The following is a blog post that I was reading earlier, and thought it brought up a good question. Take a minute to read through and then share your thoughts.

Should You Apologize in Business?

Many of us never apologize in business. We say it’s not personal so there is no reason for this.

Alternatively, many of us are constantly apologizing because the customer is alway right.

But how do you effectively use the apology in business?

Is this a good or bad things? Does it show strength or weakness? When should we do it and when do we hold back? how should we do it? We have a series of experts to help us grapple with this:

Lauren Bloom is an attorney who speaks, writes and consults about business ethics and responsible litigation risk management. She is also the author of the award-winning book, The Art of the Apology – How to Apologize Effectively to Practically Anyone. She discusses to effectively apologize you need to:

1. Say you’re sorry – sincerely!
2. Take responsibility
3. Express appreciation
4. Make amends
5. Listen
6. Do better next time


John Kador is the author of over 10 business books on leadership, finance, careers, technology, and ethics. His latest book is Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust. He is also a speechwriter and a ghostwriter for Fortune 500 CEOs. John talked about that the effective apology has 5 elements: recognition, responsibility, remorse, restitution, and repetition and the worst things you can do when apologizing:

1. use the word IF

2. use the word BUT

3. emphasize what you INTENDED.



Jane Beddall practiced as an attorney and mediator for a number of years before founding Dovetail Resolutions, LLC. Dovetail Resolutions is a Connecticut-based mediation and consulting firm that helps businesses succeed – by preventing, reducing, and resolving destructive conflicts. We talked about:

1. Conflict is inevitable – destructive conflict is not.
2. Clarity can prevent conflicts.
3. Deal with conflicts sooner rather than later.
4. Proving that you are right isn’t necessarily winning.


I also interviewed a fellow Brandeis University Alumni, Noah Blumenthal who is one of the world’s top 100 minds in personal development, hero coach, and author of Be the Hero. Hero is such a great word in our culture beginning with Comic books but also so overused. We talked about:

1. What does it mean to be a hero at work? And why do we need them?

2. Is this just a matter of having a good attitude? Or is there something more to it?

3. Why do people become victims in their work?


So what do you think?

Some good information here. Yes I do feel there may be a time and place in the business world when an apology may be needed. Of course you need to do it the right way - sincerely. An apology does not always mean you did something wrong - sometimes you apologize because there was some miscommunication - or the customer thought you were doing one thing and something else was done (miscommunication).

How you apologize is important. It acknowledges that a business is operated by humans - we all make mistakes. There have been many times where we apologized to a customer - and they continued to come to us - because we were HONEST and admitted an error may have been made. Customers like to feel they were right and will accept corrected information if it is presented in the proper way. If you approach it as a know it all - the customer will not feel comfortable doing business with you.

Yes - it is ok to say I am sorry!

Well, I think it is tacky not to appologize. I also find it appalling when a business will try and make me take the blame for the error that they should have caught and then try and charge me for a new item as well. (My business cards were mispelled.)

I think by apologizing, the client can see that you really are in a partnership. As Vicki pointed out, we are all human and do make mistakes, however, make too many or apologize too often and you run the risk of appearing inept and incompetent.

For big mistakes, such as the case with Remedy Hawke; whether the mistake was the vendor’s or the client’s, the vendor’s profit margin would have been cut in half if they replaced the business cards at no cost, however, if the vendor pointed out the error and covered the cost to reprint anyway, they would have a lifelong customer and acquired new clients by word-of-mouth advertising (the cheapest and most effective form of advertising).

For smaller mistakes that do not affect the bottom line, I would not even recommend pointing out whose fault it is, I would just fix it.

It does not matter if you have to swallow your pride to make the client happy at the end of the day, that is your income and that is what you are in business to do, within reason.

Its the difference between the needs and wants.

If you need relationship and business from the client, then a sincere apology is a must for all the blunders carried out with or without your knowledge.

The customer is always right. (even if they are wrong)
so, being that every customer service situation is different most times, it's all how you tactfully handle it with pleasantries.
Deep breaths, and yes I understand why you are upset and yes I am here to help make it right.

My specialty is hard to please and cranky customers. Don't let their attitude rub off on you. SMILE SMILE SMILE, they can hear you smile through the phone, even while everything is good.
Believe it or not. After 22 years of handling these type of issues,
I have found being pleasant, quick and effective works best.

If my customer is happy, then I am happy. If they are not satisfied, I put forth the effort to make it right, gain their trust and even check up on them every once in a while.

Everyone has a bad day, or week sometimes. If they see you are doing your best to satisfy them, they will not forget you, down the road and it truly 99% of the time diffuses the situation.
Then there are the 1% that there is just no satisfying, no matter what. Oh well. Karma will take care of them. lol

there is no rule that applies to all. Every case is different. I have seen in retail many wanting to return a shirt (or underwear) after a one night occasion. In many cases this was premeditated and no fault of the store. These are very tough cases to deal with, should you apologize here? What about customers intended misplaced over expectations of a product or service? whose responsibility is it? And who should apologize? Should you apologize when being taken advantage of? Also stores reselling faulty products or services at discount. There are always those who expect something for nothing on both sides of the fence (many companies also do this). I believe it all starts with HONESTY, and integrity. These are harder to come by every day. However, a good apology has 3 parts, 1)I'm honestly sorry. 2)It was my fault. 3)HOW CAN I MAKE IT BETTER? If any of these 3 ingredients are missing, they are not worth anything.