Topic: Service Recovery

Presented By:Bacchu Baidya(34)

Jayashree Chowdhury(35)

Meaning:

Services : Meaning

A service is an act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not ties to a physical product.

Service Recovery

Service recovery is defined as actions and activities that service providers take in response to service defections or failures(a service failure is defined as “a flawed outcome that reflects a breakdown in reliability”) in service delivery to return “aggrieved customers” to a state of satisfaction.

Service recovery is a four-stage process that: (1) Identifies a service expectation that was not met. (2) Effectively resolves service problems. (3) Classifies the root cause(s). (4) Yields data that can be integrated with other sources of performance measurement to assess and improve the system

Goal of service RecoveryThe goal of service recovery is to identify customers with issues and then to address those issues to the customers' satisfaction to promote customer retention. Service recovery is a systematic business process that must be designed properly and implemented in an organization.  Perhaps more importantly, the organizational culture must be supportive of idea that customers are important and their voice has value.  

What are the Stages of Service Recovery Maturity?

Service Recovery in an organization progresses through a series of stages, shown in the diagram

Stage 1:Moribund.There is no complaint handling.  Angry customers are ignored. Stage 2: Reactive.Customer complaints are heard, and a response is made.  But it's a haphazard process with no defined goals for the response and no one owning this business process.

Stage 3: Active Listening.  At this stage, the response to issues voiced by customers is structured.  Specific people have the responsibility to respond to complaints and guidelines are in place for the response.  However, it is still reactive.

Stage 4.  Solicitous.  The critical change from Stage 3 to 4 is the move from reactive to proactive solicitation of customers with issues.  The reason for this is so important as most customers don't bother to complain.  They just move on to other suppliers of products. The solicitous role is accomplished by encouraging customer to voice their complaints.  

Stage 5: Infused.  The pinnacle of Service Recovery Practices is achieved when the complaint identification merges with business process improvement or six sigma programs to support root cause identification and resolution.  The owners of business processes that cause customer issues are notified of the occurrences to prompt reexamination of the process design.

Almost anyone who’s been in a customer service position has had to talk to an irate caller or been in an unpleasant situation.  Even though it may not be their fault, they still need to know how to recover the situation.  Here are five steps to service recovery that will help make their day a better one!

Steps to Service Recovery

1. Apologize. It is your responsibility:  If the service

provider has answered to the customer complaint, then they have indeed accepted 100% responsibility.  At least that’s what the customer believes.  So get off the “it’s not my fault” syndrome and get on with the “what can I do for you?” position. Start by telling the member, personally and sincerely, "I'm sorry." Customers don't care whose fault the problem was - they want someone to solve their problem. So sincerely apologize to the customer and take responsibility for the error.

2. Listen and empathize. You need to listen, and you need to care. These are the tools for service recovery. Avoid using phrases such as, "I understand" and "I know how you feel.". There is no way you can understand how someone else feels. Instead try, "I can only imagine how you feel.", "That's got to be so frustrating.", or "What an unfortunate situation.". Listening and empathizing helps members unwind and feel like they are being understood.

3. Fix the problem. Once made aware of the situation, the employee must do whatever is necessary to resolve the problem, as quickly as possible. One of the most effective ways to move forward is to ask the member what he or she would like to have happen. To solve problems, employees must be empowered. They must be able to bend and break the rules in order to satisfy the member. However, most of the time, all the member wants is what they originally asked for.

4. Offer atonement. A recovery process will be valued by members if it includes, even symbolically, some form of atonement. "I'd like to make it up to you." The bigger the service problem, and the more valued the member, the bigger the atonement will have to be to restore the member to a state of satisfaction. Providing a refund, gift card or other compensation, depending on the severity of the problem, remains a powerful method for service recovery.

5.Follow Up:  After you feel the problem has been fixed, follow up.  Once you’ve made the client happy, make an additional phone call a day or so later.  Be sure to ask them: “Have we fixed everything for you?” “What else can we do for you?” Be sure they’re satisfied.  When you hear “Thanks, you’ve done a great job; I appreciate it,” you'll know you’ve achieved service recovery!

THANK YOU