What Does Perfect Service Recovery Look Like?
Sarah lives in New York, and had the yearning for Panera's Green Goddess Salad. It was a cold rainy day, so she drove through the drive-through rather than go inside to place her order. When she got back to the office, she discovered that whoever made the salad, left out the dressing. In Sarah's words, "If you have ever had a Green Goddess Salad, you know that the dressing is the entire point." Frustrated, she decided to call Panera and share her thoughts. She braced herself for the worst, but was pleasantly surprised as the experience went from a Moment of Misery™, with the missing salad dressing, to a Moment of Magic®, with flawless recovery.
Moment of Magic #1: Since it was lunch time, Sarah thought she might have to leave a message or wait on hold, but was pleasantly surprised that the manager was available to talk right away.
Moment of Magic #2: The manager acknowledges the mistake and apologizes, and then offers up a solution. In just a few short moments he nailed the first three steps in my service recovery process. He asks where she is located and asks if she wouldn't mind waiting 15 minutes. He'll get her the dressing right away. That was steps four and five. The manager didn't make any excuses, such as it being busy or having a short staff. Instead he just owned the problem, and then promised her she would be getting her dressing in just 15 minutes. (Well done Mr. Panera Manager!)
Moment of Magic #3: He shows up on time with the dressing and a Danish ring for the rest of the office to enjoy. I like that… a little something extra for the inconvenience.
Moment of Magic #4: As if all that wasn't enough, he wanted to make sure she came back, so he gave her a gift-card for her next visit. He also informed her that the team would be running laps outside after lunch as a reminder of why they don't mess up an order. He was joking, of course, but the humor was another way to add some personality into the recovery effort.
And, this is how it's supposed to work. And, guess what happens when good companies flawlessly execute, especially in recovery mode? The customer tells other people. In this case Sarah not only told her friends, she also told me. And, I just couldn't resist sharing the story with others, which means tens of thousands of people are going to find out how well Panera takes care of their customers.
