| Have you ever been in a situation where you've | | | | Good companies see service breakdown as an |
| experienced poor service? | | | | opportunity to exceed the customer's expectations |
| Miles Davis once said something like - "It's not about | | | | and win a customer for life. You see, they know how |
| the mistakes you make but how you recover from | | | | to use the qualities of Tangibles, Responsiveness, |
| them." | | | | Assurance and Empathy to their advantage. |
| I think Miles was on to something there. | | | | Think about it. A customer has complained about |
| One of the points I make to clients is that if you want | | | | something that went wrong at your business. Can you |
| to exceed the client's expectations of service, you | | | | demonstrate empathy - putting yourself in their shoes |
| need to be able to demonstrate the qualities of | | | | and thinking about how they may feel? Can you |
| Tangibles, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. | | | | provide assurance to the client - a sense of |
| But did you know that when the service delivery goes | | | | confidence in your abilities to fix the problem? |
| poorly, you have an opportunity to make it good and, | | | | Can you be responsive - there's nothing worse than |
| through that opportunity, you can exceed the client's | | | | complaining about something, and then having to follow |
| expectations. | | | | up on the complaint because no-one seems to be |
| If you run any business that involves people delivering | | | | doing anything about it. One organisation I worked at |
| the service, things will go wrong from time to time. | | | | had a slogan called TOFU - Take Ownership and |
| There's a lot you can do to reduce the instances of | | | | Follow Up. In one respect it's a bit sad that these things |
| service failure, but as long as there's the human | | | | need to be said - they should be common sense, but |
| element involved, you won't be able to eliminate it. | | | | at least the TOFU concept reiterates the importance |
| Think about a time when you bought a service - or a | | | | of being quick to fix a problem. |
| tangible product - and something went wrong with the | | | | Finally, when there's a breakdown in a service delivery, |
| service. Let's assume you said something to someone | | | | the tangibles become more important, because now |
| in the organisation about it (if you don't provide clients | | | | more than ever your client is looking for visual cues to |
| with an opportunity to provide feedback then you | | | | reassure them that your organisation can provide the |
| need to start thinking about how you can begin to). | | | | service they're looking for. |
| This is where things get interesting. You tell the | | | | The important concept here is that service breakdown |
| company that the service delivery was not great. This | | | | actually provides you with an opportunity to exceed |
| is their opportunity to make it good again. What do | | | | the customer's expectations and provide exceptional |
| they do? | | | | service. It's possible to develop a stronger client |
| The poor companies either do nothing, make you feel | | | | relationship out of a service breakdown than if |
| like the mistake was yours, or grudgingly try and fix | | | | everything went well the first time. |
| the problem. | | | | So, maybe Miles was right. Mistakes are going to |
| Other companies will do what they have to do to fix it | | | | happen. Accept that. It's what you do about them that |
| - nothing more, nothing less. In one sense, they'd argue | | | | can make your business great in the eyes of your |
| they're doing what you paid them to do (albeit late). | | | | customer. |