Has this ever happened to you?
Recently I sent out an email campaign promoting one of my 3-Day Internet Marketing Seminars, and by mistake, I sent over 5,000 emails that started with “Hi Bob.”
Aside from the fact that I don’t even know that many Bobs, this huge marketing blunder really doesn’t look at all professional on my part. Naturally people couldn’t resist letting me know of my mistake, in fact one person emailed me right away to remind me that the biggest mistake I could make in marketing is call the client by the wrong name.
Normally I would have agreed! But…
Out of the 5,000 emails sent out; 18 people unsubscribed, 8 people asked me who Bob was, 4 emailed me back to tell me that I had sent them the wrong email and 3 others were joking with me in one fashion or another.
Out of the 5,000 people only 3 people were super ticked off. These are the know-it-alls who promptly told me how to run my business better.
But, do you know what? 23 people signed up for the course anyway.
My huge marketing blunder actually told me a lot about people. Some people don’t care what you call them as long as they get the right information. No ego attached. Some people are so driven by honesty that they took the time to email me to inform me of the fact that I misdirected my email that was meant for Bob!
And, the jokers just found an opportunity to give me their punch line and made me laugh out loud.
Mistakes are truly awesome. Through time, great thinkers have come up with the following great quotes;
“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery” James Joyce
“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes” Oscar Wilde
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” Albert Einstein
“Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and hand guns.” Mitch Ratcliffe
The old Paul with Tinnitus would have beaten himself up for days. The new Paul just sits back and enjoys how mistakes unfold, and watched with both curiosity and detachment how the universe will settle the dust of my mistakes.
At one time this would have sent my stress through the roof and my tinnitus would have screamed so loud I would have been reduced to a near catatonic state.
But, I’ve learned to be grateful for my mistakes, and watch with wonder and gratitude. I grow because of them. I marvel at the lessons, and I admire the perfection in each mistake.
As a professional concert pianist, I used to hate mistakes to the point of disgust. Through my studies, I learned how Miles Davis, the best jazz trumpet player in the world, would relish in a mistake, hang out there a while until a wrong note became the perfect note.
What is potentially perceived as a mistake by thousands is actually just the universe working in strange perfection. Actually, I now have a new story for my students about how a potentially huge marketing blunder isn’t that much of a blunder after all.
Of course, if I didn’t call everyone Bob, my conversion rates would have probably been higher and there would have been no negativity at all.
Or maybe I wouldn’t have received this much attention? It doesn’t really matter. What matters is; if you are hanging on to mistakes of the past, or keep punishing yourself for suffering or your family’s suffering, or you judge yourself for mistakes — it’s time to educate yourself on what mistakes really are.
Mistakes are perfect, they are wise and they are very clear markers in the navigation process towards a great goal.
“In fact, they’re only mistakes if you make ‘em twice!” – Paul Tobey
Paul Tobey is a professional speaker and a professional concert pianist. His seminars include varying topics such as; tinnitus, piano lessons, internet marketing, public speaking, train the trainer and more.
