Every year I attend an invitation only conference for seasoned coaches. This particular year it was in Orlando. The first night I woke up about midnight. I had kicked off the covers and was sweating like crazy. I checked the thermostat and it was registering 77 degrees, and even when I turned it down nothing changed.
The next morning I went to the front desk and was informed that the part of the hotel I was staying in was experiencing problems with the air conditioning. I could move to another room if I wanted, which of course I did. However I was asked to go visit the room to determine if the temperature was acceptable to me first.
I took the key to the new room and trotted off to check it out. It wasn’t any better. The front desk then gave me a key to another room to determine if this one would meet my satisfaction. The temperature was fine so I packed up my stuff and moved to the new room.
When I began to unpack I noticed the desk and dresser were covered with ants. Once again I went to the front desk who gave me a third room key. After careful inspection of the room for bugs, and verifying the temperature was acceptable I moved rooms.
In the process of handling my own room change I missed breakfast and the keynote speaker for the morning session. Not catastrophic but I had paid for the conference and wasn’t happy.
When I checked out at the end of the conference and they asked “how was your stay Mrs. Finkle” I told them. How was it reasonable to ask a quest to run around checking out rooms instead of hotel staff? They apologized (big deal) and wished me a safe journey home. I expected they would offer to compensate me for at least one night (I had stayed four), if not more. But nothing.
We all have a story, or two or three or more of where our customer service experience was awful. According to NewVoiceMedia, U.S. companies lose more than $62 billion annually due to poor customer service. Americans tell an average of 15 people about a poor service experience, versus the 11 people they’ll tell about a good experience.
The lesson here for entrepreneurs and executives is the customer experience matters and service mistakes could be avoided if handled properly, at the time of the infraction.
You can turn customer service blunders into a positive experience, and one that the happy customer will tell others with a little planning and forethought.
Don’t blame it on something else.
I didn’t want to hear about the shortage of staff which is why I had to go check out three rooms myself. I couldn’t have cared less that the hotel decided to replace HVAC in part of the hotel the week before the conference and that’s why there was a shortage of cool rooms.
If you believe offering an explanation (a.k.a. Blaming it on something) has a customer understanding and thus feel less unhappy, you are seriously mistaken. The customer doesn’t care why the problem exists. They want the problem solved.
Don’t apologize unless you are going to do something about it.
There is nothing more frustrating than someone apologizing and then doing nothing to solve the problem or worse telling you they can’t do anything (company policy for instance). If you can’t help them, don’t apologize.
Address the problem and solve it.
This is the time for triage. Be calm and assure the customer you are there to handle the situation. Listen to the customer, ensure you understand the specific problem. In my story about the hotel the problem was HOW they handled the uncomfortable temperature in my room. .
Once you have clarified the facts and situation, immediately offer a solution. Had someone offered to go check out a room and make sure the temperature was comfortable, hold the room for me, text me to come to the front desk at my convenience, I wouldn’t have been upset.
Even if the customer isn’t right, make it right anyhow.
Customers aren’t always right. They have unrealistic expectations and aren’t always pleasant to deal with. But arguing with them, explaining why there is no solution or anything else that tells them you aren’t going to help them will only exacerbate the situation. You’ll go from having an unhappy customer to one who can easily go postal.
We’ve all heard the story about Nordstroms taking back a tire a customer insisted they bought there or Costco accepting a return of a 10 year old TV that no longer worked. Small businesses can’t often go to such extreme measures, yet making it right can prove to pay long-term dividends. If you are a small business, do what you can, even if there is a financial or an emotional “it pisses me off I have to do this” cost.
Identify the root problem, and fix that.
At the moment, you have to fix the problem for the customer. However as a leader it’s your job to identify what caused the problem and build a solution long term. Beginning to replace the HVAC in half the hotel, a week before 300 people were attending a conference was poor planning on someone’s part. Minimally there should have been a contingency plan to deal with the situation. Take the time to go back and determine what could have been done to prevent the problem from occurring or how to minimize the impact should it occur.
Training is critical.
How do you want your staff to interact with customers? What level of authority do they have to independently solve a problem? Who do they need to pull into the situation and at what point? Give them the tools so they can perform the best.
Training isn’t a one time thing. It doesn’t stop at the end of their first week or first month of employment. Training your team how to be there for the customer and provide service they rave about is an ongoing process.
Great customer service is no accident.
How the interaction is handled dictates the outcome. Your teams’ customer service presence can turn an unhappy customer into a raving lunatics or your best marketing tools.
Download, at the link below, our guide on Creating a Great Customer Service Experience.
