Musings from Dennis #260. Inevitably there will be times when you find yourself unable to award a license, an event or a deal to an interested partner and there could be times when the misunderstanding happened and you need to withdraw the offer or legal complications could ensue. This happened when I accompanied my boss to meet a promotions partner in person to withdraw our offer and personally apologise for the inconvenience caused. I remember looking at my watch when he started saying sorry, and it took him 45 minutes in all to complete his messaging. Honestly I was full of admiration for him for this. Saying sorry without appearing to be lofty but sincere takes skill and patience. Context needed to be expressed and the word ‘sorry’ appears frequently along with proper body posture. We all want to retain the relationship still and explore future partnerships without cutting our contact off completely. This learned experience came in useful when I had to visit a suburban mall to inform them that we could not let them host one of our Nickelodeon characters event (in the early days of the franchise) despite raising their hands early, because it was not part of the management’s strategy (at that time). This time I was alone, and I took the time to express our regret. I did not start by immediately saying ‘no you can’t have it’, so it had to be carefully articulated gently and to be sincere. The hour-long meeting went well, the mall graciously accepted our position and I promised to update them in case the plans change. A few years later, indeed it did and we partnered them for a Dora the Explorer staged musical that went well for them. And us too.
