mousermerf said:
Service Recovery actually means to give away free stuff - which most people in most situations that throw such fits don't deserve.
The CMs giving in are often promoting bad behavior of the guests rather than dealing with the situation. Like giving a child who cries a lollipop and then the child learns to cry for a lollipop.
Often, the CM doing "service recovery" is merely buying their way out of a situation rather than dealing with it. Guests can be blantantly lying and there can be proof of it on-file and a CM will choose "service recovery" to avoid the situation. That's crap and has always ed me off.
So, there's guilt on both sides.
As for CM's not losing their cool - everyone burns out eventually. New Hires either run away in fear (this is actually noted in training manuals) or they stick it out and become a "lifer." Lifers still get burnt out. All the lifers I ever worked with hated Guests more than anyone but were oh-so-Wonderful to their faces.
People learn what they can get away with, like the lollipop. CMs learn what crap they can pull and some get very good at it.
Free stuff is actually a very small part of service recovery. The term, "Service Recovery" refers to turning an unpleasant guest/customer situation into a pleasant one. Sometimes, this includes giving free stuff, a refund, a discount, etc. But that's not what service recovery IS. To say that service recovery "actually means to give away free stuff" would be like saying, "Magic Kingdom actually means Space Mountain". I've been a corporate trainer, specializing in guest/customer service for 13 years, so this is a topic I know quite well. Although each company generally has it's own "service recovery model", for the most part they usually look something like this:
Step one: Empathize. This means to show the guest that you actually do care that what he/she experienced was unpleasant. Statistics show that 68% of customers/guests will not do business with an organization again if the person helping them with their problem acts like they don't care...even if the problem is solved to their satisfaction.
Step two: Apologize. This is the most difficult step for many providers of guest service because, more often than not, the problem isn't the employee's fault, or even the company's fault. The vast majority of the time, it's the guest's perception that something isn't going their way. Many people are fundamentally opposed to apologizing for something that isn't their fault. For this reason, service recovery training generally emphasizes that performing this step does NOT mean you are admitting guilt or taking responsibility for what happened. It simply means you are expressing that you're sorry the person is having to experience the situation. It's like when someone at work tells you they got in a car accident or that a loved one has died. Usually we'll respond with some form of "I'm sorry".
Step three: Clarify. This means to make sure you fully understand what went wrong so that you can fix it to the best of your ability and empowerment.
Step four: Resolve. In some cases, this step does involve giving "free stuff", though not always. More often than not, companies want their employees to be skilled at turning an unpleasant guest situation around without having to resort to giving something away.
Occasionally, service recovery also includes getting a second person involved. Usually this needs to be a person of some actual or perceived authority on the part of the guest, but not always. Studies have actually shown there is some effective psychology to just having a second person come in and handle the situation. Even if that person tells the guest exactly what you just told him/her, they are more likely to listen after hearing it from someone else. Likewise, if YOU are that second person, they're more likely to listen to you and be less angry.
I normally charge a lot of money to train people on the above. But I'll let you all in on a little secret...It's not rocket science!
