The magic of failing spectacularly.

Making mistakes. Failing. Companies do not like doing it, and they like admitting it even less. When I wrote this in 2012, social media made that fear very visible: customers complaining on your Facebook wall, employees saying what they think without corporate communications in between. The platforms changed. The fear did not.

But making mistakes is healthy. The best friendships are the ones where you accept each other’s mistakes and have already had a few proper arguments. The best relationships with brands are the ones where they completely mess something up, then put it right more than decently. And above all, you learn from mistakes.

So I have a soft spot for companies that cultivate making mistakes, almost as a goal in itself. To learn. To see what works and what does not. To find out what their customers really want.

The brasserie.

A friend of mine runs a brasserie and restaurant. He keeps changing small things to see what happens.

One week, it is the lights near the window. He switches them on and off and watches where people choose to sit. Brighter tables near the window attract more people, and the more people sit by the window, the more people come in from the street.

The next week, he tests his menu. Does the order of the dishes matter? Does he sell more fries if he offers them as an extra? Yes: 125% more, he told me. Does writing “thank you” on the bill change the tips? Yes: 27% more. Do more people walk in if he puts a line of tape from the square to his door? Yes: up to 40% more.

Small changes. Concrete questions. Something he can see happen.

Giving drinks away.

As a born entrepreneur, he also knows that it sometimes pays to give something away. A coffee for the first person who comes in in the morning. An extra glass of wine for a couple clearly enjoying a romantic evening. Small things that make the evening nicer, that people tell others about, and that make them come back.

But how do you explain that to your staff? Giving drinks away is surely not done. And when should you do it? His solution: his staff have to give away at least three drinks every shift. Forced at first, to show them the effect on customers, how much they appreciate it, and that the occasional free drink really will not bankrupt the business.

They are all tests. Experiments. Some work, but the most interesting ones are the ones that fail. Each one makes his business a little more flexible.

That is the magic of failing spectacularly.

Written in 2012. The 125%, 27% and up-to-40% are my friend’s own results as he told them to me, not a study. Make the experiment small enough to try, and watch what happens. Where I took it later: Thoughtfulness needs a system.

Original (Dutch): De magie van snoeihard falen, 4 June 2012.