I Am Sorry: SIX Lesson For Me
Apr 21st, 2008 by Johan
I made a mistake and dropped three consecutive emails to people who gave me permission to communicate with them. Ouch!
Lesson 1) Most people will justify the mistake and I wanted to stay clear of that.
Lesson 2) The reason for the mistake is not the issue because then I justify and I hate justifications.
Now that I have made the mistake how do I rectify the issue? Do I send another email and ask these trusted friends to forgive me. But this will be the forth email in a row. Ouch!
Lesson 3: I had to say I am sorry.
I then decided to send a plain Sincere Apology letter immediately after the mistake. This is the letter:
Dear Friend
Please accept my sincere apology for the last emails that was send
to you. I am very sorry. I will try my utmost to only send you real
advice. I don’t want to make excuses as I could have prevented these emails from being send to you and I was not careful enough.
I will understand if you want unsubscribe from my how-to-blog
newsletter. You can use the link below.
Sorry again.
Johan Horak
Lesson 4: I had to take full responsibility for my mistake.
Lesson 5: I wanted people to unsubscribe easily if they were unhappy.
Now for the real surprise:
As soon as the email arrived I received emails from my friends and they had this to say:
Dearest Johan, can I tell you a secret? I have opened very few of your e-mails. I am saving them for when I have more time, as I have just entered this market, and I have SO much to learn, and I am 55 years old and still very computer-illiterate. I would very much like to start a blog,…….. I was planning on opening them over the long weekend and printing them out to make a hard copy-file to keep. Your apology is so sincere……… Can anyone stand up and say that they have never said: “I wish I didn’t say that!”? Have a fantastic week. Warm regards, Stella.
Hallo Johan, Thank you for the email. No problem at all. Mehnaaz
Dear Johan, Its no problem,thank you. Wendall
Johan, I am not unhappy with anything. Lizelle.
Lesson 6: I was able to create a better relationship by saying I am Sorry.
I want to thank everyone for the emails. It made me feel good. And today I am happy that I had the courage to say I am sorry because these emails, from trusted friends, indicate how important relationships are.
I respect this relationship and the fact that people gave me permission to talk to them.
Thank you for you for allowing me to say I am sorry.
Regards
Johan Horak
P.S. By the way: Nobody unsubscribed from my newsletter.
P.P.S. If you have any advice and other lessons you have pickup from saying you are sorry please share them here.
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