Customer Service
Recovering from the Inevitable “Oops!”
By Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC

You know the scene. Most of your customers think you’re fabulous. You have great systems for delivering service. Your staff is trained well. You’re even friendly. Then one day, out of nowhere, you mess up. Big. The customer is ticked, is moving the account—and telling everyone for miles around about your screw-up.

How do you avoid this “day from hell” experience? Learning the skills of recovery from a customer service mistake is critical for the success of your business.

Research shows that when a business makes a mistake and recovers well, the customer perceives that the company actually has better customer service than if it never had made the mistake at all. The following are keys to a successful recovery:

Act fast. Customers want to see immediate action to fix the mistake. Even if fixing the problem in minutes is impossible, at a minimum you should immediately give the customer a plan about how it will be fixed, and when.

Listen. Don’t interrupt. If the customer isn’t done venting and you are already interrupting to talk about the wonderful things you’re going to do to make up for the problem, the customer is still going to be angry because he or she hasn’t gotten over it yet. Wait for the customer to get it all out before you start solving the problem.

Accept responsibility. Even if the problem has nothing to do with you, in the customer’s eyes, you are the company. Instead of saying, “Bookkeeping made that mistake. You’ll have to call them,” say “My name is Lisa, and I will call bookkeeping for you to let them know about the error. If you have any further problems, call me at 555-5555.”

Acknowledge the customer’s feelings. I worked with a company that had an 800 number for customer complaints and had excellent recovery systems. They issued refunds, made immediate restitution, and went beyond the call of duty. Still, their customer satisfaction surveys were dismal. I asked them to do one thing differently. When an angry customer called, I asked them to match the customer’s emotion in the same tone, saying, “Oh my God!” They of course thought it was the craziest thing they’d ever heard. But when they tried it, they were amazed at the response. Customers immediately calmed down and were thrilled that they were being taken care of. Satisfaction survey scores soared. It’s amazing what a little emotional connection can do.

Never say what you can’t do and end there. Instead of saying, “I can’t get those papers to you until Thursday,” say “I can get those papers to you on Thursday.” People resist hearing negative comments and interpret them as indifference. When you tell someone what you can do, you project competence and confidence. And that’s what customers want.

Develop an action plan. Give the customer a specific day and time by which he or she can expect action. Keep the customer apprised of the progress.

Do more than promised. If you promised to have something done Thursday, come through with it by Wednesday. Send a card or a gift acknowledging the inconvenience your company’s mistake caused.

Thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. The vast majority of people never complain—they just leave. A complaint gives you the chance to improve and to keep that customer. It really is a blessing in disguise.

Follow up. Personally follow through to make sure the problem is solved adequately. Customers really get hot under the collar when you promise to fix something and it still isn’t done right. Make sure your execution is flawless.

Stuff happens. Mistakes will exist as long as humans do. Nobody expects you to be perfect—but they do expect you to recover when you make a mistake.