“I’ve Lost My Car?”
Providing Service Recovery
In my last article I spoke of Service Netting—creating solutions to customer situations before they became problems (at which point they become Service Recovery). I gave the analogy of having a net in place for a high wire act, rather than just a direct line to 911.
Let’s see these concepts in action by spending some time at Epcot. Epcot is an amazing place. It’s exciting to see Spaceship Earth as you arrive by car. You enter the parking lot, park your car, board a tram and then pass through the turnstiles.
You head off into the park to enjoy the rides and attractions throughout Future World and the World Showcase. You enjoy a number of attractions, do some shopping, take in a fine meal and cap off the day by seeing Illuminations.
As you head out to your car at the end of the day you think that Epcot should really be an acronym for “Every Person Comes Out Tired.”
It’s then that you realize you’ve forgotten where you parked.
There are over 11,000 parking spaces at Epcot… A vastness so large you could plop New Jersey into. What do you do? What are your options?
You could:
- Wait until the end of the night and your car is the only one left.
- Split up your family to search all the sections of the parking lot.
- Keep randomly looking.
How many of you would think to find a cast member and ask them where your car is parked? Whose fault is it that you lost your car? Should Disney be responsible for the fact that you lost your car? Should you expect Disney to do anything about it?
In the spirit of Service Netting, I should mention that Disney labels each section and row of the parking lot; and, when you board your tram they mention where you parked your car—not once, not twice, but three times.
Is Disney responsible? Before you decide, consider the following: How many times have you heard someone around your office or business say: “It’s their fault. They’re the ones to blame. They made the mistake. They have no one to blame but themselves.”
This is what makes the story come alive. In our own work environments, there are many times where the situation is not our fault. Great service lies in being the hero, even though it really isn’t your fault, but rather the customer or another employee.
So going back to our situation at Epcot, what do you do?
Well, imagine approaching a cast member and saying, “You won’t believe this…in fact, you probably never had this happen before… but I forgot where I parked my car.”
The cast member asks: “What time did you arrive this morning?
“A little after 10:00a.m.”
“Just after 10:00 we were parking rows 22-24 of the Imagine parking lot. Why don’t you get in our van and we’ll drive you over to those rows so you can find your car.”
Now how did they know that?
Unbeknownst to your family, while you were busy boarding the tram and getting excited about entering Epcot, the tram driver was taking a small one-page map of the parking lot and noting the time they parked rows 22-24. Later in the day, the manager took the marked map, made copies for all the cast members, and handed them out to everyone working in the parking lot—including the cast member you just approached.
Who do you think came up with this idea? It was the cast members who were working in the parking lots. This simple safety net costs little to implement but creates great service results.
Disney didn’t have to do that. After all, it was the customer’s fault they forgot where they parked the car. Imagine putting all that effort into creating an experience like Epcot, only to have a customer’s day ruined because they forgot where they parked their car.
Let’s look further at this concept called Service Recovery.
No matter how proactive we are, or how strong our service nets, sometimes we make mistakes. A loophole is created in a certain law, numbers get crunched incorrectly, the fire alarm goes off, we forget to pass on an important message, or we miss a step while tidying up a showroom. Mistakes are made because we’re imperfect people. We need to be prepared to react to these situations appropriately. If we don’t react appropriately, it can have significant impact on our customers, which in turn will have a significant impact on our reputation.
According to numerous studies, satisfied customers typically refer five new people to the product or service you offer and dissatisfied customers will tell 10 people or more. This same research shows that organizations, through their processes and people, often make it difficult for customers to report that they have experienced a problem.
Did you know that most customers tend not to complain? It’s often your advocates that will complain, because they care about your business and want it to succeed. In reality, less than one percent of customers are trying to “scam” your business.
Here are a couple of important points around Service Recovery.
Service Recovery must be initiated by the front line employees. There are a couple of reasons for this:
- When service recovery is more immediate, it results in higher customer satisfaction and greater loyalty.
- Studies show that front line staff, when trained properly, will be more effective and efficient in resolving customer situations than management; typically using fewer resources and getting better results.
I am providing you with a grid to help employees make decisions in the moment as to how they should serve others by handling situations.
The Service Recovery model is a matrix that represents a combination of two different situation criteria. Those criteria are:
Severity – How bad is the situation? How much has it affected our ability to deliver great products and services to our customers?
Responsibility – How responsible are we for what has occurred? This is the moment we have to look at our accountability. We do this not to judge or point blame, but to make certain that we do not jeopardize trust because we haven’t been forthright about our responsibility. It’s about fixing systems, not fixing blame.
Given these two concepts, let’s walk through the four matrix sections to better see how we apply the service standards discussed earlier:
Empathize
In this situation, you’re making a small effort to help another. You know what it’s like when you can’t make it happen yourself. Here are some examples:
- You visit a hospital, only to become confused as to where to go. Someone points the way for you or leads you there.
- In a store an item is knocked off the shelf display by someone else—you pick it up and put it back on the shelf.
- You forgot to pack toothpaste. The hotel provides a complimentary package.
- A customer calls the wrong department. Rather than telling them they’re wrong, you look up the correct number, provide that number to them and then try to connect them to the right party.
Fix It
This section is one in which the matter is hardly serious. However, it is one that necessitates that the matter be fixed, since the responsibility for it is significant. Consider the following situations:
- A seat in coach is double-booked on a plane. The airline offers another available seat to you. They may even offer a seat in first class if available.
- You receive a double billing on your electrical bill. You bring it to the attention of the utility and they credit your account immediately.
- Your nametag is misspelled. They send you a corrected one.
Red Carpet
Here we have a section where both responsibility and the severity or seriousness of the matter is extreme. These dire circumstances should be rare, but the service accountability is very high and necessitates extra efforts of those responsible to make up for it. Consider the following situations:
- A nearby construction crew splatters cement on cars in the adjacent parking lot. The construction company offers to sand and repaint the damaged vehicles. Car rentals are offered while the cars are in the shop.
- A customer letter is sent out accidentally listing an adult entertainment phone number instead of the intended number. Calls are made to over thousands of customers to notify them of the misprint. A corrected version of the letter is sent to the Internet site and through all other communication channels.
Hero
This is the section where nearly all businesses fail to capitalize on an incredibly valuable opportunity. In some circumstances, the responsibility to provide service is not ours. Doing so—particularly when the need is serious and the customer is at their most vulnerable—can make heroes of those who provide that service. These are the moments when nearly all legendary businesses break from the ordinary and become world-class. Here are some examples:
- An airline provides a direct link to an on-call doctor available to the aircrew in the event that one of their passengers falls seriously ill on the plane and needs immediate attention.
- Your insurance provider hears that your home burned down this morning. He comes out to the home with not only a check but also brings dinner and some miscellaneous supplies to help the family get through the situation.
- A kid drops an ice cream cone before leaving the cone shop. To the child the world has ended. The shop owner gives the child a new cone for free.
Our parking lot example falls here. Where do your examples fall? Share with us your Disney Service recovery examples. We’ll share them with others. If you have examples from your own business, that would be great as well. Either way, let us know where you think they fall.
