“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
Zero defect / failure may be the goal for most businesses, and is necessary to deliver a certain standard of service to customers and to ensure long-term success for the company. However, we know that every business has its failures and lapses and no failure is a utopian situation. The fact is that even minor and occasional failures can lead to dissatisfaction amongst the customers, and could lead to churn, which in turn could lead to the closure of a company. The key to survival and success then, in this situation, is using service failure for success. This should be part of the overall service recovery plan on occasions when your business would fall short of customer expectations. A company that adapts and learns from failure would have a better chance at success.
Given that businesses are run by humans, mistakes and failures would be inevitable. The number and frequency of such lapses would depend on the nature of a business – some experiencing more than other businesses. We know that customers are changing, and their needs and demands have evolved and are constantly in a state of flux, making it difficult for companies to constantly keep pace and predict what customers could expect next. The continuous changes has compounded the difficulties of companies, making service related errors more frequent. However, companies that understand, accept, and anticipate ‘trouble’ would be better equipped at using service failure for success – those that do not, run the risk of the complete failure of their business.
Even though we know that service failure is inevitable in any business, what also deserves attention is that this cannot be taken for granted. The truth is that mistakes and lapses in service are costly – very expensive in all respects. A company loses face, trust, and market reputation, added to which are lost customers, losses by way of refunds, compensation, and heavily priced incentives. Dissatisfied customers are more likely to spread the negative word of mouth to many, leading to loss of reputation of the company even in untapped markets and customer bases. We know that today, existing customers who speak well of a company, would be the best and most valuable assets, and without such customers it would be difficult for any company to sustain itself long-term. Since mistakes are inevitable and costly, it would make sense for any business to have strategies in place for using service failure for success – both short and long-term.
Those companies who remain conscientious about the duties and responsibilities towards their customers, would know that speedy service recovery is something that customers expect and deserve. Using service failure for success would always be worth the effort and would be advantageous for a company. Research shows that customers who experience top class service recovery have a higher likelihood of becoming loyal, than customers who may have never had a problem with a company. Speedy, efficient, and meaningful service recovery leaves customers feeling extremely warm towards a company – their trust level rises, and they would be more likely to spread positive word of mouth. Enhanced trust leads to loyalty, and brand advocacy, thereby attracting more business for the company. Hence, it would behove all companies to make recovery from service failure part of the overall customer service and business strategy.
Data shows that at least 95% of newly launched products fail – a rather disheartening trend given the time, effort, and money a company would put into developing and launching the product. Companies must however, be prepared for such ‘casualties’, be ready to quickly adapt and rework their product and strategy, and relook at what they can do with the product before re-launching it. The same is the case with customer service. Not all strategies and methods may work – however, a company that listens attentively to its employees and customers would know what would work best, and use any service failure for success.
The fact is that so many companies fail to become successful because they tend to remain unaccepting of weaknesses and shortcomings that would be present internally. It is not easy to accept or deal with failure, but it is essential to do so in order to sustain a business and show customers the passion and dedication of the company. Companies that do not try again post a service failure are doomed – customers have too many options today to give a second chance to companies that seemingly do not care or maybe incapable of amending their mistakes. The starting point of using service failure for success is by asking customers what they expect. This requires courage and the confidence of listening to some harsh, critical, and brutally honest feedback. Customers are willing to provide feedback – companies fail to ask. Research shows that 96% of customers who are dissatisfied never complain, and of these 91% just leave for a competitor – this is a huge chunk of any business, which no company today can afford to lose.
Using service failure for success is all about engaging in a conversation with the customers and other target audience. It is about attempting, several times, to understand their needs, checking with them on what the company’s offerings achieved for them, and where the offerings lacked – it is about learning from your customers by listening and paying close attention. Using service failure for success means that a company is truly committed to understanding the pain areas of its customers, and if the company were unable to meet the customer’s demands the first time, it would try even harder to give customers what they want.
When trying to recover from a service failure, companies must remember not to go overboard. This effectively means that doing too much might set false expectations with customers – they might begin to expect the same ‘doses’ of recovery and offers each time, even if the failure may not warrant as much. Raising expectations might backfire the next time round – and customers then are unlikely to give the company another chance. A company does not need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ with every service failure. Using service failure for success simply means fulfilling the customer’s current need and demand – customizing it to the problem at the time, and letting the customer know that the offer would be a one-time only. A company must keep its business needs and costs in mind too – an imbalance of any kind would lead to more problems and service failures.
Whatever attempts a company makes at using service failure for success, they will only be successful if the service recovery is speedy and timely. Customers would already be frustrated by the service failure – it would not be prudent to add to their annoyance by making them wait for a solution too. Customers rarely give second chances – if they do, it means that they are willing to make the association work and hence a company must use this opportunity skilfully and intelligently.
Service failure is part of business – failure is a part of life. It all depends on whether businesses acknowledge these failures – the first step to using them for success. The fact is there is nothing wrong in failure – what makes it wrong is a company’s unwillingness and or inability to use service failure for success by making things a lot better for its customers. Using service failure for success is a sure route to growth because it is the way to learn from and overcome lapses, which are inevitable. Is your company adept at using service failure for success or does every failure, lead to several other lapses?
