Test 1 Flashcards
What are services?
services are deeds, processes, and performances provided by a single person or group of people with or for another group or entity
Tangibility Spectrum
The spectrum that shows how tangible or intangible a certain service is. (Teaching is very intangible. Salt is a tangible service)
What are the four characteristics of services?
Intangibility, heterogeneity, Perishability, Simulationous production and consumption
Implications of Intangibility?
Services cannot be inventoried or easily patented. They also cannot be displayed or communicated. In addition, pricing can be difficult
Implications of simulationous production and consumption
Customers participate in and affect the outcome depending on how much effort they put into it. (having a personal trainer or being in a class).
Mass production is difficult
Implications of heterogeneity
Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on employee and customer actions. The quality depends on uncontrollable factors. There is no way to know if the service is going to meet expectations of what the customer is anticipating
Implications of perishability
Services cannot be returned or resold. It is difficult to sycnronize supply and demand
What is the customer gap? `
The difference between perceived and expected service
provider gap 1
not knowing what customers expect (not listening)
provider gap 2
not having the right service designs and standards
provider gap 3
not delivering to service standards
provider gap 4?
not matching performance to promises
key factors leading to provider gap 1
insufficient customer research, Lack of upward communication, Focusing on transactions rather than relationships, bad response to complaints
key factors leading to provider gap 2
Poor service design, absence of customer driven standards, Inappropriate physical evidence and servicescacpe
key factors leading to provider gap 3
Ineffective recruitment for the job, Customers lacking knowledge of their roles and responsibilities, Problems controlling quality and consistency, Failure to match supply and demand.
key factors leading to provider gap 4
Inappropriate pricing, broken promises, bad communication between sales and operations, Ineffective management of customer expectations
Customer Expectations
Beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged.
What are the 5 levels of customer expectations?
Ideal expectations of desires, Normative “should” expectations, Experience-based norms, Acceptable expectations, minimum tolerable expectations
What is the zone of tolerance? high and low end
The zone of tolerance is what a customer expects going into the service. Desired service is at the top of the zone while adequeate service at the bottom
What should a service marketer do if a customers expectations are too high?
Ask them what their expectations are
What are the five dimensions of Service Quality
Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance Empathy and Tangibles
Reliability
ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness
willingness to help customers and provide them with good service (Book store lady not helping the professor)
Assurance
employees knowledge and courtesy and their ability to gain the customers trust and confidence
Empathy
caring, individualized attention given to the customers
Tangibles
appearance of physical facilities, equiptment, etc.
What judgements form service quality for a consumer
outcome quality, interaction quality, physical environment quality
How is service quality measured?
It is the overall satisfaction of the customers in relation to what is expected of them. (SQ = S - E)
What determines customer satisfaction?
Specific product or service features, perceptions of product and service quality, and price (little things like the ford gloves can go a long way with customers)
Interaction quality
For a lawyer, timeliness in returning phone calls, empathy for client and listening skills
Outcome quality
How the outcome turned out in the service. (For a lawyer service, winning the case would be big)
Physical environment quality
At a hotel if the lobby is big and open space with lots of art it would have a perception of being an upscale hotel
Service encounter
These are where promises are kept or broken and sometimes called moments of truth. This is where the service is given. (The execution of a hotel to be taken to room by bell person, great hotel meal, wake up call, etc.)
What are the four common themes of service encounters?
Recovery, Adaptablity, Spontaneity, Coping
Recovery
This is when a customer is unhappy or has a complaint. It is the job of the service to make up for this to gain the customers trust back
Adaptability
Happens when a customer has special needs or requests. (Some services can be adaptable some not. Our professor is not adaptable to create a new syllabus for one unhappy student)
Spontaneity
Good examples for this include being treated like royality and getting something nice that wasn’t even asked for. A bad example would be still performing the service but being rude or stealing or ignoring the customer
Coping
Some customers are just uncoroporative and need to be let go as a customer. These situations are rarely satisfying encounters from the customers point of view
