Opinion

Making friends by making mistakes

By Scott T. Hards

The revelations over the past few weeks that Mitsubishi Motors concealed dozens of serious flaws in their cars and trucks for over a decade - some so severe that people were killed as a direct result - is stunning for a number of reasons.

First, it's surprising that the company's management believed they could actually keep the problems hidden. A firm like that has thousands of employees; far too many people know something fishy is going on for it to stay secret for very long.

Second, the company's managers displayed a remarkable ability not to learn from their own mistakes. In 2000 the company was caught doing the same thing (concealing defects that should have been recalled), and a scandal ensued. But they kept on doing it anyway, even though they were given a golden opportunity to come clean.

And third, these men thought their actions were in the best interests of Mitsubishi, that they were protecting its image in the marketplace. Rather, they have destroyed it. I'll be surprised if the firm can survive in its present form for much longer.

And it doesn't matter if it does. The big four Japanese automakers, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda, account for 80% of the market. Imports and eight smaller domestic firms fight over the remaining 20%, with Mitsubishi cars and trucks making up just 5% of the total market. Other firms can cover that demand if Mitsubishi closes its doors.

That Mitsubishi's managers thought they were helping their company image is particularly startling to me personally. Why? When I'm not writing essays like this for Shukan ST, I run a small Internet mail-order company (HobbyLink Japan; www.hlj.com). We have tens of thousands of customers and since 1995, I have exchanged mail with dozens of them on a daily basis. My experiences have taught me something interesting that apparently Mitsubishi never learned: You can often make a customer happier by promptly correcting a mistake than by serving them perfectly in the first place!

Certainly everybody wants perfect service (or a perfect car). But most reasonable people also understand that from time to time mistakes are made. A new car has a design flaw; a warehouse employee sends a customer the wrong product. But if we quickly get them the right item, the customer often gets the impression we'ｖe done something "extra" for them, something beyond the routine, even though we're just correcting a mistake. They come away with a better impression of us than if they'd just gotten the right item from the start, and never talked directly with anybody.

So if Mitsubishi had used their own mistakes as opportunities to interact directly with their customers and personally ensure their satisfaction instead of falling into the typical "put a lid on a stench" logic, they probably wouldn't be struggling to survive a mind-numbing 65% decrease in sales.

The obvious conclusion one can draw from all of this is as useful for an individual as it is for a huge corporation or a hospital: It's not whether you make mistakes or not, it's how you handle your mistakes when you make them. When you're dealing with fallible human beings, expecting perfection is never a wise idea.

Shukan ST: July 16, 2004

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