"one and done": in service recovery, you don't get a second chance (harvard business review article)

Just spotted this article, with a nice-looking graph for the reading- or time-impaired, that coins a phrase I'm going to swipe: "one and done". It has to do with customer expectations about how their moment of truth should be handled. It goes to the issue of empowering your front-line staff through good training and tools. 

On the other hand, if the stated expectation is "I hope they resolve this problem right now, so I don't have to call back," is that actually the emotional expectation? Remember, emotions develop much faster than thoughts. Is the emotion attached to such moments of truth about "first-call resolution"? Or perhaps about feeling hurt, insulted, taken advantage of, followed by a desire for justice? (And, importantly, "justice" is defined in different ways by different cultures.)

Ping An and insuring customer loyalty

How would you explain, given this excellent article, the results of our study of Ping An Insurance's customer complaint process that showed a marked improvement in customer satisfaction simply by have the customer service representatives listen longer? No additional measures were taken to resolve the customers' complaints. 

This disparity between customers' stated expectations and their actual satisfaction (which is a function of expectations and what really happens) can indeed be explained ... if you have an emotionally intelligent organization that really understands what makes customers tick. And if you think such emotional intelligence doesn't have a payoff, read this entire article again and ask: what cost did Ping An incur in improving that customer sat? And what would it have cost Ping An to replace a lost customer with a new one?

Yes, there is a business case for emotional intelligence within an organization - indeed, as a part of its entire operational design. 

Want to know more about this? Check out this interview with Keith Fiveson, CEO of ITESA, on Blake Landau's great podcast.