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MUSC Excellence at the University F&A moves forward with service recovery by  Betty W. Sandifer Customer Service Satisfaction and Service Recovery Team At the July 13 meeting of the University Finance & Administration’s Service Excellence, Customer Service and Satisfaction Teams unveiled the new Service Recovery Tool Kit notebook.       Belinda Brown, left, Betty Sandifer and Bud McPartlin of the Customer Service Satisfaction & Service Recovery Team review the new tool kit notebook. The kit promotes good customer service. The kit is designed to help managers determine the level of the service problem, give them hints on how to go about recovering a situation, give a log for listing problems and resolutions, and provide a documentation sheet to record the incident. It also lists a number of other resources where managers can find information about good customer service and customer service recovery.   The tool kit includes a tent card for employees to place by their telephones to assist them in the steps of service recovery. The team adopted the acronym HEART and enlists the following steps: Hear the customer. (Identify yourself and your department, listen attentively, and keep a positive attitude.) Empathize. (Acknowledge the customer’s frustrations or difficulty.) Apologize for the inconvenience. (Be genuine and sincere, and apologize for experiences.) Respond to the problem and resolve it. (Respond as quickly as possible.) Thank the customers for bringing concerns to your attention.   The HEART sheet included in the tool kit describes the steps in the recovery process and gives examples.   Managers will be coaching their staff members in how to use the tool kit. The kit will help managers develop a better understanding of the nature of their recovery problems and create consistent ways of dealing with them.      The Customer Service Satisfaction and Service Recovery Team worked for approximately five months to develop the tool kit as a part of MUSC Excellence.       The team consists of Betty Sandifer, team leader, Belinda Brown, Donna Cool, Samuel Deveaux, Herb Franklin, Rachel Jones, Bud McPartlin, Andrew Rider, John Wilson, and Toni Windham.     Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.