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By
Doug Booher
One morning I arrived at my office and opened my e-mail to find this message
from a potential customer:
To: IU Auditorium
Subject: Can’t buy tickets from your Web site?
Why do you sell tickets through Ticketmaster?
Why not sell them directly through your Web site? Ticketmaster has a $5.75
convenience charge for each ticket. That’s unacceptable. Then they charge to
ship the tickets to you (if you can’t wait for standard mail delivery). If
you choose to just have them e-mail the tickets to you, they still charge
$1.75 for that simple service!
So, if my wife and I attend, I spend a nice sum of money on the tickets. But
the other fees are too much and unnecessary – except to make even more
money. What’s this $2.50 per ticket “Building Facility Charge?” Come on!
I’m definitely upset about this. Why should I attend an event at your
facility, when I can call another venue, pay no extra charges and have my
tickets waiting for me when I get there? I hope more people complain. I will
not change my attitude until I see these extra charges dropped.
Bill
My first thought was, “Great. He hasn’t even been to our venue yet and he
already has a complaint.” After answering a few other messages and having
some caffeine, I reread the message, this time deciding how I would respond.
My first moment of truth of the day had just presented itself.
In the guest service world, moments of truth are the situations that arise
where we can demonstrate our commitment to providing high quality guest
service. Thinking back to the steps of guest service recovery that we work
on with our student staff during each training cycle, I decided to draft a
quick response to Bill.
Recovery is important in any industry, but it’s especially important for
public assembly facilities, as our success is based not only on repeat
visits from that guest, but also on the reputation we earn in the market we
serve. In their book Knock Your Socks Off Service Recovery, Chip Bell and
Ron Zemke outline six steps for guest service recovery. While each situation
doesn’t call for using all six steps, they are certainly helpful and worth
remembering:
1. Apologize. After years of
experience in our service-oriented industry I’ve learned that it’s hard to
apologize, especially if you feel like you haven’t done anything wrong. But
in recovery, we remember that we’re sorry that the guest has had a negative
experience – and for that, it’s easy to apologize. We want each guest to
have a positive impression of our facility and their experience. Sincerely
conveying an apology is the first step in regaining the guest’s trust.
2. Listen and empathize. Allow
the guest to get the entire concern off of his chest. When you think he’s
finished, count to three silently before you respond. More often than not,
before you get to three, the guest will continue with his concern. When he’s
finished, simply let him know how much you care about his experience.
3. Find a fair fix. This is the
real moment of truth, where you work to resolve the guest’s concern. Most
often the resolution is something he suggested while you were listening in
the previous step. If you can meet the request, then you have just cleared
the biggest hurdle in recovery.
4. Offer atonement. The guest
will be shocked and start smiling when you provide a fair fix and say, “We
know you have been disappointed and would like to make it up to you.” A free
soda or a complimentary seat location upgrade costs little but makes a huge
impression on the guest.
5. Keep your promises. If you
promise to be back to the guest with an answer in five minutes, try to make
it back in four minutes. Or if the agreed-upon solution is a trouble seat
location in Row 25 but you have a pair of tickets still on hold in Row 10,
then surprise the guest with the better seats. If possible, adhere to the
“under promise and over deliver” rule.
6. Follow up. If at all possible,
stop by the seat location in the second half of the event to make sure
things are still going well. Or, send the patron a quick e-mail or note that
night, thanking him for the opportunity to solve his concern. Calling him by
name makes even more of a lasting impression.
Recovery is the art of creating a story. Even if we don’t remember all of
the above steps, the goal is to give the guest a story that he can share
with his family and friends. In fact, statistics show that the story will be
shared with at least five other people. That’s how your facility earns a
reputation of exceptional guest service and creates a culture of service
that permeates your staff.
As facility managers, we’re responsible for more than training our staff and
setting a good example; in fact, it’s most important to encourage our key
staff members to provide great service by giving them appropriate freedom
and discretion to make that fair fix and create the story themselves.
After a few e-mail exchanges and answering all of Bill’s questions, I
received this message the next morning:
Doug,
I really thank you for the well written responses.
I apologize for being upset yesterday when I fired off my angry e-mail.
Sounds like you have a great program, and yes, we will come and enjoy the
shows. Thanks again,
Bill
At the event a few days later, Bill and his wife stopped by my office to see
me on their way into the show. I was glad that I kept those seats in Row 10
on hold so I could give them an unexpected upgrade. The look of surprise and
delight on their faces reminded me why I am proud to work in our profession.
Doug Booher is a guest
service consultant and director of the Indiana University Auditorium in
Bloomington, IN. |
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