Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in our own hype and think that we’re doing everything with excellence and that everyone loves what we do. But it is the perspective of each guest that really matters. In their eyes, we may not actually be getting the job done.
We had a guest complain the other day…
“I came through the drive thru and they forgot my yogurt parfait. I called two different times on my way back to the store and all I got was an answering machine. Then, when I got back to the drive thru and told them what happened, all they did was give me my missing food. No apology. No free meal. Nothing. And of course, when I got home, all my food was cold.”
But we gave them their food. But we could justify everything else that happened. But we serve 1800+ guests every day. But we were slammed when they called.
To quote the esteemed philosopher, Pee Wee Herman, “Everybody has big buts!”
Here are the questions you should be asking:
“What can we do to make their experience remarkable? What can we do to convert these from being frustrating experiences to raving fans?”
Lee Cockerell is the former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney Resorts. I had the honor of speaking with him the other day about some of the reasons that Disney is so successful at customer service.
[endorsement cite=”Lee Cockerell” byline=”Former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World® Resort”]I like it when customers tell us what we’re doing wrong because there are 8 others out there NOT telling us what we’re doing wrong…[/endorsement]When thinking about what you can do to make a guest’s experience remarkable, think about these options and consider that this is a guest who not only waited too long for their food. They also called twice and ended up having to drive back to get what we left out.
- We could genuinely apologize and ask a team leader to refund their entire order.
- We could genuinely apologize and replace their entire order with fresh food.
- We could genuinely apologize and give them their yogurt parfait and a couple for a free sandwich or free meal.
Recognize the opportunity that we have to create a remarkable experience for a guest – one that can turn a person who was having a frustrating experience into a raving fan of Chick-fil-A. Take the opportunity. Use the leeway we’ve given you to take care of guests and do what it takes to make a remarkable experience! Let’s do what we can to make raving fans!