It Was an Accident (Now What Should You Do?)
Imagine
you are the manager of a fast-food service restaurant.
A mother comes in for lunch with her young son. Half
way through the meal the child knocks his drink on the
floor creating a big mess!
What’s the first thing your well-trained crew
members should do? Clean the floor? Replace the drink?
Not if you care about your customers and your reputation
for quality service.
First, take care of the mother. For her there’s
personal upset, social embarrassment, a disappointed
child and good money spilled on the floor. With a genuine
smile you say, ‘Don’t worry. This happens
all the time.’
Let her know the spill will be cleaned up quickly and
a replacement drink brought over right away.
Second, put the child at ease. In his mind there may
be loss or sadness about the drink, and concern (even
fear) about his mother’s reaction. With a cheery
face, you say brightly, ‘Well, accidents do happen!’
Tell him to watch carefully as your ‘service professionals’
clean up the spill. ‘And by the way, a brand new
drink for you is already on the way.’
Third, clean up the mess. Your service professionals
should do the work with speed and obvious pride.
Fourth, replace the drink. But bring a new drink one
size larger than the original order. Or, if
the spilled drink was already a ‘large’,
then bring along a side-order of french fries or a nice
piece of pie.
Give them something extra, something unexpected, something
that will be joyfully remembered long after the spill
is forgotten.
‘But wait!’, you wonder. ‘Won’t
everyone start spilling drinks if one person gets this
extra generous service?’
In a single word, no.
If other customers have been watching from the beginning
(and everyone does when a drink hits the floor), they’ll
be as relieved as the mother and child.
The only thing to increase will be your reputation for
superior service, not the number of spilled drinks!
Key Learning Point
When things go wrong,
take good care of the people first, the technical issues
after. Your procedures should turn your upset customers
into enthusiastic advocates. When your customers win,
you win.
Action Steps
Check your service
recovery procedures. Make sure the first thing on the
list is making a positive personal connection through
competent customer care.
Next Article in Customer Service Recovery >>
Will this Settle the Case?
First Article in Customer Service Standards >>
Get Yourself Spring-Loaded
Did you appreciate this customer service training article?
Get more like this at no charge. Subscribe now to the UP Your Service! newsletter.
YOU MAY USE THIS CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING ARTICLE IN YOUR FREE NEWSLETTER OR YOUR WEB SITE
as long as you include this complete statement:
Copyright, Ron Kaufman. Used with permission.
Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed customer service training educator for quality service.
He is author of the bestselling series "UP Your Service!" and founder of
"UP Your Service College".
To enjoy more customer service training articles,
visit www.RonKaufman.com and www.UpYourService.com
FOR COMMERCIAL USE of this article in a paid newsletter, publication, or training program, please refer to our Terms of Use.
|
