How to Recover From the Mistakes You Make with Your Customer

Two customers order breakfast at a nationally known restaurant. The waitress takes their order, thanks them and walks away. A few minutes later, she returns with the two breakfast orders. One of the two customers notices that he didn't get the honey he ordered for his muffins. The waitress comes by a few minutes later, obviously very busy, and checks to see if everything is ok. The customer mentions to her that he didn't get the honey that he ordered. She acknowledges him and promises to get it. Several more minutes go by and nothing happens. Finally, the waitress checks back a second time asking, "Is everything ok?" At this point, the customer explains that it isn't ok. He never did get his honey and eventually just ate his muffins without it. The embarrassed waitress apologizes, murmuring under her breath that they are very busy today. She puts the bill on the table and walks away.

This true story is a good example of good intentions gone astray. The waitress was rushed, and she didn't come through as she had promised her customer. Something, as small as the honey for the muffins, spoiled the restaurant's opportunity to provide good service to this particular customer. What is remembered in this customer's mind is that this restaurant, not just the waitress, did a lousy job of serving breakfast.
What happened here is not uncommon. Since employees are human, they are going to make mistakes. What is important is how they recover from making the mistakes they've committed.

When a customer receives poor service, he is subconsciously conditioned to expect poor service the next time he does business with that company, that is, unless the company does something that would offset the experience in a positive way. In the example we talked about earlier, the waitress could have deducted the muffins from the cost of the breakfast and she could have given the customer a certificate for a free breakfast the next time he returned.

The main point here is to let the customer know that you value him or her as someone important and that satisfaction with your product or service is crucial. You might make mistakes, but you're going to correct those mistakes and offer compensation. An important point to note when you are making up for the mistake is to have a "bring back factor" built in.

This means that whatever you do to correct the error committed, make sure that it is something that will bring the customer back to your place of business. This will give you an opportunity to replace the negative expectation of service with a positive expectation. In the restaurant example above, the certificate for a future free breakfast would give the restaurant another chance to prove to the customer that it can provide excellent service.


Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, trainer, coach and author. He works with small and mid-size businesses and organizations and helps them develop their most valuable asset – their people!