I’m just off the phone with a phone company who botched a service call to our business big time: an unpleasant rep scheduled a service call, tech didn’t show, called the company to discover no record of the appointment, “nothing we can do”, etc.

(An interesting note: the original rep, who acted inconvenienced by my office manager’s call, ended the conversation by saying, “I assume you’ll want to score me a 10 on the service I provided?” Nothing like gaming the evaluation system…)

I spent 30 minutes scouring their website which seems dedicated to prevent you from contacting the company directly. I left messages for two high level executives that I never heard back from but  I was eventually able to uncover the CEO’s number and his assistant sent our problem to the escalation department. Normally these service representatives are the best of the best.

Not in this case. The only “resolution” offered was that they come back next Wednesday, a week after the failed appointment.

What? That’s it? You couldn’t make it happen today? Sooner? What about the wasted time and effort (literally hours) spend by our office manager and me?

“Let’s cut to the chase, sir,” came the response from Ms. Escalation, “you want money.”

So delicate and diplomatic. But guess what? For me I didn’t want MONEY–I wanted ACTION; I wanted an indication that my business mattered.

It wasn’t about the money. It was about the principle.

I’d rather have the wasted time back and the frustration gone. I was trying to figure out if the company was willing to do anything to somehow demonstrate that they valued my business. They said they did but their actions indicated that they didn’t.

When we make mistakes on product orders, we do our best to compensate for the problem: we’ll include a free product, a credit, rescind the charge–something. It doesn’t cost us much but it proves we are serious about taking care of the customer. And it makes the customer happy.

For some customers is it about the money, but even if it is, there’s no need to be crass about it. Why not say, “Would it help to credit you something for your inconvenience?” How would this phone company respond to my explanation, “I forgot to pay my bill this month but I assure you I’ll make sure it gets paid next month. After all, I value our relationship.”?

Recently my wife Darla dealt with another service provider’s high-level service rep. When I told her of my experience, she said, “Exactly how I was treated.”

That makes me wonder: are some volume service providers trying to dumb down our expectations? Are we to be like Flounder in Animal House: “May I have another sir?”

There’s always a silver lining. Those service providers who do figure out how to politely and promptly solve problems and prove their commitment to customers stand out. They get talked about positively. They create long-term commitment instead of short-term revenue. They raise their retention rates and improve their service ratings.

And those are really powerful benefits for doing service recovery right.

Leaders and educators take note:

According to The Kipplinger Letter, 25% of mortgages in the U.S. are underwater; that is people owe more than their homes are worth.

USA Today reports that among Medicare patients, 44% of the harm done by medical treatment clearly or likely was preventable.

Two startling statistics, one about education and responsibility and the other about excellence and quality control.

Neither statistic is a cause. Both are symptoms.

Not every underwater loan is the fault of the borrower (few predicted the abrupt decline in home values). The lack of understanding (or just bad advice) about debt and leverage are the cause of misery for many. Uninformed borrowers and lenders are both causes for some of these problems.

Clearly preventable harm is a critical quality control issue. When mistakes are made in healthcare, people are hurt or die. The concept of “routine work” in healthcare is dangerous. Clerical mistakes in accounting rarely have the same impact as a mistake in medication.

Education, responsibility, quality control, excellence–these topics often illicit yawns from readers and listeners…that  is until they become startling statistics with personal impact.

Good leaders and communicators talk about how to avoid startling statistics, not just how to deal with them.

What are you doing to prevent regrettable numbers and startling statistics in your work and life? Research, identify and address causes before they become startling statistics.

Today I visited my local bagel shop. Let’s call it “Smart Guys.” It is so close to my house that I could easily walk there. I used to frequent the place until they were frequently out of the bagels I wanted. I didn’t do statistical analysis on how often they didn’t have what I wanted; I just got tired of the “sorry, we’re out” and stopped going.

Today my boys wanted bagels. So I tried again. Guess what? They were out of one of the two bagel types I wanted. I mentioned this to the “assistant manager.” He was a pleasant fellow and explained how that sometimes happens.

No apology.

No “What can I do to make it right?”

No, “We value your business.”

I was mellow. I was conversational. I didn’t get excited. After all, I’ve lived a full life without their product for quite some time now. I can live long and prosper if I don’t go back again.

In a better world, the assistant manager or the manager (lurking in the background doing important things) would have been engaged and maybe a little excited. In this economy it is tough getting customers in the door. You want them to come back, not go away disappointed.

For them, it was business as usual.

Customer service mistakes are made all the time. We make them in my office despite our very best efforts. What should do you when they occur?

First, APOLOGIZE. That should be self-evident but I rarely experience it. If you aren’t genuinely sorry you disappointed a customer–for whatever reason–you need to find a different line of work.

Second, EMPATHIZE. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How  would you feel if you wanted to give someone your hard-earned money but you didn’t get what you were willing to pay for? You don’t necessarily have to agree with the customer’s reasoning but you do need to understand why and how they feel.

Third, MAKE IT RIGHT. Think really, really hard about what you can do to prove you value the customer’s business. Here’s a kooky idea: why not give them a free bagel to make up for the fact they couldn’t buy the one they wanted? The cost is miniscule but the impact is major. Or how about a coupon for a free bagel on the next visit (there’s a nice way to get them to come back. Just make sure you’re not out of bagels again).

Finally, MAKE IT EASY TO COMPLAIN. I couldn’t find any customer feedback cards at Smart Guys Bagels but was able to track them down online. I emailed my feedback to see if, when and how they’d respond. The only thing worse than a complaint you get is a complaint you don’t get.

Like most things in life, service recovery is simple. It means knowing what to do to prove you appreciate the customer and then doing it.

It also means teaching everyone on your team these simple techniques and making sure they use them.