. Each situation requires a slightly different approach.

You discovered the mistake

Obviously, this is the better situation to be in. The first thing you need to do is figure out what the damage is. Did you drop from page one to the three in Google, did their conversion rate plummet, or did their site go down? It is important to document what happened and what change caused it to happen for future reference, and so you can inform the client. Next, you need to figure out the best solution to fixing the problem, and begin implementing it. One might argue that you should let the client know before you implement your fix, but I strongly disagree. Your client wants to know that you are on top of things, and that you have already taken care of the problem.

That brings me to the next step. Calmly email the client and let them know what the situation was, why you think it became a problem, and how you fixed it. The most important thing the client will care about is that it is fixed. I’d also recommend not wasting their time by coming up with excuses. In my opinion they just want to know that everything is ok now. You can discuss the details at a later time if they want. If you are confident when writing to them, you’ll get a much better response from them.

They discovered the mistake

When your client emails you or (most likely) calls you because they noticed a huge drop in traffic or that a major page on their site is broken, you’ll probably instantly become defensive. It’s natural to feel this way, because they just called you out not only a mistake, but on not staying on top of their account. Take a deep breath, and ask them to show you exactly what problem they are seeing. If you are able to, get them off the phone and assure them that you are dropping everything that you are doing to figure out how to fix it. Immediately address the issue and implement the fix. As soon as you know exactly what the problem is, and have fixed it (to the best of your knowledge), call them up and explain what the problem was and what you did to take care of it.

This can be a very awkward situation because they will be pointing the finger at you. That is why it is so important to get off the phone with them as soon as you can so your frustration doesn’t get the best of you.

As a best practice you should always document any change you made to a website, and what date you made the change. It is a great way to not only help you in a time of crisis, but to also benchmark results. In addition to documentation, it is a best practice to always create a backup or two of any page you are changing on a site. This will allow you to throw the original page back up on the site while you dissect what had gone wrong.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pm in How to Lose Clients.