I’m not a big Elton John fan, but one of his songs has been swimming around in my head these last few days. The tune is titled “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.” You see, I’ve had three recent encounters with service providers that got me a-singing some Elton.
The first occurred over the hill down in Costa Mesa. I went to a business association event and got charged twice for a round of drinks we only had once. I’ve spoken with four associates of the bar/restaurant in the last four weeks who “promised” they’d look into it and call me back.
Sadly, still no resolution four weeks later, so I called again this past week and spoke to the manager, who also “promised” he’d look into it and get back to me. Five interactions with service providers, all from the same establishment, and not one of them could use the S-word: “Sorry.”
The second occurred after I’d been referred to a specialist by my doctor. I went to said specialist nearly two months ago, and he said he’d contact our insurance to get approval for the procedure I needed. I’ve called up twice in the past two months for a progress update, as nothing has moved forward at the specialist’s office. My insurance has not been contacted. I called up again yesterday and was “promised” a callback. Even the staff at the specialist seemed to want to avoid using that little S-word: “Sorry.”
The third occurred just this week when I had an appointment at 2:30 p.m. I was instructed to check in at 2:15 p.m, which I did after clearing my schedule and making plans to be there on time. I sat in the reception area for 45 minutes. After hearing nothing, I inquired of the receptionist as to why I was being kept waiting, and she just responded, “Oh, they’re on their way from a late lunch.” After an hour of looking through magazines in the reception area, the person I was due to see finally showed up with no apology. No use of the S-word.
There’s a service recovery model we use within our Customer-Centered Service training program that serves as a useful reference guide if a customer is ever disappointed. It’s a four-box model. See if you can picture each of these four boxes with me.
On the Y-axis, we have the word “Severity,” and on the X-axis, we have the word “Fault.” Can you see it? OK.
Now, the bottom-left box is Low Severity (to the customer) and Not My/Our Fault (as the service provider). In this box, the best we can do as the service provider is empathize with the customer. It’s not the end of the world, and it wasn’t our fault. Get it?
The top-left box is High Severity (to the customer), but it’s still Not My/Our Fault (as the service provider). In this box, we have an opportunity to be a hero and delight the customer. It’s a big problem that wasn’t our fault, but we can build loyalty by helping solve the customer’s problem.
The top-right box indicates the issue is Our Fault as the service provider, and it’s a Big Issue to the customer. In this box, we need to roll out the red carpet and do all we can to solve the issue. Big issue. Our fault. Red-carpet time.
It’s really in the bottom-right box where all three of my little niggles sit. You see, none of them were big issues, but the lack of response was their fault. All I wanted was for them to fix it while wrapping it in that sweet-sounding S-word: “I’m sorry.”
So, if you’re a service provider or if you own a service business, might I remind you of the principle of looking at customer issues through the eyes of … the customer? Is the issue severe to them? Is this issue your fault? Depending on the box it falls within, the call is to either empathize, be a hero, roll out the red carpet, or just fix it.
Whichever box you find yourself in, might I encourage you to retitle Elton’s tune to be, “Sorry Doesn’t Have to Be the Hardest Word.”
Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com). For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected].
