The big fix: service recovery can turn angry customers into lifelong patrons Here's how to do it

Pool & Spa News, Oct 10, 2005 by Bob Dumas

One day, more than 15 years ago, Matt McWilliams was pumping water from a client's pool. He inadvertently destroyed a nearby limestone stairway that had just been built at a cost of $1,400.

"I watched the trail of water go on its merry way. I was doing this for about 1 1/2 hours, so it as a lot of water, recalls McWilliams, who is now general manager at Keith Reuter's Pool Service in Napa, Calif.

"I checked it several times and was sure I knew right where the water was going," he adds. "Unbeknownst to me, it had taken a right-hand turn to the top Of this stairway made of railway ties and tamped with limestone."

To say that the customer was angry is somewhat of an understatement. But if you think that McWilliams lost the account, think again. By working with the landscaper who had originally built the structure, the stairs were repaired within days. The customer was thrilled and the account was not lost.

"The property owners were fine as long as they had their limestone steps," McWilliams says. "Of course, it cost us $1,400."

McWilliams and his boss didn't know it at the time, but what they were doing was practicing the fine art of "service recovery." It's a technique used to win back disgruntled customers. With the stairway quickly repaired, coupled with a sincere apology from the company owner, the client would now be extolling the virtues of the firm rather than condemning it.

In fact, sometimes when a company messes up and then fixes the problem, they are often celebrated more than when everything goes smoothly. While service companies certainly don't want to create problems on purpose so that they can reap accolades, they should have a solid service recovery procedure in place to deal with these types of issues when they arise. Here's what the experts say about developing successful service recovery strategies:

Analyze this

The key to service recovery is consistency. While not all problems or customers are alike, an overarching service recovery plan will help you deal with clients fairly without jeopardizing your business.

When setting up a service recovery plan, experts say to make sure all employees are involved. This includes everyone from the technicians in the field to the administrators in the business office. "There are ways in which you can train people to make smart decisions that favor the customer, but also take care of the company," says Chip R. Bell, senior partner at the Chip Bell Group, a business consulting firm in Dallas, and coauthor of Knock Your Socks Off Service Recovery.

Bell says that it's smart to establish a service recovery protocol while creating your business plan. He offers up three tips to get the process under way:

1. Identify the most frequent types of problems.

Create a "Top 5" list of problems. Interview your own staff and customers to get a better idea of what they might be. Common problems may include invoices and rude customers. Once you have a line on it, you'll be better prepared to establish a service recovery policy.

2. Analyze the root cause of the problems.

Confer with as many employees as you can to get to the bottom of the issues.

3. Work out the procedures.

How will your company react to the various challenges? Create a step-by-step plan that's easy to follow.

David Hawes, owner of H&H Pool Service in Dublin, Calif., says service recovery is a big deal for his company. He's taken Bell's suggestion to isolate the most frequent service recovery issues his company faces.

"There are three areas that generally come up for us," Hawes says. "First are the minor service-related problems, such as not enough or too much chlorine and the minutiae of service. Second is usually about not being expeditious enough, such as a seal is leaking and we didn't repair it as quickly as the customer wanted us to. The last and most common is lack of communication--things such as how much the job will cost, when it will be finished, the diagnosis and warranties."

Once a company identifies the most common types of problems and what causes them, it can then begin to design procedures that will reduce them.

HEAL yourself

Bell has developed a service recovery model he calls HEAL. He believes it can be easily adapted as a protocol for many pool service firms. The letters represent the four steps of the process: humility, empathy, atonement and loyalty. Here are the details:

* Humility

Bell says this is where you "let the customer experience your humility" by saying those two little magic words: I'm sorry.

"Too many guys out there don't know how to apologize and say, 'Listen, we messed up,'" Hawes says. "Few companies are willing to stand up and say, 'We did not deliver what we said we would.'"

That's a shame because a heartfelt apology usually goes a long way, according to A.J. Wilson, owner of Like New Pool Cleaning & Repair in San Diego. "I had one customer who blamed me for everything wrong with his pool," Wilson recalls. "He ranted and raved that he wasn't going to pay.

"I listened to him and said, 'I feel bad that you feel this way. I will do everything I can to amend it.' I apologized and that diffused the situation. From there, it was clear sailing."