Stop Saying “I’m Sorry, But…”

You're going to screw up. I screw up all the time. One of my favorite authors, Steve Sims, says, nobody drowns from falling in the water. You drown from failing to get out.

It's not the problem that usually gets you. It's what you do to try and fix the problem or not fix the problem that will either make you or break you. So I'm going to share with you one thing that you must do when you screw up and one thing that you must never do when you screw up so that you can build trust, repair trust with your boss, your coworker, your client, your customer, your prospect, whomever that you screwed up with. So I posted my first podcast.

I did my first podcast in my new series a couple of weeks ago, and I talked about a young lady on LinkedIn who had reached out to me who was a video editor on YouTube. And I said what a nice job she had done, that she commented in my posts first, and then she reached out to Link. And then she sent me a message saying how much she appreciated one of the posts that I had written. And then she reached out and said she'd like to talk to me about what we did.

Maybe we could help each other. It was a really great way to use LinkedIn. So I posted about that because so many people do it wrong. And I told people at the end on the podcast I told you hey call her if you need video work with LinkedIn or need some help with LinkedIn She be a great resource for you And I meant that sincerely So a couple weeks later podcast gets posted and I get a note from my friend Lindsay McMillian who has been my friend, my business associate, my healthy business partner, healthy business connection for a long time, 15 years.

We've known each other for a long time, worked with each other, helped each other. And she's my LinkedIn guru. She's the person I go to when I have LinkedIn questions. She's reached out to me and make suggestions.

I refer her all the time. If you're looking for somebody to come speak about LinkedIn or train you or your team about LinkedIn, Lindsay Steeman is the best. Lindsay Million Steeman. But I didn't mention her in that episode of the podcast.

And I got a message from her, a voice message from her. She said, hey, Walker, I'm having a very human moment. She said, I noticed she kind of sang this other person's praises about LinkedIn and suggested people call. And I know that there are other people that do LinkedIn, but I was kind of wishing you'd give me a little bit of a shout out.

Just needed to tell you that. And I got to tell you, I listened to that message and I was like, oh shit, I screwed up. Lindsay's one of my dear friends. She is a good person.

She is excellent at what she does. And she would be the first person I would send somebody to, as I said, to work on the LinkedIn, but I didn mention her in that post So what do you do when something like that happens You pick up the phone You don email you pick up the phone So the first thing you do when you recognize you screwed up is you call the person that impacted and you apologize even if it not your fault, right? Even if it's not your fault. So I called Lindsay immediately and I said, oh my God, I feel terrible.

I am so sorry, right? I apologize with every fiber of my being. I said it sincerely. I called her immediately and let her know that I was very sorry.

Now, here's what some of you are thinking. But what if it wasn't me that screwed up? What if it was my vendor? What if it's our operations people?

Here's what you do instead. I am so sorry. I screwed up. Own it.

Take responsibility. When you're in front of the customer, you are the company. I want you to take responsibility for something that goes wrong. If somebody leaves a baby on your doorstep, that may not be your fault, But it's your responsibility to take that baby and get it somewhere to safety.

Take responsibility for the problem. Own it right there. Your customer, boss, whomever may say, no, no, I know it's not your fault, but I want you to own it. So that's what you must do.

Say you're sorry. Say it sincerely. After you finish, after you say, I'm sorry, pause. Among the worst things you can do after saying I'm sorry is to add the word but.

So here what you never do I want you never to make excuses after you say I sorry I want you to never justify defend or explain You don say I sorry but so back in operations didn get the message and it was da-da-da-da-da-da. Nobody gives a shit. Nobody cares. As soon as you start making excuses, people lose respect very quickly.

That's where you'll lose respect. People won't trust you anymore and you won't deserve it, right? Take ownership. Never make excuses.

Own the problem. Now, I must admit, when Lindsay called me or when I heard her message, I was like, I talk about Lindsay all the time. I write about her on LinkedIn all the time. I do all this other stuff for Lindsay.

What's going on? You know what, though? That wasn't the point. That's not what she called me about.

Did I bring that up? Hell no. You know why? Not important.

Said I was sorry. I didn't make any excuses. And I told her that I would somehow find a way to make up for it. So that's what I'm doing.

Lindsay, you're the best. If any of you listening need help with LinkedIn, reach out to Lindsay McMillian-Steeman. You'll find her on LinkedIn. The other person I talked about on my first podcast, she's very good too with video for LinkedIn.

But call Lindsay if you want help with LinkedIn. Walker McKay with No BS Sales. When you make a mistake, and you will, apologize immediately with the phone, not with email, not with text. Apologize immediately.

Don't make excuses. That's the way to handle it in No BS Way.