Imagine you had a customer service crystal ball.

This crystal ball could magically predict service failures. It would give you just enough time to swoop into action and avoid disappointing customers.

While I don't have a crystal ball, I can share three proven techniques that do the same trick. Each of these techniques can help you predict when something will go wrong and give you just enough time to prevent it.

Isn't that what superheroes do? Yep, you're about to become a superhero.

Tip #1: Learn from experience

Make a list of the top reasons that customers get disappointed. Think about your experience with each item on the list. Based on your experience, when could you have known each thing was going to happen?

My car was scheduled to get detailed first thing on Monday morning. Paul Beard, the owner of Apple Polishing Systems, gave me a call on Sunday afternoon. There was rain in the forecast for Monday, and Paul wanted to give me the option of rescheduling the service.

Paul knew from experience that rain immediately took away the shine of a freshly detailed car. So he made a habit of checking the weather forecast and alerting customers when it was going to rain. This helped avoid a lot of disappointments!

What service failures can your experience help predict?

Tip #2: Follow the customer journey

Put yourself in your customers' shoes and follow their journey. Understanding the customer perspective can give you insight into exactly when and how things go wrong.

A textile rental company provided table cloths and napkins to restaurants and hotels. One common service failure occurred when clients made last-minute requests. A restaurant might ask for tablecloths and napkins in a specific color for a special event, but it wasn't a color the rental company normally carried.

Clients would be disappointed when the company couldn’t provide the requested color.

A closer look at the customer journey revealed an opportunity to avoid these service failures. Restaurants and hotels often book special events with their clients well in advance, and the color of the tablecloths and napkins is frequently specified in the event contract.

Those details aren't typically shared with operations until the last minute. It was operations that made the last-minute requests to the linen company.

Service failures could be predicted and avoided by talking to sales. A regular check-in with each restaurant or hotel's sales staff could generate a list of upcoming events and any specialty linens required, including colors and quantities. In most cases, the linen company would have plenty of time to prepare.

What service failures can you predict by following your customers' journey?

Tip #3: Monitor the customer experience

Track customer experience data in real-time to identify potential service failures and solve them before your customers are even aware of the problem.

TriMet is the public transportation system operator in Portland, Oregon. It has a command center that monitors its entire network in real time. The command center is staffed 24 hours per day with employees who keep an eye on the system's buses, light rail lines, and trains to ensure they're running on time and to detect problems as quickly as they happen.

I profiled TriMet in my book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience. Here's an excerpt:

Employees in the Operations Command Center spring into action when an issue is detected and there's a danger that a bus or train might be delayed. They share alerts about accidents, construction, traffic congestion, and other problems. Command center employees work with bus and train operations to coordinate a solution to keep passengers moving while providing updated information on the status.

I was once traveling by light rail to the airport so I could catch a flight. An unexpected mechanical issue prevented the train from leaving a stop. Fortunately, TriMet was closely monitoring the situation and quickly dispatched a fleet of buses to move passengers to the next station where we could finish our journey on another train. Miraculously, our total delay was only 30 minutes.

How can you monitor your customer experience to identify problems before they become service failures?

Conclusion

All of these tips require a customer-focused mindset. This means looking beyond your tasks to understand what your customers are trying to accomplish. It’s your job to help them succeed.

Try to be proactive about identifying and solving issues and you'll avoid many service failures.