Saying, “Sorry,” in Business - The Write Impression

Have you ever had to apologise to someone at work, or to one of your clients? When you’ve made a mistake it’s often necessary to apologise before a good working relationship is destroyed.

In business, it’s far more difficult to get new customers, clients, or business partners than it is to keep one that you already have. If you’ve made a mistake it’s very important to apologise straight away.

Most people will understand that things can go wrong from time to time, and most people will accept that everybody makes an occasional mistake. What is more difficult to forgive is if you handled things badly when you made those mistakes.

So what are the important parts of the business apology?

1. Say what happened.

• An apology is not worth much if it doesn’t say exactly what you are apologising for.

1. Acknowledge the damage.

• Let them know that you understand what went wrong.

1. Take responsibility; accept your or your company’s role in what went wrong.

• You should take responsibility without blaming anybody else.

1. Say that you are sorry.

• Use words such as, “I apologise,” “I’m sorry,” “I regret,” “we offer our apologies,” — these are the things that human beings say when they really are sorry. You might want to use words like ‘sincere,’ ‘heartfelt,’ or ‘deepest,’ but if you use too many adjectives, you risk people thinking that you’re not sincere at all.

1. Ask that they accept your apology.
2. Provide some form of restitution.

• Show them what steps you are taking to make it right. You may need to make amends, or take actions to ensure that it won’t happen again. This shows that you are sincere.

1. At the end of the email or letter, offer to discuss things further if they would like, and give your best wishes.

Tips for getting the business apology perfect

• Don’t try to cover anything else in your email
• Don’t blame anybody else, including your reader. Only address your own actions.
• Don’t use the common, “sorry, but…” formula. It shows that you’re not really sorry.
• If you don’t like the person that you’re apologising to, imagine that they are your friend while you are writing the apology.
• Sometimes, even if you don’t think you are in the wrong, you should apologise. In such cases, you can apologise for the part you played in the misunderstanding, or apologise that that you did not respond more effectively. This at least shows that you and the recipient of your message can move on and let go of negative feelings.
• Always write in the active voice. ‘I made a mistake,’ not, ‘mistakes were made.’
• Make sure you’re actually apologising for what was done, and the damage that was caused. Some people say things like, “We apologise if any offence was caused by our mistake,” which means that you’re sorry that they were offended, but you’re not sorry for the mistake in the first place.
• You shouldn’t sound like politicians: “if my mistake inconvenienced anyone, I am sorry.” This implies that maybe nobody was inconvenienced and maybe there is no reason for you to be sorry.

If you would like a business apology template, please contact me here.