Fixing Service Failures
#THC005
Leaning Objectives:
• No Perfect Service Systems
• The Importance of Fixing Service Failures
• Dealing with Service Failures
• Recovering from Service Failure
NO PERFECT SERVICE SYSTEMS
• When something goes wrong in the delivery of a service, it is called a
service failure.
• The best way to handle a service failure is to prevent it before it
occurs. This involves building proactive or preventive strategies into
the design of the service experience and its delivery system.
• To succeed under these circumstances, any service delivery system has
to be as nearly perfect as thoughtful planners can make it. The best
systems must also have flexibility, allowing the appropriately trained
and motivated employee to solve problems and ensure customer
satisfaction.
THE IMPORTANCE OF FIXING
SERVICE FAILURES
• When a guest has a problem, one of three
outcomes usually occurs. The problem is fixed
and the formerly unhappy guest leaves happy;
the problem isn’t fixed and the unhappy guest
leaves unhappy; or the organization tries to fix
the problem and succeeds only in neutralizing
the unhappy guest.
• Positive word of mouth has great value, and
negative word of mouth is extremely costly.
• Unhappy customers can be particularly
dangerous to a business, as they are
approximately twice as likely to spread negative
word of mouth as happy ones are to spread
positive word of mouth.
THE IMPORTANCE OF FIXING
SERVICE FAILURES
• Research shows that customers who have bad
experiences tell approximately eleven people;
customers who have good experiences tell
approximately six.
• In this day of worldwide communication, a customer
can praise or complain over the Internet and instantly
reach millions of people. The benefits of avoiding
negative word of mouth and turning it positive are
obvious.
DEALING WITH SERVICE FAILURES
• The organization trying to recover from failure can
impress the customer positively or negatively.
• Research shows that for both positive and negative
service recoveries, how the recovery is handled can be
more important to the customer than the original
failure.
DEALING WITH SERVICE FAILURES
• After a failure, the organization
can either end up much better
off or much worse off, depending
on the customer’s reaction to the
recovery attempt.
• A small problem can become a big
problem if the recovery effort is
halfhearted or misguided. And a
big problem can be turned into an
example of great service when
handled quickly and effectively.
DEALING WITH SERVICE FAILURES
• In one study of restaurants, the researchers discovered
that the most important determinant of overall customer
satisfaction after a service failure was customers’
satisfaction with those responsible for dealing with
failure: the personnel responsible for the service
interaction.
• The organization’s ability to recover from failure also had
the largest impact on willingness to return and re-
patronize the restaurant.
RECOVERING FROM SERVICE FAILURE
• Hospitality organizations should
train their employees to handle and
empower them to creatively resolve
the problems when they find them.
• Scenarios, game playing, video
recording, and role playing are good
ways to train them on how to
respond to an angry guest.
RECOVERING FROM SERVICE FAILURE
• Obviously, the more an organization depends on
repeat business, the more critical it is for the
organization to acknowledge and act on customer
complaints.
• The key is, if there is a service failure, the
company must take action.
