When we arrived back at the convention centre we had a quick break to grab a snack, use the restroom and find our seats back in the ballroom before we started the final in-class session. With all the discussion surrounding how to not only architect but also deliver quality service, the one thing we had yet to discuss was how to recover when things eventually breakdown or go wrong.
No matter how prepared you may be, something inevitably will not go as planned and being just as prepared for something like this is almost as good as being able to deliver flawless service to begin with. Not surprisingly, Disney clearly puts in as much effort in fixing flaws as it does in developing their entire customer service strategy. The initial point made was that the way any organization recovers from a service failure drives differentiation, which is what all organizations are striving for. What makes you different than the rest?
Planning for inevitable failures should be part of the service design from the very beginning so that when you are faced with an issue, you are able to react in a timely manner that can help not only rectify the situation but help build the relationship with that guest/customer/donor/etc. Most people will expect to be treated well when things are going smoothly, but the relationship can actually get stronger when an issue is handled properly and timely.
The big takeaway on this point was that guests are more likely to become frustrated with the company’s inability to fix a problem that they would be with the problem itself.
This kicked into a story from Jim Babcock about a guest experience at Port Orleans French Quarter. A family who had recently adopted a daughter had planned a trip to WDW to celebrate. It was their first visit and of course, they were expecting a fantastic time as a new family. When they arrived at the resort their room was not clean (sounded familiar to me, which Jim was quick to point out since I shared our French Quarter check-in experience earlier in the course). Much like our case, they were quick to fix that issue for the family and things went forward.
The next morning the omelet that the father ordered was below satisfaction but he let it slide since it was not a huge issue. When they got to the park they hit up Fantasyland with their young daughter before walking past the Haunted Mansion. Before walking by they asked a CM if HM would be ok for their young daughter or if would be too scary. The CM, in full character, stated they would be in for a scream and that the ride would be just fine. The family went through the queue and jumped on the ride only to find out immediately that it was far too overwhelming for their child. It ended up sending her into a pretty bad mood and they had to leave the park.
Now that they had experienced three service failures within about 12 hours the father spoke with a manager back at the resort to explain his frustration. The manager, along with other CMs, immediately took action to salvage the situation. The manager refunded the breakfast money, provided a stuffed animal from the gift shop to the daughter so she had a ride buddy for the rest of the trip and called in a favour at MK to have the family provided with a VIP tour host when they returned to the park.
All these actions were made at the discretion of the manager and the other CMs on duty. They are empowered to make quick decisions to ensure they can repair the relationship and in this case, the rest of the family’s stay was flawless and they have returned to WDW each year after to celebrate the adoption anniversary.
This was one example of how Disney trains their CMs to be able to really listen to the guests about the issues at hand and know what steps to take to make sure they can truly resolve the problems in a timely fashion without having to go through multiple channels for approval. Some issues, of course, will take a little more time to deal with but when it comes to things that CMs can find solutions to quickly, they are given a wide range of options to do so.
The point was made that everything has to come back to the overall purpose of the organization. In Disney’s case, each CM must keep in mind that they are there to create happiness and that shouldn’t change in a situation where they are dealing with repairing an issue.
The four steps they like to employ in this scenario are Intentional listening: truly stopping to listen to the guests' issue to fully understand the situation. Empathy: which is critical to maintain an emotional connection with the guest. Apologize: an absolute must in any failure situation. And finally, Taking Action: Once the first three steps have been followed, what is the best way to resolve the issue?
Sometimes it’s easier to find the proper path to fixing the problem but in cases where a solution cannot be reached for whatever reason, go beyond the somewhat standard response of “sorry, there is nothing I can do”. Explain why a solution cannot be reached, be it policy or whatever, and seek to find an alternative solution. Sometimes that might require compensation or something along those lines to help offset the customers’ disappointment.
The final takeaway from the discussion was to always analyze the root causes of some of the issues that crop up so that you can prevent the issues from happening again or at very least know exactly how to handle these issues quickly and with the least amount of hassle for both the company and the customer.
Of course, throughout this discussion, we shared numerous stories of service failures that we’ve experienced and we discussed ways to ensure our organizations can plan for failures that we will encounter. Certainly, the groups that are in the hospitality sector had tons of stories and were eating up much of the discussion the facilitators were leading. No matter what industry or sector each organization is in, there were definitely practices and principles we could all take away and look to employ or improve in our service delivery.
And with that, after hours of amazing content and experiences, the program came to a close! The facilitators delivered their closing statements and let us in on our final surprise, they unveiled a table full of graduation hats, with Mickey ears of course, and introduced the last special guest to bid us farewell. Mickey himself came through the doors and the final hour we had as a group was spent receiving our Mickey ears, a certificate of completion and a photo with Mickey! Now, Mickey is my guy, no doubt about that, but the excitement of some of the others in the group was insane! Made for such a fun closing hour and plenty of group photos to remember the experience by.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2b9Ckfv]
WDW 2018 by
Matt Mandrusiak, on Flickr[/URL]
I got my photo with Mickey and was happy to take a photo with some of the international contingent including my buddy Marcos and another huge Disney fan, Oriana!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2b8XpXA]
WDW 2018 by
Matt Mandrusiak, on Flickr[/URL]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2a5g3zo]
WDW 2018 by
Matt Mandrusiak, on Flickr[/URL]
With the celebration coming to a close, many of us shook hands, exchanged business cards and said our goodbyes. I made sure to thank the Jims and Jen before leaving the ballroom and heading back to my room. It was an amazing four days and I was sad it was over but I was also excited to take back the information we were just provided to continue to improve the work we do back home.
That said, I was also exhausted from everything and was really looking forward to a little relaxation!
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