What if I told you that there might be a way to insulate your company from the effects of a bad customer mistake? Chances are you would laugh or offer to pay me a large sum of money. Well then get your checkbook out, because I am going to give you the one word that will do just that — relationship.

There is a McDonald's on the way to my office that I often stop at. I am usually personable and friendly with the staff in the drive-thru, and because of different food allergies, my orders are often unique. Needless to say, they know me there. One day my order came out and because they forgot to leave the sauce I was allergic to off of my sandwich, it was inedible for me. I was too far away to go back and too busy to complain. I gave the sandwich away and didn't worry about it.

What struck me about the entire experience was that I wasn't mad. Any other McDonald's I would have been a little hot under the collar, but my McDonald's had just made a mistake. They weren't incompetent from my point of view, they were human. That can be the difference that relationship makes in business.

What are the relationships you are building with your customers saying about your business? Is there something different you can do to improve your customers' perceptions of your mistakes?