News for the Hospitality Executive |
Handling Customer Complaints Means Taking the H.E.A.T.!
By Jim Hartigan November 13, 2012 As a lifetime manager and service industry professional, I
have a
confession to make. I really like the
latest wave of reality TV shows that track the “fixing” of a hotel or
restaurant. Of course, as a hotelier, my
favorite is the Travel Channel’s Hotel
Impossible. This
is where a struggling
hotel owner/operator brings in
Anthony Melchiorri, a hotel "fixer," who can turn any establishment
around in just weeks. Each episode
features a hotel that is having problems or is not living up to its
potential
and Melchiorri secretly scouts the property and identifies its biggest
problems. He then meets with the staff and the owners to determine how
best to
solve the key operation issues. Within
the hour he has the place turned around!
My other favorite is the Food
Network’s Restaurant
Stakeout. In it,
Willie Degel (who runs a
tight ship at his own
restaurants) deploys hidden cameras to keep a close eye on the staff
and
patrons in the troubled establishment. Willie then uses tough love to
help the
restaurateurs save their businesses.
As I
watch these shows, I’ve noticed that beyond the
basics of cleanliness, keeping your establishment in good condition,
and
serving fresh, tasty food, a consistent theme seems to be poor customer
service. Specifically, team members in
these troubled hotels and restaurants don’t seem to know how to deal
with
customer complaints. This takes me back
to my roots, where we used the acronym H.E.A.T. to help team members
remember
the four steps to follow when presented with the gift of a customer
complaint. It’s easy to remember,
especially because
when handling a customer complaint it’s important to remember you will
likely
be taking some HEAT until you turn things around! What
is H.E.A.T.? I’m glad you asked. HEAR – The
first step is to actually listen to the customer. Hear
them out. Don’t interrupt.
Sometimes a customer just wants to vent.
Of course, other times they have a real
problem that needs solving. Try to
listen for cues about what’s really bugging them. Is
it the problem with their meal or their
room – or is it that they are now running late.
If the real problem is time – that takes a different twist
to your
solution (you gotta solve this thing fast!). EMPATHIZE – Empathy
is defined as the ability to imagine oneself in another's place and
understand
the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions.
Over the years, I have found the best way to
do this (and teach team members how to do it) is by “naming the
emotion”. By that I mean to articulate to
the customer
what they are feeling and validate it.
“I understand how you feel, I’d be frustrated too.” Or “I completely understand and if that
happened to me, it would make me very upset.”
By naming the emotion, expressing understanding, and
placing yourself in
the customer’s place – you begin the process of diffusing the situation. APOLOGIZE – This is
a big one, and easy too. It goes like
this: “I’m sorry.” It
can be that easy. Unfortunately, many line
level team members
tend to take this sort of thing personally and feel apologizing for
something
they may not have personally had any control over to be uncomfortable. My advice: Get over it. Nobody
said it was your fault; we aren’t
blaming you, so apologize already. To be
more powerful, add a little of what we learned in the previous stage,
“I’m
sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. I’m
really very sorry this happened.” TAKE
ACTION – The segue from Apologize to Take
Action should be
seamless. The very next sentence out of
your mouth should be what you’re going to do about the customer’s
complaint. The customer deserves to know
what is going to happen next and what they can expect.
The foundation to most customer complaints is
the disconnect from what was expected and what actually happened. This is your chance to reestablish an
expectation and deliver on it. Taking
the appropriate action can only be done if you really hear the problem,
fully
understand the customer’s feelings, and combine it with a sincere
apology. So, before you call on my
friends at the Food Network or the
Travel Channel, take some time and share the principles of H.E.A.T.
with your
team. I bet you find less customer
complaints coming to you and more customer compliments about how team
members
dealt with unfortunate occurrences. If
you’d like to learn more about how Orgwide can help
you teach your team members better service skills, give us a call. Until next time remember, take care of your
customers, take care of each other, and take care of yourself! Jim Hartigan,
Chief
Business
Development Officer and Partner joined OrgWide Services, a
Training/e-Learning,
Communications, Surveys and Consulting firm in April 2010 after nearly
30 years
experience in the hospitality industry, including the last 18 as a
senior
executive with Hilton Worldwide.
Jim’s last position was that of Senior Vice President
– Global Brand
Services where he provided strategic leadership and business
development and support to the $22B enterprise of 10 brands and more
than 3,400 hotels in 80 countries around the world. His team was
responsible for ensuring excellence in system product quality, customer
satisfaction, market research, brand management, media planning, and
sustainability.
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Contact: Jim Hartigan Chief Business Development Officer & Partner OrgWide Services 165 N. Main Street, Suite 202 Collierville, TN 38017 office: 901.850.8190 Ext. 230 mobile: 901.628.6586 [email protected] www.orgwide.com |