How Can “I’m Sorry” Be Inappropriate? (by Paul Grossman)

written by Paul Grossman, Vice President, Integrated Loyalty Systems, Inc.

This past weekend my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise for the long weekend. A couple of ports of call, good food and drink, and some quality time together sounded perfect.

In an effort to “simplify” things, most cruise lines -- ours included -- have instituted a practice that provides each person sailing with a “sign and sail” card that serves the multiple functions of stateroom door key, on-ship charge card and ID card when getting on and off the ship. All of which becomes significant after what happened next.

In the confusion of our early celebrating, one of our cards was misplaced. A visit to Guest Relations would take care of it right away. Couldn’t be the first time somebody misplaced their room-key card, right? A short wait in the line, explain the situation, and a very polite “No problem, sir!” put us back on track for a once-again carefree weekend celebration.

But carefree it was not.

Couldn’t charge a bottle of wine with dinner. Back to Guest Relations. Couldn’t get off the ship (card was “canceled”). Couldn’t get on the ship (ID photo was deleted). Couldn’t get into our stateroom. Couldn’t get a carved-out-pineapple drink… each time a problem occurred, it was back to Guest Relations. We barely had time to enjoy the bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries our family had lovingly arranged to be sent to our room to help us celebrate when we first arrived.

After the second problem with the cards I asked for a manager. “Gerald” indeed took ownership of the problem, apologizing and endeavoring to fix it, only to be frustrated by their repeated technical difficulties and my repeat visits as each new problem occurred.

Since the problems remained. I told Gerald I needed to speak to his boss, the director of Guest Relations. As nice as Gerald was, as hard as Gerald was trying, the problem was still not being fixed. And I was spending more time at the Guest Relations desk than I was in my stateroom! And I wanted to get back to the stateroom, because I had ordered an Anniversary Celebration Package from the cruise line for us that included more champagne, more chocolate-covered strawberries and other goodies (I didn’t know our family had arranged champagne and strawberries for our first night onboard).

Back in the stateroom, my champagne was there, along with a bottle of champagne from Guest Relations, as well as TWO more plates of chocolate-covered strawberries (one from the celebration package, one from Guest Relations).

I received a call from Gerald’s boss, apologizing and hoping we liked what she had sent to our cabin. I said I did. Gerald showed up a few minutes later with two new cards that he assured us were fully functional (they were, finally!). The next morning, at 9:30, we received another call from Gerald’s boss (9:30 on a Sunday morning!) asking if everything was OK. It was, except for the constant calling!

That evening, after dinner, we returned to the cabin to find the cabin decorated with streamers and foil decorations and wedding bells and -- you guessed it -- another bottle of champagne and more chocolate-covered strawberries! We now had a backlog of strawberries and had no choice but to stack the plates of unfinished strawberries in a strange sort of service-recovery “tower” on the small table in our stateroom.

The service recovery was sincere. And it was appreciated. But why couldn’t Guest Relations have looked to see that we had already received champagne and strawberries and come up with a different service recovery? Why couldn’t they have guessed that since I ordered a celebration package that didn’t include cabin decorations, that maybe we didn’t want tacky cabin decorations? And if my main complaint, beyond the card malfunctions, was the time I was wasting with Guest Relations, why couldn’t the Guest Relations Director stop calling me and leaving messages to see if everything was okay? (Leave your personal extension I can call anytime, if needed.)

When we were at Disney, we were diligent about notating our service recovery actions, so that a client didn’t receive a duplicate second or third Mickey Mouse watch as an apology gift. It’s a good lesson. One that I wish the cruise line would learn.

Well-intentioned apologies are important. Doing something extra is a key part of the process: At ILS, we teach “LAST ++” which is “listen,” “apologize,” “solve,” and “thank,” and adds two important plusses: do something extra -- a “symbolic atonement” like the decorations and strawberries, and report it, so you can be sure the problem is captured and the service recovery can be appropriate.

And when my wife and I were telling the story to Jake over lunch on our return from the cruise, we just looked at each other and bursted out laughing when Jake brought out dessert: a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries!

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The Impact of Poor Communication Can Equal DEATH!

“Just call me, Eddie”

I need to write about this, because this day still haunts me, years later. And it is amazing the clarity I still have of the entire day, of every word said, and how it made me feel.

My dad had a heart attack the same week President Clinton had been scheduled to have his heart surgery, but Clinton had to wait an extra few days until the blood thinner had left his body (important to note). My dad was on a fishing trip vacation with friends out of his home state at the time. His closest family and friends were hundreds of miles away. When he was rushed to the local emergency department and immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, where the nurse gave him a blood thinner IV and said it would help with his heart palpitations. As it turns out, he had to have heart surgery, immediately, to save his life.

I flew from Florida to Michigan to be with him prior to his surgery. While he was waiting for surgery, he joked a lot with all the nurses who came into his room. Each nurse he met would call him, “Mr. Poore”, and he would immediately say, “Please just call me, Eddie”. They would always reply, “Okay, Eddie. And I’ll make sure the next nurse knows that too.” Of course, the next nurse would come around and again address him as “Mr. Poore”, and Dad would reply, “Just call me, Eddie,” and this new Nurse would say, “Okay, Eddie. I’ll tell the night nurse”. They never got it right. After a while, my Dad became really frustrated and a bit concerned about his care team.

Personal Jewelry

Each employee who entered my dads room would also tell my Dad that he would need to take off his two gold necklaces prior to surgery and they would offer to take them off him right then and send them to security for safe keeping. My father was very attached to each necklace (one from his mom and the other from his deceased wife, a nurse) and did not want them taken off, ever! It was agreed (by one nurse) that the necklaces would be taped to his leg during the surgery so that he’d always have them on him. This too, of course, was never communicated to other medical staff, and every time someone new walked into his room, they would kindly suggest that he would have to “take off those gold necklaces”, finally my dad just freaked out!
I would watch his monitor above his bed: His blood pressure would rise; his pulse would rise… there were clinical implications to their poor team communication.

The two most important things to him were his good name and his gold necklaces and they couldn’t get either of these right.

Finally, now in surgery, as I am saying my final ‘goodbyes’, a nurse anesthetist came up and said, “Hi, Mr. Poore (not "Eddie"), I’m the nurse anesthetist. Do you know what I’m going to do?” my father replied, “Put me to sleep, I guess”. And she continued, “Yep, that’s right. And I see you have some gold necklaces on….” While she was still speaking, my father turned to me with a huge look of fear on his face and said, “Oh lord, they can’t even get these necklaces right, Jake!” That was almost the last thing he said on this earth.

My father died on the operating table that day. After his surgery the doctor didn’t even come out to talk to me. He sent one of his assistants out instead. When I asked what happened, we were told, “your Dad couldn’t hold his sutures, and he was bleeding to death.” I asked if the blood thinner he was given the day before had anything to do with that, and she said, “Blood thinner, what blood thinner?” I couldn’t help but saying, “You guys didn’t even communicate the name he wanted to be called or stop asking him about his gold necklaces, maybe you didn’t communicate the blood thinner, either.”

The Impact?

I could have sued them, but I didn't. It would not have brought my Dad back. Someone famous once said, "Patients are experts at what they know and understand and they will make assumptions/judgments on what they don’t know and don’t understand." My Dad did not know how good that hospital was at clinical care, but he was an expert at his name and the importance of his gold necklaces. Learn that! Communicate that effectively. Because the story I tell has nothing to do with your technical expertise, it's how your treated my Dad as a human being, not the "4am Valve Replacement, triple bypass in OR2!"

Whether you provide medical care, a hotel room, food and beverage or dry cleaning, remember, our customers will evaluate our technical expertise on what they are experts at, if they have a nickname, learn it and use it. Team communication is the key to your customer loyalty. Just think how many times I have told this story, starting with THE FUNERAL 5 years ago?

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Is it possible to orchestrate pride in your organization?

In business books today, there are a lot of analogies between “renters versus owners” regarding employee mentality. I instantly think back to my college days when my roommate would always take the opportunity to show me a ‘Dukes of Hazard move’ in our rental car while we were on vacation but would never think of doing the same move in a car that he owned. And of course, all college students know how well we treat rental dorm rooms or rented apartments versus our own rooms in our mom’s house or our own first home.

When I think about the nearly two decades I invested with the Walt Disney Company, I think about the times I had the most pride and the times I did not. I think the organization got it right after Disney acquired ABC Television on July 31, 1995. Prior to that purchase of ABC, I would always leave work and head home to find my neighbors on my doorstep asking me about the latest Disney news flash they heard about or saw on the television.

To my embarrassment, I knew nothing of this new acquisition, new movie, rumor or the like. And over time, they stopped asking, because I would use words like “I don’t know what they are doing”, “I don’t know why the company would purchase that…I’m just a front-line employee.” My language was all third person at best. After all, I was just an hourly employee working a job. Also, I was secretly using Disney to help build my own work experience and resume. At that time, I was just a renter, and that’s how they treated us lonely college students.

But all that changed one day when something simple happened… simple, but brilliant. Like any other day at Epcot Center, we would change out of our costume into our street clothes in the Cast Services Building and say good night to the security officer guarding the back door. But this time, he handed me a piece of paper, titled “Flash 4500” (extension 4500 was the number you dialed for information on the telephone to help guests get any Disney company trivia or status update). The Flash 4500 that day described that the Walt Disney Company was going to purchase ABC /Capital City, and described it in four meaty paragraphs. The first paragraph tied to our history and heritage (ABC actually hosted the first Disney program called, “Disneyland”). The second paragraph tied to good business decisions. The third paragraph tied to what it might mean to me, as a Disney Cast Member. And the last paragraph was brilliant; it asked and answered the top 3-4 questions we were bound to be asked by friends and family.

The impact? Well, I read it, and then tossed it in my passenger seat and drove home. Like every news flash about Disney, 3-4 neighbors tackled me on my front doorstep to ask “why Disney would buy ABC?” Except this time, I was armed to be an Ambassador for the company, instead of just an hourly employee building a resume. They invested in me as an owner, and guess what? I took ownership. For the first time in my career, I used words like “we”, “I”, “my” in explaining the companies’ decision. “Here’s why we did this.” “I think it’s a good idea.” “We foresee benefits …” and the invisible sash went over my shoulder that said, “Disney Company Ambassador.” I felt very proud that day to be included on a major step in my company’s future. That they would entrust me with that important information.

Can you always invest in your employees with information before you leak it to the press,? Obviously not every time, but you can sure try to do so simultaneously. Or could you allow your cast members to leak the information to the press? What a statement that would be!

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A Tale of Two Coffees...

You're on the road, and you don't really have time to stop anywhere. You want a quick, drive-thru coffee. You're coming up to an intersection. On your right, you see a Burger King. On your left, you see a McDonalds... which one do you go to?

I went to both yesterday, just to see... I turned into Burger King excited to "have it my way". I pull up to the speaker:
"What can I get you?"
“Coffee, please.”
"$1.49, pull up to the window."
"A large coffee."
"$1.70, pull up to the window."

I felt like I had to shout into the speaker due to its poor sound quality. I pulled forward (there was only one window), and she handed me my coffee. A cup of coffee with a bag full of stuff (4 creams, 2 regular sugars, 2 Splenda, 2 Equal, and a stirrer in a wrapper, but no napkins to wipe up the coffee I would invariably spill, and stain, on my black dress pants). I proceeded to pull forward to make my coffee "my way", which is with two creams only. I struggled to get the wrapper off the stirrer. Now I feel guilty that I have to throw out all the rest of this stuff that's perfectly good... but wait. Where do I throw it out? There's no trash can! Those extra creamers may have to stay in my car all day in the heat.


Across the street at McDonald's, I pulled up to the speaker and was greeted with "Good morning sir, welcome to McDonald's. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, how are you?" (it was an actual conversation)

"Fine, thank you. How may I help you?"

"I'd like a coffee please."

"What size?

"Large."

"Would you like any creams or sugar in that?"

"I'd like two creams, please."

"Okay, that's one large coffee with two creams. Would you like to add two hot apple pies for only a dollar?"

"No, thank you."

"Please drive up to the first window."

There were three windows, one of which wasn't being used. As I pulled up to the first window, the car ahead of me was pulling away. I was able to immediately do my transaction. I was greeted with a smile and eye contact. By the time I'd finished paying, the second window was free for me. (It's by design that there is a car and a half's length between the two windows).

The second window handed me my coffee, just the way I like it. The two creams were already in it, and it was stirred! I had no other "stuff" to handle and waste. I like the lid off, so I pulled forward to deposit it into the trash can built for drive-thrus, and I threw away all the Burger King stuff!


In today's economy, as we scrutinize every penny we spend, we demand an experience, and not to be treated as a transaction. All things being equal, the coffees were pretty much the same, but now my loyalty lies with McDonalds (if I don't have time for a Starbucks!)
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Who Really Owns the Patient Experience in Your Hospital?

The challenge in most organizations is that each one of the executive leaders has a bias towards the department they represent. The CNO is responsible for the nursing staff, the COO is responsible for operations, the CMO is responsible for physicians, the CFO is responsible for the bottom line, and the CEO has so many responsibilities already. No one really represents the patient from the patient’s perspective. When you get down to the director level, the silos are even more focused. Do they care about the patients’ satisfaction? Of course they do, because they are held accountable and some receive profit sharing (bonuses) on patient satisfaction scores. But who owns the entire patient experience? No one.

You might argue, “Everyone owns the patients’ experience.” And my response to that is that really each individual department triages the patient just enough to make them satisfied through the department’s eyes, not the patient’s eyes, and the patient’s eyes see their entire hospital experience as one entity. We’re symptom fighting versus building the entire experience. Is it your fault? Not really. It’s difficult to think experientially when you are held accountable within your department only, and it’s difficult when you don’t have the authority to cut through departmental turf issues.

How do we resolve this?

We advocate that you create an executive position (like a Chief Experience Officer-CXO) to focus on the entire patient experience and to map out that experience. This person would bring together department heads monthly, make sure everyone is on same page of what their individual/department impact is on the patient experience, and evaluate patient satisfaction scores to not just meet expectations but to exceed expectations, one department at a time, each step of the way.

Why is this important enough to budget for?

Along with clinical excellence and financial stability, healthcare systems are being ranked and evaluated by objective assessors (satisfaction, “how did it make you feel?” questions) in hospital surveys, H-CAHPS, Gallup, Press Ganey, and online sites.

Each and every way that a patient (and their family) touches your organization becomes part of the "patient experience." But who ultimately owns that experience? All too frequently there are many "chiefs," but no one specific person who can cut through departmental turf issues and truly improve quality and efficiency all on behalf of patients… who can do this in your hospital?
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Knowing Your Customer

There’s a hotel chain in California that takes the time to understand their customers preferences and tastes, matches paintings displayed and music played to fit that customer. Spas do that. What can you do to customize your product or service to your customer?

Let me give you some examples:

Example #1: When I stay at a Ritz-Carlton for a business conference, and set the alarm clock to wake up to the radio-- it doesn’t play rap music and isn’t on a Spanish-speaking station. The Marriott, Hyatt and Sheraton are not like this. They haven’t thought about these customer profile preference details. The radio stations are usually left on the station of whoever cleans the room.

Example #2: When I go to Hertz to rent a car, it is set ideally for the demographic of whoever rents that type of car… mine is business account through the company. When I rent a car from Dollar, I get the favorite station of the person who cleaned or drove the car, and it is usually set for a music genre and a volume that is would not fit my business profile.

Also, rental car companies need to provide a hanger for your suit coat and an umbrella on rainy days. How expensive is a wire hanger? What if you had a box of hangers at the rental car location for business people?
The rental car radio could be set at:
Level 1- a variety of pre-set music
Level 2- ask me my preferences, and when the car gets washed, pre-set the radio stations to my preferences

Example #3: The other day, I went to Sbarro for breakfast at the airport, and the bacon wasn’t done. I asked if they could cook it more, and they said “no”…. just a flat-out “No, we don’t that.” “Would you like sausage instead?” I said “no, thanks.” I took my business elsewhere. Then, when I finally sat down to enjoy my breakfast in the food court area, there were two baggage handlers with the volume way up on their radios (walkie-talkies) blaring and disrupting everyone else. They weren’t even listening to the radios and raised the volume of their voices to talk over the blaring. Anxious to get out of there, I quickly finished my meal and headed to my gate. The Southwest flight was peaceful. The flight attendants smile, have fun, chitchat with you, and remember if you want cream with your coffee. It was like night and day from what I had experienced earlier that morning.

Southwest knows their customers have busy, hectic lives and that travel can be stressful, so they do their best to make it a relaxing, enjoyable experience for their customers.

Again, what can you do to customize your product or service to your customers?
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Slang: To Use It or Not to Use It? That is the Question.

Getting your staff to say I'm sorry is key when they make a mistake. Baby boomers make up the majority of the customers in the US today. They don't know or appreciate the current slang, jive or acronyms. Today's workforce, however, is made up of a lot of young people who have not been explicitly told how to say good morning, you're welcome, or how to apologize... It's not "Wassup?"; it's "Good morning", "Good afternoon", and "Good evening". It's not "See ya!"; it's "Thank you for choosing our business; have a good day". And most importantly, when you make an honest mistake, apologize with a sincere "I'm sorry", not "My bad". Or even better, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience", and do something to plus it up. Check to see if this is in your new employee orientation program.

Please also refer to our podcast on this subject, "The Value of Saying I'm Sorry"
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How do You Train People to be Sincere and Caring?

Hello!



Wonderful idea you are exploring (in your previous blog, “Job Tasks vs. their Role in Customer Experience”). I find the most genuine sentiments come from staff from which this is least expected. They see the big picture because they are not overwhelmed by the details. The idea that you can train them to act positively is just great. And what a concept... including them on the team and making them aware of the mission.


Here's a case in point... I had to give a presentation to be webcast firm-wide with another lawyer that I am challenged with, and was a mess over it. I was in the office late on a Friday night with paper spread all over my desk with the look of desperation on my face. The guy whose "job" it is to pick up the garbage stood in my doorway and asked, "What's the matter, girly?" I explained my dilemma, and he put his hand on his hip and said, "Girly, all you got to do is smile, don't you know that?" Fixed! There's something though in the fact that this guy and his team have no political agenda. We believe them because there is nothing in it for them. How do you train people to be sincere and caring? Seems to me that they either have it, or don't. But then again, it works at Disney, doesn't it?


Ms. JP


A Law Firm in New York State

Dear Ms. JP:

How do you train people to be sincere and caring? Well, that’s a long answer, but here is my response.

First, I think you are right, the people who have it will always have it. For the rest of us multi-tasking, overachievers, you need to first build clear, unambiguous expectations from the customer’s perspective.

Build it clearly, coach the murkiness out of it, catch them doing it right more that wrong, and share how their behavior/attitude makes an impact on customers and other team members. In short: Define what you want, reward it when you see it, and hold them accountable when you don’t.

The greatest problem I see in this success formula is not defining what you want clearly enough (i.e. “Jim, you need to be nicer to clients…” -Huh?)

The Golden Rule

I hate the Golden Rule (do onto others as you’d like done onto yourself). Why? Well, if I treat others like I want to be treated, then I’m assuming they’re just like me, growing up on Lake Ontario with Irish/German parents, 6 brothers and sisters, a grandma, dog, and two cats.

I will never forget my first day on the job at Wegmans Supermarket. I was 16 years old. The phone rang in the produce department, I picked it up and it was for my co-worker, Tony. Instead walking 75 feet to tell Tony he had a phone call, I yelled across the store, “TONY, TELEPHONE!”

My boss was appalled - “Jake! What are you doing?” “What?” I asked. “That’s what we do in my house. I was doing what you told me in employee orientation, you know, the golden rule.” He took time to explain not only the desired behavior he wanted, but also that customers have a choice in supermarkets. The product we sold was common, our customers could go anywhere, so where we differentiated from other supermarkets was our great service. Our customers demanded great service and courtesy behaviors from me and everyone in the store, or they would take their business across the street. My behaviors had impact.

I did not see it then as clearly as I see it now, but he was a great manager for taking the time to explain it to me in those terms.

Favorable & Forbidden Phrases & Behaviors

I think most front-line staff can be groomed to be sincere if given a choice between what I call the Favorable and Forbidden Phrases and Behaviors. You learn this very fast at Disney; their culture is very explicit. Yet most companies don’t teach this because they think it just common sense. It may be common sense, it’s just not common practice.

• Never say, “That’s not my problem.”
  Instead, say, “Let me find someone who is responsible for that so they can help you.”
  
• Never say, “I don’t know.”
  Instead, say, “I don’t know, but let me find out for you.” (And if you do this, and someone asks again, you may know for next time.)
  
• Avoid looking at your watch, rolling your eyes, or pen clicking.
  Instead, sit or kneel so you are at the same level, look at the customer in the eye, smile and speak warmly.

The list goes on.

Most companies don’t have this kind of list, or if they do, they do not use it to train their employees. Typically, if an organization has this type of list, it doesn’t outline the favorable, only the forbidden.

We are one of the few firms who consider this a great client differentiator, and when we share this with front-line staff, this “no brainer” list actually helps build pride and team accountability.
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Elevating Job Tasks to Include Job Roles:"We Provide Food That Heals"

Recently I trained the Food and Nutrition team at a hospital in New York State. As we mapped out each staff interaction with the average inpatient, it was amazing to see how many times they had an opportunity to impact the patient experience. Looking at the touchpoint map, a huge epiphany arose - This Food and Nutrition team actually interacts more consistentlywith the average patient than any other one employee in the hospital - perhaps even nurses - so shame on us if we do not form a relationship with them!

Realizing this, I asked, “Do the people who deliver food in your hospital know they are a part of the care team?”

“What do you mean?”



“Well, doesn’t the food you serve provide a level of comfort for most patients? Does a good meal, served by a warm, friendly employee, have an impact on the patients ability to relax and sleep? Does nutrition and sleep contribute to their overall healing experience? Does great comfort food go a long way in making the patient feel better?”


“Definitely!”


“Do your employees know they have that level of impact? Is that communicated to them on an ongoing basis?”


“... No.”

Most of the Food and Nutrition employees who interact with patients are called “Tray Passers;” that is their title, and that is their job task, to pass food trays to the patient. But considering how often they interact with patients, is that their role in the healing experience?

When I worked for Disney’s Epcot Center theme park, we worked to change two employee job titles to more accurately reflect their role in the customer experience as opposed to just their job tasks. These positions were Ticket Seller and Ticket Taker.

The Ticket Seller was doing just that, selling theme park tickets for exactly what guests asked for (“Four 5-day passes, please.”). But at Disney, it’s much more than that. They needed to help guests plan vacations, not just sell tickets. Staff needed to provide expert advice on how many days to play at the parks, and perhaps even recommend a day off at a water park or by the pool to relax - thus, “Ticket Sellers” became “Disney Vacation Planners”. Their job tasks still included selling theme park tickets, but their role in the guest experience is to help families create magical Disney memories (not just generate maximum revenue).

Many times the Disney Ticket Takers at the front gate of each park are the visiting guests’ very first touchpoint - they set the tone for each guest experience. Sure, they take your ticket, but we needed to challenge them to create an “awesome arrivals” for each and every family. They could do this by welcoming you to the park, complimenting your Mickey Mouse shirt, and congratulating your daughter who’s wearing a “happy birthday” pin. At the end of the day, we wanted to create, “Fond Farewells” by asking staff to thank you for visiting Walt Disney World, ask if you had a great day, and remind you to buckle up, drive safely, and return to us soon. This team was also our last line of defense for service recovery. Because of this, we change their job title from “Ticket Takers” to “Official Walt Disney World Greeters”.

This is what we’re trying to do with Hospital Tray Passers. They don’t just deliver food trays to a “frequent faller in room 402,” they provide sustenance to Mrs. Smith and her daughter, Judy, in room 402. Their food enables the healing process. They are essential in creating a comfortable and caring environment for patients. They are a part of the care team. At the end of the day they should proudly say, “We provide food that heals,” not “We just pass trays!”
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The Importance of Service Recovery

Whether you’re a sales person following up on a catered event, a waiter following up on a meal, or a nurse following up on a patient – be careful what you ask for! Many organizations have scripted “standard operating procedure” responses for employees following up services such as “How was your meal?” or “How was the event?” The problem is, you’re not prepared for any response except, “Great!”

*Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

Yesterday I needed to pick up diet soda, portabella mushrooms, a red pepper, and some bread. There are three grocery stores equidistant from my house, and I chose the one that is a little cleaner and has a better produce selection. The store was clean, the produce selection excellent, and the staff was friendly. All in all it was a good experience.

As I was checking out, the cashier asked, “Did you find everything okay?” and I mentioned that actually they were out of diet cola and I had had to get caffeine-free diet cola. His response was a very polite, “Oh,” and then he asked if I’d like to donate to the March of Dimes. I hesitated, thinking this was an odd response to my complaint, and even the cashier got a little embarrassed and said, “Yeah, we don’t have your diet soda and now we’re asking you to spend even more money.”

Where did they fail?

Every time I visit this specific grocery store, the cashier asks if I’ve found everything okay. I always answer, “yes,” and feel good that they’ve asked me – I think “this company values customer satisfaction so much that they ask every single customer if their needs have been met. That’s great!”

But when the customer answers, “no,” there’s nothing in place for the cashier to do or say to manage my expectations. I would have had a completely different experience if instead of, “oh,” the cashier had responded, “The diet soda is out? I’m sorry. Would you mind waiting a minute so that I can get someone to check in the back for you?” If I had received that response, I would be telling people about how amazing my portabella mushroom, red pepper, and mozzarella cheese sandwiches (with diet soda) were, instead of about how this grocery store would like you to be satisfied, but doesn’t do anything about it when you don’t “find everything okay.”

The Importance of Service Recovery

This grocery store has taken a great first step to customer satisfaction – just by asking or scripting the question as part of the checkout process. Customers don’t like to complain. In fact, research has shown that close to 94% of your dissatisfied customers will leave without letting you know why – but they’ll definitely tell their story to their friends and family. If you don’t know why customers are dissatisfied, you can’t fix the problem. This grocery store has started on the right path by simply asking each customer if they are satisfied.

But they’ve failed miserably in the next step – service recovery. They have not empowered their front-line employees with knowledge and steps to take if the customer answers, “no.” The customer was first feeling frustrated, and now they are angry because an employee knows they are dissatisfied but has done nothing to resolve the issue. (Don’t ask if you’re not going to do anything about it!)

When your front-line employees are empowered with a service recovery plan for dissatisfied customers, you can quickly and easily convert a frustrated customer (“There was no diet soda.”) into a pleasantly surprised customer (“I can’t believe they went to the back to get it for me.”). That’s how you increase customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, that’s how you create loyalty.

Coming Soon!

Part 2 – Elevating Service Recovery to “Wow!”
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