If you’ve ever watched Airline you’ll no doubt have watch (probably with admiration) the check-in staff deal with some of the most awkward customers ever, while keeping their cool. Often the customers are particularly awkward as they feel stupid – lets face it if they’ve left their passport at home or tried to checkin 24 hours after the flight left it’s their fault and they know it.

Sometimes however mistakes will be your fault, or at very least due to circumstances beyond your control (and not of the customers making) – for example you have to cancel a flight because of bad weather. In such cases how do you get the customer to give you the benefit of the doubt? Seth Godin has some suggestions:

• Be the underdog. Nextel or AT&T? Nextel often got the benefit of the doubt.
• Under promise.
• Build up expectations of difficulty. Magicians are really good at this. If people think what you’re doing is really difficult, they root for you.
• Under hype. If others are building you up day after day, it’s easy to root against you. The Germans have a word for everything and they have a word for this: schadenfreude.
• Call them on it. If you think people are being perfectionists and not giving you a chance, ask for one. It’s easier to ask for a chance to excel than it is to ask forgiveness if you fail.

My favourite way to get a chance is to give one. Organizations that are a little more flexible with their customers (and grateful to them) often get a lot more flexibility in return.

The same applies to persuading customers that are on the fence to give your product or service a try.

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