Customer Service: Missed “Wow” Opportunity
CMM July 7th, 2008
I want to share an experience I had last week at an Oak Ridge restaurant. While I’m sure many readers can figure out which restaurant, I’ll maintain anonymity in this post since my goal isn’t to trash the restaurant or the management. My goal is to communicate the missed opportunity and the power of the “wow.”
Let me set the stage… I eat out pretty regularly for lunch. Sometimes its a lunch meeting, sometimes I need a change of environment, sometimes I don’t pack a lunch, and sometimes I’m just hangry (when you are so hungry that you get cranky and angry). I’m also pretty consistent in my decision-making and schedule. I eat at about the same time in the same handful of restaurants.
On this particular day, I went to lunch with two colleagues at a place known for its salads and salad bar. As we finished the meal, the waitress brought me a fresh drink in a clean glass. When I went to lift the glass and take a drink, the bottom shattered due to a cold liquid being poured into glass still hot from an industrial washing machine. Diet Coke went all over the table and all over me. I quickly grabbed some napkins and set about cleaning up the mess. The waitress ran over with her apologies and we worked together. While I wasn’t pleased about it, I marked this little incident up as a freak accident and appreciated the assistance of the waitress. From a learning and customer service perspective, this is where the manager had options…
I loved choose-your-ending stories when I was young. Here are the two options:
Option A: The Wrong Way to Handle the Situation
At this point, the manager comes over to apologize. I appreciate the apology and wait for him to say “and for your trouble, let me get the check for the table.” Instead, he said “and if you’ll bring me a receipt, we’ll reimburse you for the cost of dry cleaning.” Feeling a little frustrated, I respond “reimbursement is what you do for employees, not for your customers.” Long story short, after some prodding and arguing, he takes the cost of my meal off the ticket but my colleagues still have to pay. We leave and go back to the office, telling everyone the story of how frustrated we were with our dining experience. This restaurant chain now goes on my list of undesirable options and is the subject of a negative blog post.
Option B: The Correct/Wow Way to Handle the Situation
At this point, the manager comes over with the employee and helps clean up the mess. The manager apologizes and offers to comp the meal for the entire table. Feeling “wow’ed,” we say thank you and leave a tip for the waitress. From there, we go back to the office telling everyone about our “wow” experience. We also go back the following week and have a laugh with the manager about the whole thing. Lastly, I write on my blog about how this was an example of excellent customer service.
Conclusion
As you probably expect, my experience followed option A. Not only was I sticky for the rest of the day, but I was also irritated by the lack of customer service in my dining experience. I felt much like MickJagger when he sings “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Option B would have cost the restaurant $15 more but bought hundreds of dollars in good will, brand image, and PR.
More so than just the restaurant industry, when little mistakes happen with customers, the best thing a company can do is own up to them and take the appropriate steps to make things right. At the end of the day, the brand image of a company is one of the most critical and valuable components.
Note: There are two hints on the identity of the restaurant hidden in my post… Can you figure it out?
