How service recovery can win new customers

Do you have a service recovery plan?

If not, you should.

Service recovery helps you retain customers when things go wrong. You can use my ultimate guide to create your own.

Great service recovery isn't just about retention. You can use it to win customers away from your competitors.

Here's an excerpt from The Guaranteed Customer Experience that explains how Discount Tire does it:

Chelsea Howell was experiencing a string of bad luck.

First she was laid off from her job. A short while later, she was involved in a minor traffic accident that damaged her car. An insurance claim covered the repairs, but a few days after getting her car back, she noticed a tire pressure warning light.

Sure enough, one of the tires was leaking air, which made her worry about the cost of getting it fixed. "I didn't have a lot of disposable income to replace a tire," said Howell.

She brought her car back to the shop that had done the accident repair, hoping the tire could be fixed as part of the insurance claim. But the mechanic refused to help her, insisting the tire had nothing to do with the accident. "It was frustrating," said Howell. "You're an auto repair shop. Couldn't you just take a look? It felt like all they cared about was dollars and cents."

That's when she remembered a previous positive experience with a tire shop called Discount Tire. Even though she hadn't purchased her tires there, she decided to give her local store a call.

"I called about 15 minutes before they closed, but they told me to bring it in and they'll take care of it." Howell was nervous about bringing her car in right before closing, but the friendly employee on the phone insisted.

A repair technician examined the tire when she got to the store and was able to patch it and reset the warning light in just a few minutes. The best part was there was no charge for the service!

"It was a relief," said Howell. "Why didn't I just go there first? After losing my job and getting in an accident, this was one less thing I had to worry about."

Tire problems can cause a lot of worry. Flat tires always seem to happen when you're running late to work, traveling far from home, or at some other inopportune time. Fixing them can take a bite out of your wallet, a bite out of your day, or both.

Discount Tire wins and retains customers by helping them recover from tire problems—even problems that aren't the company's fault. This includes offering free repairs on flat tires that can be safely patched. While you might expect this service as part of a good warranty on tires the company sells, it extends the service to customers like Howell who purchased their tires elsewhere.

This wasn't the first time Discount Tire had brought Howell some relief. A few years earlier, she’d gotten a flat tire shortly after purchasing her first new car. Howell had opted for the extended warranty, so she took her car to the dealership, thinking the warranty would cover the problem.

Unfortunately, the dealership didn't provide a Guaranteed Customer Experience. A service advisor pointed out the fine print in the warranty contract that excluded tires from coverage. Rather than find a way to help, the service advisor tried to take advantage of the situation and sell her a new tire.

To Howell, this didn't feel right. "I'm right out of college. I'm already paying my car payment. It felt like a lot of expenses."

She decided to get a second opinion before buying the tire. A friend suggested she go to Discount Tire, so she decided to give them a try. A technician brought the car into a service bay to examine the problem and returned a short while later with good news. The tire had been patched and the leak repaired! Best of all, there was no charge for the service.

In both situations, Howell was worried about the cost of fixing a tire. While other companies tried to profit from her misfortune, Discount Tire brought relief by quickly fixing the tire for free.

Helping customers recover from other companies' broken promises might seem like an expensive business strategy. Howell admitted she was surprised she didn't have to pay anything. But Discount Tire focuses on winning and retaining customers over the long run, not cashing in on the next sale. That's how the company earned a 4.1-star rating on Yelp across more than 1,000 stores in 35 states. Legions of loyal customers won't consider going anywhere else.

Conclusion

A great recovery plan can help you retain your existing customers and win new ones.

Think about a service failure your competitors create. Build a plan to help their customers recover.

Discount Tire promises to fix flat tires, even tires they didn't sell. Other examples include:

• Southwest Airlines promises free checked bags, which helps it win customers who are upset about airline baggage fees.
• Buc-ee's convenience stores promise clean restrooms, which helps it win road trip travelers who are tired of dirty gas station bathrooms.
• Armstrong Garden Centers promise to help you grow healthy plants, which helps win customers who struggle to grow plants they bought at big box stores.

Recovery is one of three elements that make up an experience guarantee:

1. Promise to solve a customer's problem.
2. Act to keep your promise.
3. Recover from service failures to earn future business.

?? Learn more about experience guarantees from my book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience.