Mistakes happen! What defines your business is what you do as a result. Do you quote policy, apologize, or act?  Jackie Huba has some interesting suggestions for Best Buy when they ran out of a popular promotion item.  She says:

Turning bad buzz into good takes fast, creative thinking, a sense of humor, and a willingness    to happily eat virtual crow. Best Buy could put everyone who ordered the TV into a drawing then give away 10 of them. Or 100. Then they could even deliver the sets, with TV cameras rolling, and have their Geek Squad members install them for free.

How much would Jackie’s suggestions really cost Best Buy? The cost of surprising and delighting customers is nothing in comparison to what the negative publicity will cost.  The difference, the positive, proactive expense is controllable, the negative cost isn’t.

When things don’t go as planned, how do you react?