Service Recovery as a Response to Poor Services Offered to the Customer - Essay Example

Service Recovery Name Class Unit Introduction Having satisfied customers is essential to any business. In food and beverage industry, the staffs have to ensure that they offer the offer high quality services and exceed customer expectations. Despite this, service failure occurs due to human and non human errors. Failure to perform a service to the customer expectation leads to dissatisfaction. In service industry, the operators are much concerned in making sure that they manage the service failure in a timely manner. Due to the consequences that are associated with service failure, many operators strive to offer the best services. Having a service failure enables the operators to gain knowledge on how to improve their services and performance (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). Research has proved that dissatisfied customers may spread the bad news on service delivery to more than 10 other people. This leads to reduced number of customers. This has made operators to realise that once a service fails, they have to initiate service recovery (Hocutt, Bowers & Donovan, 2006). Service recovery is a response to poor service offered. This essay explains service recovery and why it is important for the food and beverage staff to share their knowledge with other staff and management. Service recovery is a response to poor services offered to the customer. It is important to note that service recovery is much broader than complaint handling (Ricarda, 2002). Service recovery should be carried out before the customers have lodged any complaints. It is a process in which service management takes steps that are aimed to improve the customer negative perceptions due to initial service offered. It is important to know that the process of service recovery is very vital for the customers as they try to observe the efforts being made (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). Managers are supposed to be well versed with the process since it is hard to deliver error free service to the customers. When offering service recovery, the customers uses equity theory to evaluate. This implies that they must be able to perceive the outcome to be justified for the wrong service delivered to them. In service recovery, customers analyse the situation and looks whether it’s fair (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). They may also relate the experience based on knowledge about compensation used on a similar situation. Service failures can lead to customer dissatisfaction and also losing the business loyal customers. Through use of appropriate recovery efforts, it is possible to make the customer satisfied and save the business (Ricarda, 2002). When a service organisation is able to act on failure appropriately, it is possible to lead the firm into a better position and improve the customer relationship. It is important to note customer dissatisfaction to service. This is due to fact that a customer may be reluctant to complain or give views on negative services delivery to the staff. It has been proved that by handling service recovery appropriately, it is possible to restore high levels of satisfaction and makes it possible to have repeat visit (Hocutt, Bowers & Donovan, 2006). There are also chances of recovery paradox where the organisation gains better ratings that it had prior to failure depending on the way they handle the service failure. Customers who have encountered failure rate the firm better than those who have not encountered it. A good service recovery turns the unsatisfied customers into loyal ones and eliminates frustrations. Service recovery limits the harm caused by poor service offered (Maxham, 2001). Staffs are able to achieve high standards and effective service recovery in the service industry through several means (Maxham, 2001). The rule used to ensure that service delivery is effective is “do it right the first time”. Food and beverage staff should be ready to share knowledge and skills with other staff. This makes it possible to help each other when dealing with service delivery. Efficient service delivery requires collaboration by all involved (Maxham, 2001). Despite this, it is impossible to offer services without making a mistake at one point. This leads to need for staffs that are fast to identify service failure and act on eliminating it. The management is supposed to note the importance of the customers and put in place effective measures (Ricarda, 2002). The staff should be taught on preventive measures that can help in eliminating common mistakes that can lead to service failure. The employee should be able to address the issue before it turns out to be a major problem. The organisation should also invest enough on service recovery system (Maxham, 2001). There are several mistakes that the management makes in service recovery. One of the mistakes is disregarding the evidence. The management may disregard service recovery and assume that it have no financial returns (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). This leads to the organization losing customers. The customers’ service employees may not be able to show good attitude. For service recovery to succeed there must be display of good attitude. Service recovery cannot work if the staffs are unable to show good attitude. There is need for the employees to be friendly and ensure they maintain calm when dealing with the situation (Hocutt, Bowers & Donovan, 2006). Team work and effective communication are vital in ensuring that the customer negative moments are turned into positive ones. The cost of retaining a customer is much less as compared to the cost of gaining new customer. The management have to ensure that they collaborate with the staff to work on effective service recovery. If the customers are able to receive more efforts on service recovery, they are able to increase their association with the organisation and give it higher ratings than before. Effective service recovery should be proactive, planned, trained and empowered (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). To be proactive, servicer recovery have to be initiated in a timely manner. This should be before a customer has complained. The staff should be keen to note customer reaction and ensure that they handle dissatisfaction before the customer leaves. The procedures used for recovery should be well planned. The most common causes of disatifaction among customers should be noted and predetermined solutions developed. The customer service should be well prepared to deal with the issue when it occurs. Effective team building in service industry should be in place. For the food and beverage industry, the employees should have training that helps them to build confidence and competence. Effective teamwork can also help the employees to work together in solving customer dissatisfaction. Service recovery should be a collective action. The employees in the sector must be empowered which will enable them to utilise skills that can satisfy the customers. Empowered employees are able to take charge of the situation and resolve the matters according to their ability (Thompson, 2006). Maintaining a positive customer relationship is vital in the service industry. To have good customer relationship, managing their experiences appropriately is needed (Swanson & Kelley, 2001). The customer interaction with the organisation is very vital in creating the relationship. Customer relationship management is a business strategy and should be always there in the organisation. The organisation must empathise on the customer experience to ensure that there is no unsatisfied customer. The customers gauge service recovery using the equity theory. This involves looking whether the outcome of the process is justified (Mattila, 2001). This implies that the service organisation must be keen to ensure that their interaction with the customer leaves good memories. The customer should be served in a way that they are able to come back again. This leads to the importance of service recovery. The customer perception on service recovery matters. The service recovery must enable the customer to see it as fair (Susskind & Viccari, 2001). The organisation must treat service recovery as an investment. Investing in a better service delivery is also of paramount importance as it eliminates errors. When service recovery is carried out in an appropriate manner, the customer is able to value the service and enhances the organisation ability to gain positive feedbacks and is able to create a service recovery paradox (Hocutt, Bowers & Donovan, 2006). Conclusion Service recovery is done in a bid to correct an error in service delivery. This is due to fact that failure is inevitable in service delivery. Firms are supposed to have response plans in place and have an environment where the employees have adequate knowledge in rectifying service failures. The process should be initiated even before the customers have complained. Organisations are thus supposed to have service recovery program in place since it is hard to eliminate errors. Carrying out service recovery in an appropriate manner can lead to customers being more satisfied than before. Food and beverage staffs are supposed to share their knowledge and skills with other staff management. Sharing the knowledge makes it easier for collaboration in service recovery and efficient service delivery. Team work is also needed in service recovery to ensure that it is carried out in an efficient manner. Maintaining a positive customer relationship is needed in the organisation. Service recovery is an attempt to enhance customer experience and ensure that customer is satisfied with the services delivered. References Thompson, B. 2006, Customer expericne management-The value of “moment of truth” Customer think corp. RightNow technologies. Hocutt, M.A., Bowers M.R. & Donovan D.T. 2006, "The Art of Service Recovery: Fact or Fiction?" Journal of Service Marketing, Vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 199-207. Mattila, A.S. 2001, “The effectiveness of service recovery in a multi-industry setting”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 7, pp. 583-96. Maxham, J.G.I. 2001, "Service Recovery's Influence on Consumer Satisfaction, Word-of-Mouth, and Purchase Intentions", Journal of Business Research, Vol. 54, no. 11, pp. 11-24. Ricarda, B. Bouncken, 2002, “Knowledge management for Quality Improvements in Hotels”, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, Vol.2, no.3/4. Susskind, A. & Viccari, A.2001, “A look at the relationship between service failures, guest satisfaction, and repeat-patronage intentions of casual dining guests”, Cornel Hospitality Quartely, Vol.52, no.4, p.438-444. Swanson, S.R. & Kelley S.W. 2001, "Service Recovery Attributions and Word-of-Mouth Intentions", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 No 1/2, pp. 194-211. Read More