blunders and bloopers in business

[mr.ro]

So im here on a shoe string budget and I decide to get some business cards printed from vistaprint I design them, upload them, go through all the hoops to order them. only to realize that I did the mistake of misspelling a word. so come to find out vistaprint is an automated company meaning they save money by not have people answer phones which is why they have low prices. so i was unable to reverse the order and change the design so I lost out on money and time.

I just wanted to start something maybe we can laugh at see what things we have did in business that we can look back at now and wonder how we made that mistake.

[cbscreative]

Thank you for sharing that. I think my view of business cards is well known by many of the members here. Even at the high end for costs, business cards are so inexpensive that it is a mistake to do them cheap. When you hand them out, it may very well be the first impression of your company, and it always leaves some impression. Make it count. If I get a cheap, unprofessional card, my first thought is to wonder what other ways they cut costs. No deal, sorry, you lose. It is so affordable to do them right that I am very unforgiving of anyone who doesn't take their business seriously enough to do so. There are some exceptions to that, but very few.

OK, with that, my blunder is probably not as amusing. One reason I am so strong on marketing now is that I had such horrible marketing several years ago with a sign business. I had talent, did high quality work, yet sucked at effectively marketing the company. I think many small biz people make that same mistake. In my case, I was losing business to people selling junk because my marketing was weak. At least now when I lose business, it's because the potential client either doesn't care or doesn't understand. I can live with that because there are plenty who do.

[vangogh]

Good topic.

I've done my share of typo blunders. Mostly they were on resumes when I was applying for jobs or on the cover letters I was sending out. I've also done my share of poor marketing, though I try to always learn from my mistakes.

I guess a recent blunder was in a software purchase. When I bought a Macbook a few months ago I wanted to install virtualization software and then add Windows to it. Unfortunately I didn't have time to research the virtualization software and ended up buying the one that wasn't quite as good. No big deal there. I thought I had a copy of XP I could install, but couldn't find it so I went out and bought Vista. Naturally after I opened Vista and installed it and couldn't return it anymore I found the copy of XP I had. Couple hundred I didn't have to spend. Oh well.

[KristineS]

I did a typo on a blog post that was supposed to get us national exposure once. I wrote the post and instead of saying inexpensive, which was what I wanted to say, I said expensive. I swear I read the thing like 40 times, but somehow I missed that. Of course it changed the entire meaning of the post.

I still shudder over that one.

[billbenson]

When I get an order, I have a program that sends me a receipt and an order. I forward the receipt copy to my customer and the order to my partner who processes the order. I do it that way so I get a copy of both the order and receipt. Customers always call for their receipt when they get their bill.

A month ago, I forwarded the order email to the customer. The order email has costs as well as prices on it. Turned out it was a new clerk in her first week on the job. I sent her an email with the receipt copy and said there was an error on the prior receipt. She bought it and didn't forward the one with costs to her boss. Got lucky.

[orion_joel]

Probably my biggest blunder to date would be the lack of marketing, or more so professional marketing.

However in saying this i have also made many type blunders, but to date all of them have been on prices, however actually in my favor. Because of a flat 10% sales tax in Australia, some companies prefer to be quoted ex tax and some inc tax. For whatever reason. A couple of times i have made the mistake of quoting the inc GST price to a customer expecting ex GST. the 3 or 4 times it has happened they have still ordered, and confirmed with purchase orders with the price i quoted and added the tax on. When this has happened i will generally just split the difference, and tell them i got a better price form the supplier and wanted to pass the saving on. Which makes them even happier.

[mr.ro]

well im glad to know others here have did their fair share of typos. orion_joel I would not mind getting more money and not having the customer get mad that is a win win blunder.

vangogh man that sucks when you don't research a software purchase before you buy and it doesn't fit the bill. I have made that mistake as well with audio software.

[Baseline]

Had a standard block on my surveys regarding "public" information. For some reason, we lost the L....... on I don't know how many surveys....... that are recorded, and in the courthouses all around here........


sigh.........

[cbscreative]

I'll bet we could have a great time with typos and bloopers. I can't think of any really funny ones of my own off hand, but I always enjoy seeing those lists of church bulletin bloopers and newspaper headline bloopers.

Here's an old list of newspaper headlines, but still funny:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash Expert Says

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

Eye Drops Off Shelf

Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

Clinton Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead

Enraged Cow Injures Farmer With Ax

Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told

Miners Refuse to Work after Death

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While

Deer Kill 17,000

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

New Vaccine May Contain Rabies

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case

Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

Stolen Painting Found by Tree

War Dims Hope for Peace

Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

[seolman]

I may have the biggest blunder of all from about 28 years ago. I had a small business building reverse osmosis water treatment systems and i was bidding on (what for me was) a big job. I worked for 3 days and nights slaving over my calculator and (at that time) Lotus 123 spreadsheets. I got all finished and sent the quote off around 3am and crashed. The next day I got up all self-satisfied and reviewed everything and almost had a heart attack. I had cut and pasted the wrong numbers into the proposal - virtually my cost. Three days of work down the drain and I ended up telling the client we weren't interested in the project so if they did decide to buy I wouldn't go through the embarrassment of telling them what an idiot I was.

Ahh to be young again...when you think you know it all.

[Blessed]

When I was the managing editor of a twice weekly paper about a dozen years ago we printed an issue with "DATE HERE" in the masthead instead of the date. My editor wasn't amused...

[KristineS]

Those sorts of things are one of the reasons I've learned to have someone who didn't work on the project do a proofread before it goes to print. I look at some of this stuff so many times that after a while I miss things. Someone who hasn't seen it a million times will see the errors quite quickly.

[cbscreative]

Those sorts of things are one of the reasons I've learned to have someone who didn't work on the project do a proofread before it goes to print. I look at some of this stuff so many times that after a while I miss things. Someone who hasn't seen it a million times will see the errors quite quickly.
Excellent advice, and very true! The more you look at something, the less obvious a mistake can be. I strongly agree that this step is very important.

[lav]

A customer came in for some small signs on a car, We had done other cars for them so we had it all designed and printed ready to go. While the customer was talking to the customer service girls I asked him which car it was... "the white ford in the car park" was his answer. I head out and do a fantastic job applying the decals as usual. The customer pays his bill and leaves. At lunch time I go across to the coffee shop across the road and notice the "white ford" with the decals I applied still sitting there. Well it "looked" like a Ford to me in my haste. Funny enough he hopped in and drove away without even noticing that his car didnt have signs on it.... Luckily he saw the funny side of it but embarassing for me.

[Steve B]

Joining a Barter group has been my biggest blunder. It sounded great in the beginning. I've accumulated a couple thousand "points" and I pay $20 per month to stay in the group. But, nobody is willing to let me spend my points on the things I need. I joined so I could get my basement finished, but the contractors in our group don't return phone calls or aren't interested in driving 20 miles to where I live to do the work. It looks like I'm going to have to get $2,000 worth of useless overpriced stuff or services that I wouldn't have purchased otherwise.

[orion_joel]

That is probably the biggest downfall with barter systems is that not everything seems to equal out and on occasion a small group will appear to be getting a much better deal then the great majority.

[mr.ro]

wow lav thats a funny story. I wonder what the owner of the car you put the sign on thought lol.

[lav]

I wonder what the owner of the car you put the sign on thought lol.I dont think they got to see it. It was "all hands on deck" and all the decals were removed in about 3 minutes hehe

[vangogh]

But think of the story you'd be able to tell if they had seen the decals.

[mr.ro]

Yeah I know if I saw my car with decals I would think its someone elses and continue looking for mine lol

[vangogh]

I think I'd realize it was mine and look at it in disbelief for a few minutes. At some point I'd see how easy the decals were to remove. If they weren't too hard I'd just remove them and go my own way. If they were hard I'd be looking for the person I should be made at.

[BillR]

I actually have a book manuscript that has a list of business mistakes that have cost me $500 or more.

Last time I read the manuscript I realized it needed a serious re-working from a readability standpoint - but there are some doozies in there...

[vangogh]

Any chance we'll get to see that book? I think it would be a fun read and also informative in a what not to do sense.

[billbenson]

If I wrote the book, there would have been a few entries for "marriage" :)

[vangogh]

I'm thinking it's best not to ask you to share your marriage blunders :)

[Evan]

If I wrote the book, there would have been a few entries for "marriage" :)

That's why your entry on the good times of bachelorhood would certainly outweigh the good times of marriage. :D

[cbscreative]

That's why your entry on the good times of bachelorhood would certainly outweigh the good times of marriage. :D
I know you're kidding, Evan, but I will still comment anyway. That's not true for me. :)

BTW, back on Nov 8 it anniversary #23 for me. Getting close to that Silver.

[Evan]

BTW, back on Nov 8 it anniversary #23 for me. Getting close to that Silver.

Thirty-first for my parents. Too long!!! :P

[billbenson]

I did the whole thing the inverse of what most people do (at least most people I know). I didn't marry until 42 y/o. All the people I know that got divorced or cheated a time or two never got it out of their systems when they were younger.

I've never cheated or wanted to. Got that out of my system when I was young and single. Been happily married over 10 years now. Ain't a walk in the park though.