The Law of Recovery

When I got the call that day a few years ago, I knew there was trouble. Big trouble. My wife called that a caregiver had broken the leg of a baby at the crèche. Was it an accident?

I asked her to rush down to the school and take charge of the situation. She was actually on her way for a course for which she had registered.

When she got to the school, she played back the CCTV recording with the parents of the child in attendance. She did not believe the initial story she was told about the child falling down because all the floors were heavily padded. The child’s leg was already in a cast.

In the playback, the two caregivers in that particular class were caught on camera hitting the knee caps of the poor girl. That was enough as the parents screamed in agony.

My wife requested for the two care-givers, put them in the school bus and drove them to the police station. After writing her statements, the caregivers were detained. When she called me, I knew I had to rush back to Lagos.

I got to Lagos about 10pm and we both headed to the home of the parents. We spent an hour at their gate before they opened. They were livid and rightly so. It was a night I will not forget in a hurry.

We were told the child had been dropped with her grandparents in Owerri. That night, my wife bought three tickets to Owerri and early the next morning, my wife, daughter and I were on a plane to Owerri.

We had collected the number of the grandparents but we had no assurance that they would be willing to see us. When we got to Owerri, a vehicle I had arranged picked us up.

I asked the driver to take me to the best supermarket in Owerri and he took us to one not far from the airport where I bought a choice wine and my wife got a big toy for the child. I also got some kolanuts in line with Igbo tradition. The parents of the child are Igbo.

I put a call to Grandpa, introduced myself and told him I was already in Owerri to see him. I pleaded that he should tell me his address. I still remember clearly that it rained that morning. After some back and forth, Grandpa reluctantly told our chauffeur his address.

It was my wife’s first time in Owerri and I remember how she prayed right from our flight to Grandpa’s place. When we got there, I presented the wine and kolanuts and asked for forgiveness. My wife was on her knees as she accepted full responsibility for what happened. Grandpa and Grandma brought out the girl and we saw one of her legs in POP.

My wife was in tears. I presented the toy we brought and held the girl in my arms. We informed the grandparents of the actions we had taken, including charging the caregivers to court.

We could see that the grandparents were impressed and even surprised that we came from Lagos to Owerri. Before we left, Grandpa went into his farm to harvest cucumbers for us. That was when we felt some relief. We left the house around 3pm, to catch our return flight to Lagos.

When we got back to Lagos, we headed back to the parents’ house to give them feedback. Of course, the grandparents already informed them of what transpired. Then we made an offer to defray their daughter’s medical expenses.

My wife also offered to reimburse them of their travel expenses to drop the girl with the grandparents. Finally, she offered the parents free tuition if they consider bringing the girl back to school. This was after we informed them that the caregivers had been charged to court and the CCTV video we presented as evidence. That was a very tough period for my wife as she had to go to court for the trial.

It turned out one of the caregivers wanted to start her own crèche and she tried to sabotage the school so there could be a scandal- unfortunately for her, she was caught on camera.

A while later, the parents called my wife. They told her they wanted to bring the girl back to her school as they had been very impressed with the way the matter was handled. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the news.

The baby attended tuition-free but after some time, the parents paid of their own volition. But it didn’t stop there. The mother had another baby whom she also brought to the crèche.

They have since relocated abroad but my wife is still in touch with them and they remain great fans of her school. It was a beautiful service recovery that could have ended otherwise.

Sometimes we mess up. Yes, we all do. A lot of times this happens inadvertently but then our customers get dissatisfied. We drop the ball or displease customers in such a way that they are outraged with our products or services. At that point, we think we have lost their patronage. A few of them can even begin to ‘bad-mouth’ our business with their negative testimonials but I believe there are certain things we can do to quickly recover the custom or patronage:

1. Show empathy. This is beyond showing sympathy. Empathy is active and not passive. It starts with acknowledging the issue and not trying to either explain it away or sweep it under the carpet. Never gloss over the pain points of a customer. Listen to the customer. Put yourself in their shoes. Show that you can understand their emotions. Don’t get angry if they are angry. Be sincere with your apologies.

2. Own up and take responsibility. Don’t pass the buck if it belongs to you. Don’t play the blame game. Own up. Take responsibility- that’s the first law of crisis management. Closure is easier when responsibility is not deferred. I agree it’s not easy but it shortens the merry-go-round and puts everything in perspective. Taking responsibility not only eases the pain of the customer but it also brings quick healing and recovery. Accept if it’s your fault. You will earn respect this way even if you lose in the short-term.

3. Restitute if you can. I believe Nigerian businesses should start going beyond saying sorry alone to clients. Offer to restitute in case of damages or poor service. Offer rebates and discounts on next purchases. Give free deliveries over a period. Do the installation for free. Restitution is a means of compensating the customer for a loss. It could be loss of a product, service or even time.

Nigerian businesses should go beyond saying sorry to dissatisfied clients. They may offer to restitute in case of damages or poor service, offer rebates and discounts on next purchases, or give free deliveries over a period. Share on X

4. Take immediate action to the satisfaction of your client. You need to demonstrate that you have the best interests of your customer at heart- and not just interested in how your business can make profits. So you must take action immediately. In the case I cited above, the required action was to charge the caregivers to court. You may need to discipline or even fire a staff where the matter has been aggravated. Don’t prevaricate. Show that you’re firm.

5. Set clear performance standards. Your company must have clear performance standards and provide service guarantees. These minimum expectations will keep you on your toes and ensure you keep your customers satisfied. It will help you avoid a situation where you have to embark on service recovery.

Sometimes, even after you have done your best and put in service-recovery strategies to win back the customer, the customer remains unsatisfied and unperturbed. Learn your lessons, ensure you avoid a repeat of the issues that led to that situation and move on.