a classic vicious cycle. But if you can start from an accepting, flexible, and generous position, people naturally feel inclined to be reasonable in return. The cycle turns virtuous. Indeed, Horst Schulze, who initiated this policy in the 1980s (when, although it’s hard to fathom now, $2,000 would buy more than a dozen nights at the fanciest Ritz), and Leonardo, who has been involved in continuing and expanding it with Horst at The Ritz-Carlton, Capella, and Solis hotels, verify that an employee has never had to resort to using all of that discretion. Still, knowing it is there has been a great builder of strength and responsibility for employees. Think about its value as an ongoing training tool: It serves as a reminder of management’s belief in honoring a guest’s potential lifetime value—and is proof that management is willing to put money behind that belief.
So in order to keep customers happy, your people will need to be able to respond in an empowered and immediate way to service failures—without waiting for a manager’s okay. This carte blanche approach has grown even more important in these days of customer rebellions Twittering out of control: Only with immediate and broad discretionary powers is there a chance your frontline employees will be able to defuse complaints before they get posted online.
Subtle Is Beautiful: Service Recovery Below the Radar
The most beautiful service failure recoveries can be so small and subtle that a customer won’t notice the failure, only the intimacy the recovery brings.
42
Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit
We enjoy, as much as anyone, the grand, broad-stroke stories that are popular in customer service lore, like the famous story of Nordstrom accepting defective tires as a customer return—even though Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires. These stories are great for training and great for spreading a company’s reputation. But, we also admire service professionals who can discern small failures in systems and similarly small dissatisfactions in failed customer interactions—and compensate effectively so the customer can get right back on track.
Last fall, Micah noticed a saleswoman looking for fresh New York Times subscribers at a crafts fair in the Pennsylvania countryside. She had brought along some high-quality New York Times gift items as in-centives and she gave her pitch as people passed:
Sales Rep: ‘‘Subscribe to New York Times home delivery, only $X a week.
Get great gifts!’’
Micah: ‘‘Sorry. Already subscribe.’’
Sales Rep: ‘‘Are you getting all seven days delivered currently? I can upgrade you if you aren’t.’’
Micah (chuckling at her persistence): ‘‘Unless you’re going to start a new evening edition, I don’t think there’s a way we can get more papers delivered than we already do.’’
Sales Rep: ‘‘But these are nice gifts, aren’t they? I’m going to give you something anyway, for being a great customer. What would you like?’’
Let’s look at this encounter. First, some overall observations. Note that Micah was just walking by at a crowded crafts fair. He hadn’t asked the Times rep for anything and hadn’t offered her anything in terms of making her numbers. He also hadn’t said anything about wanting the gifts. She could, however, sense the imbalance in the encounter, having nothing to offer one of the paper’s ‘‘full fare’’ passengers.
So she decided to extend exceptional, anticipatory service to someone who wasn’t even the target customer of the promotion.
Now, let’s examine the individual elements of this encounter.
Was there a service failure here? Yes, a very small one. The New Recovery
43
York Times , like many companies, was running a spiffy promotion intended to grab new customers. Super. But studies show that existing customers are the ones who pay the most attention to everything you do as a brand. The Times didn’t have a plan for how to treat existing customers who
So in order to keep customers happy, your people will need to be able to respond in an empowered and immediate way to service failures—without waiting for a manager’s okay. This carte blanche approach has grown even more important in these days of customer rebellions Twittering out of control: Only with immediate and broad discretionary powers is there a chance your frontline employees will be able to defuse complaints before they get posted online.
Subtle Is Beautiful: Service Recovery Below the Radar
The most beautiful service failure recoveries can be so small and subtle that a customer won’t notice the failure, only the intimacy the recovery brings.
42
Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit
We enjoy, as much as anyone, the grand, broad-stroke stories that are popular in customer service lore, like the famous story of Nordstrom accepting defective tires as a customer return—even though Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires. These stories are great for training and great for spreading a company’s reputation. But, we also admire service professionals who can discern small failures in systems and similarly small dissatisfactions in failed customer interactions—and compensate effectively so the customer can get right back on track.
Last fall, Micah noticed a saleswoman looking for fresh New York Times subscribers at a crafts fair in the Pennsylvania countryside. She had brought along some high-quality New York Times gift items as in-centives and she gave her pitch as people passed:
Sales Rep: ‘‘Subscribe to New York Times home delivery, only $X a week.
Get great gifts!’’
Micah: ‘‘Sorry. Already subscribe.’’
Sales Rep: ‘‘Are you getting all seven days delivered currently? I can upgrade you if you aren’t.’’
Micah (chuckling at her persistence): ‘‘Unless you’re going to start a new evening edition, I don’t think there’s a way we can get more papers delivered than we already do.’’
Sales Rep: ‘‘But these are nice gifts, aren’t they? I’m going to give you something anyway, for being a great customer. What would you like?’’
Let’s look at this encounter. First, some overall observations. Note that Micah was just walking by at a crowded crafts fair. He hadn’t asked the Times rep for anything and hadn’t offered her anything in terms of making her numbers. He also hadn’t said anything about wanting the gifts. She could, however, sense the imbalance in the encounter, having nothing to offer one of the paper’s ‘‘full fare’’ passengers.
So she decided to extend exceptional, anticipatory service to someone who wasn’t even the target customer of the promotion.
Now, let’s examine the individual elements of this encounter.
Was there a service failure here? Yes, a very small one. The New Recovery
43
York Times , like many companies, was running a spiffy promotion intended to grab new customers. Super. But studies show that existing customers are the ones who pay the most attention to everything you do as a brand. The Times didn’t have a plan for how to treat existing customers who
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