Service Recovery Fundamentals There is one basic truth in all organizations that find themselves established but unable to traverse the higher plain of service delivery; one element that many service strategists fail to successfully implement, service recovery. What is it that makes service recovery such an enigma? Why is it so important? When will organizations realize the importance of this element of service delivery? How is it implemented? Let’s explore the service recovery phenomenon. The singly most important factor in increasing one’s customer base and extending the customer life cycle to create customer advocates lies in an organization’s service recovery process. It is a process so fundamentally straightforward that it is often overlooked by even the most advanced service oriented organizations. A typical organization’s illusion of fine service halts at the act of product handover. Follow-up customer care is subsequently extracted from a generically sculpted manual of product information and internal processes. This same manual is the reference for handling of queries and complaints from a customer, but is that adequate? It is unfortunate that many companies disassociate themselves from their customers upon product delivery. The “it’s no longer our problem” attitude translates into continuous high budgets on marketing to attract more customers. If service recovery remains a mystery to businesses and they don’t endeavor to understand it, they will find customers falling through the gaps, ultimately losing them forever. Solving a customer’s problems or complaints then create such an experience that they feel like they’ve just done business with the greatest people and company in the country! Service recovery defined is ensuring the customer remains smiling after an error or mistake is made. Turning a customers disposition around and make them love you more and all done faster than you can toast a slice of bread. The service recovery process can be executed in the following order:
Service recovery is the step that should follow a mistake. You must apologize, take responsibility for the error or the inconvenience, and give the customer something of value as compensation, something that says, "We value you as a customer and want you to continue to do business with us." What product or service can you give that will cost you little or nothing but that has value in the eyes of your customers? A hotel can upgrade a disgruntled guest to a suite. A restaurant can give offer a free appetizer. A cell phone company can offer 500 free minutes. Advertising is aimed at the masses; service recovery is aimed at the individual. Put another way, advertising will bring a customer to you—once. It is the customer experience that will bring him back to you. That experience must include service recovery. Why? Because every company—no matter how excellent their products or employees—occasionally makes a mistake. Show me a company that has never made a mistake in serving a customer, and I’ll show you a company that is in deep denial. When you effectively practice service recovery, you are creating a customer who will be so satisfied that she will tell anyone who will listen about the wonderful service your company provided her. Nothing is as powerful as a personal recommendation from a satisfied customer. Service recovery—solving a customer’s problem and sending him away singing your praises—creates word-of-mouth advertising that is 10 times more powerful than advertising—and 20 times cheaper. With service recovery, you can turn an angry customer, who will bad mouth your company to everyone and anyone who will listen, into a loyal customer who will spread the word about your wonderful service and who will return to you time and time again. Service recovery will put you and your organization ahead of the competition. It will prevent customer defection, which will increase your sales and profits. It also will prevent employee defection. When employees are trained in customer service and are empowered to make decisions that will satisfy their customers, they are happier in their jobs. With service recovery, your customers—and your employees—wouldn’t dream of leaving you. What separates service leaders from the rest of the pack is how they respond to mistakes. They will do whatever it takes to solve a customer’s problem—and take that customer from hell to heaven in 60 seconds or less. They understand the importance of service recovery to their bottom lines. Service leaders—like Amazon, Dell, Vail Resorts, Delta Dental, Southwest Airlines, General Electric, Commerce Bank, and Lands’ End—have mastered the critical elements that drive a service-focused business. They drive superior customer service strategically. That means everyone, from the CEO on down, walks the talk and reinforces the importance of customer service. They empower their employees, giving them the authority to bend and break the rules, to use their common sense, to take care of the customer. Those companies understand that empowerment is the backbone of service recovery. Employees must have the authority to do whatever it takes, on the spot, to take care of a customer to that customer’s satisfaction—not to the satisfaction of the company. Most executives believe their employees are empowered. And most employees would agree—as long as they follow the policies and procedures set forth by the company. What that means is that there really is no empowerment. Empowerment is a difficult concept for many bureaucrats to introduce. They would much rather institute policies and procedures that eliminate the need for employees to make decisions about how to serve the customer. What they don’t realize is that those policies and procedures prevent employees from doing their jobs well and providing the type of service that will keep customers coming back to do business with the company.
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