One Mistake, One Chance to Make it Right: Turning Service Failures Into Loyalty

I recently had an unfortunate interaction with an industry rep that reminded me of the quote, “Service failure: It’s not our fault, but it is our problem.” An industry rep had forgotten to place an order for our practice. A small mistake that could have been resolved with an honest apology and immediate corrective action. What happened instead was backtracking, no ownership of the oversight and an offer of expedited shipping at our own dime.

I don’t bring this up to call attention to the specific incident but to give you the opportunity to think about how your team responds when things go wrong. Even in the most efficient practices, contact lens orders are sometimes forgotten, phone calls go unreturned, the wrong lenses are ordered and other tasks fall through the cracks. While problems aren’t always our fault (sometimes our vendors fall short), in the eyes of our patients and customers, they are.

Minimizing mistakes matters, but I don’t think it should be the only measure of a practice. More important is how we react and empower our team to be proactive when things do go wrong.

THE RITZ PHILOSOPHY

The Ritz-Carlton famously authorizes employees to spend as much as $2,000 per guest, per incident to resolve problems and improve the guest experience—no manager approval required. This allows employees to take immediate action to anticipate and resolve issues and deliver exceptional service. It also shows how much the Ritz-Carlton trusts their employees to make decisions that uphold the company’s core values.

While I don’t expect practices to freely let team members spend $2,000 to fix each problem they encounter, I think this approach can go a long way in differentiating our practices from online and big box competitors. As independently-owned businesses, one of our strengths is agility and providing an incredible patient experience. What would the outcome be if we empowered our team members to anticipate and fix problems (to a certain extent) without needing approval?

SMALL GESTURES PAY OFF BIG

We know that once a frame leaves our practice for the lab, we’re at the mercy of the lab’s timing and remakes. When this happens, consider offering to ship the order directly to the patient’s home at no extra charge to thank them for their patience. If someone forgets to place a contact lens order, consider authorizing your team members to have that order shipped overnight at no cost to the patient.

Yes, these are real monetary costs to your practice, but the true cost of acquiring a new patient versus keeping an existing patient happy cannot be overlooked. How freeing and empowered would your team feel to make something right themselves, without waiting to speak to a manager? When something goes wrong, patients want to feel heard, seen and understood in the moment.

In that recent interaction with an industry rep, an honest apology and an offer to cover the overnight shipping would have been the right call. These small gestures go a long way in not only resolving problems but also showing patients that you value their experience.

Yours in success,
Jennifer L. Stewart, OD

Read Dr. Stewart’s September Insights here.