Test #2 Flashcards
What is service quality broadly defined? What are it’s five dimensions? How are they classified?
‣ Service quality is a measure of how well an organization delivers its services compared to the expectations of customers
‣ The five dimensions of service quality are tangibles , reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy
• Qualities that fall under the “soft” category are responsiveness, assurance and empathy
• Qualities under the “hard” category are tangibles and reliability
Explain hard vs soft service qualities.
• Qualities that fall under the “soft” category are responsiveness, assurance and empathy
• Qualities under the “hard” category are tangibles and reliability
‣ Hard service qualities = tangibles and measured using quantifiable data= quantifiable attributes of service
• Maximizes performance and outcomes of service delivery based on predefined standards
‣ Tools
• “Soft” side - associated with management concepts such as leadership, employee empowerment and culture
• “Hard” side - quality improvement tools and techniques
◦ Ex. Service Level Agreements - contract between service provider and customer that outlines service and expected level of performance
◦ You can also use KPIs to track progress (establishing a benchmark for comparison)
◦ Additional options include flow charts, relations diagrams, scatter diagrams, control charts
◦ Examples of hard measures = uptime, error rate, response time, resolution time, average recovery time, first call resolution rate, abandonment rate, business results, response times etc.
‣ Hard and soft aspects are both important in managing services
Why is service blueprinting important? What are the five components of service blueprinting?
‣ The components of service blueprinting that all interact together when reading service blueprints
• 5 components - 1. physical evidence (anything customer interacts with, ex. Website or location), 2. customer actions (actual actions the customer performs in relation to the company providing the service), 3. front stage interactions (face to face contacts with the customer during service delivery ex. Speaking to service representative), 4. back stage interactions (interactions customers don’t see, ex. Preparations and responsibilities) and 5. support process (any additional actions that help employees deploy services ex. Ordering chairs)
What should we know about reading service blueprints?
‣ Reading Service Blueprints
• All components interact, not all lines are seen, three main lines
• The line of interaction - where the customer acts with employees and the service
• The line of visibility - organizational processes or the employee becomes invisible to the customer
• The line of internal action - where partners who don’t have contact with the customer get involved in the service support process
What is sequential flow?
• “Sequential Flow” = the chronological actions of customer’s and service providers
◦ Helps reader understand what customers feeling at the time of service
◦ Some blueprints show time to help assess efficiency
◦ Reading the blueprint can identify failures
When should service blueprints be used?
• When should they be used: for a company who wants to improve service, gain an understanding oforiginal service in detail, makes it possible to identify and address pain points.(Used for New and existing services)
• Blueprints can allow for service prototypes to be tested before it’s launched
• Understanding actors within a service (simplifies complexity when there are many actors)
◦ Group #6 Presentation Information - New Service Development
What is new service development? What are some of the challenges and positives of implementing it?
‣ Innovating new products and services is essential for consumer interest and meet consumers needs.
‣ Helps to maintain sales.
‣ What is service development: an activity that professional service organizations do to develop and deliver new services. (Proactive, embraces creativity and adaptability)
‣ Many challenges with new innovations, companies must follow systematic provisions and analyze all relevant factors
What are the components of the new service development process?
‣ Front end planning
• 1. New Service Strategy - need or want of new service identified
• 2. Idea Generation - new service must be oriented around the organizations mission (ideas generated will depend on the nature of services). New service must also align with the organizations competencies, regulations, ethical practices, available skills and resources.
• 3. Concept Development - assessment of commercial feasibility (conformity to existing and future business conditions)
• 4. Feasibility analysis - the basis for making fundamental decisions (demand is not guaranteed). Market Research must be done at this stage. Additionally should evaluate financial situation.
‣ Implementation
• 5. Prototype Development and Testing (clearly define objectives and goals, and gathering feedback)
• 6. Market Testing (launching service on a limited scale to gather feedback, measure performance, and make adjustments before full scale launch, this process reduces risk)
• 7. Introduction to the Market (small launches, gather feedback and reliability and then extent to a broader launch. Goals: assess market acceptance, measure performance and refine services)
• 8. Post introduction evaluation (ongoing) (assessing receival of the service, service’s performance, impact, and reception after being introduced to the market, iterative process, allows company’s to make data driven decisions)
Explain what is meant by customer orientation.
‣ Companies encourage customer comments+complaints because it helps the company do a better job
‣ After-sales service, where applicable, is an important part of business strategy
‣ Companies continually look for ways to create customer value in it’s product offerings
‣ Customer satisfaction is measured on a regular basis
‣ A general belief that sales people need to work hard to service customers, with obvious spin off benefits
‣ A general rule in the company that one of marketing’s most important jobs is to help meet the needs of customers (MOST IMPORTANT ONE)
‣ Providing quality products helps keep customers satisfied
What is the first step in doing research? What would come next? What is an example?
‣ The first step in doing research is to first establish if there is an actual need to do research. (for example as a management consult the first thing you should do is make an appointment to sit down and talk with the owner and manager, get both owner and manager on the same page, manager is ultimately responsible for the success or failure, messy communication needs to be tied up, diccuss next steps)
‣ Next step is showing on paper the activities you are going to engage in ex. simple or double T Gantt chart (includes activity name, the hour/day/week month, and cost)
How do we price out a service? Is it easier to price a service than a tangible good?
No it is not! With a tangible good we have a much clearer idea of what goes into making a product.
• The four basic pricing models: demand based, competition based, target return on profit or standard mark up. (easy with tangible good!)
• Problem with service provision: ex. you budget 3hrs of discussion but it only take 1.5 hrs, do you cut that out of your own pay check? Or return the money? Do they feel ripped off. Inventory issue! Contract keeps everyone honest, and specifies deliverables and who is involved in this. Services are difficult to price out!
◦ Another example is how it would be different costs for Toronto vs Fredericton. Pricing a service is market reflective!
Know the various product differentiation strategies and how this applies to services.
- what is the one thing that you should be able to provide that no one else can? (core competency, and competitive advantage) : It’s unique for every single person; the way to be yourself: THE WAY YOU PROVIDE SERVICE YOURSELF: someone can not imitate. The toughest thing you’ll do is self evaluate what you are doing.
- To differentiate yourself: come up with something that no one else can do!
- quality - quality of service delivery
- pricing - pricing through offering of different service levels or value-added services
- design - branding, aesthetics
- features - exclusive content, loyalty programs
- service - prompt, assistance, handling complaints
- customization - customized services
What are customer defined standards? How are they different for hard and soft standards?
**‣ Standard that are defined by customers, perceptions, expectations, insures provision of service that is wanted and values. Customers are essentially helping shape standards - two types hard and soft **
* hard standards are quantitative and can be counted times, and observed through audits (delivery time, response time, and quantitative aspects)
◦ Ex. Hard standards for responsiveness=processing complaint, answering phone time
* soft standards are more subjective and qualitative in nature such as courtesy, trustworthy or communication. Measured through perceptual data, ex. Speaking with customers, staff or others. Soft standards are crucial for one-on-one interaction, difficult to quanify.
What are the 16 implementation stages (strategic and systematic) for customer defined service standards?
• 1. Understanding Customer Requirements - (conducting market research, customer surveys, and feedback analysis, understand key touch points)
• 2. Functional Integration - (encourage collaboration between the marketing and operation departments to meet customer expectations a common goal for both departments. Foster communication to bridge the gap between marketing and operations).
• 3. Creating Service Standards - (establish a framework that incorporates both types of standards, hards and soft, those that are quantifiable and measurable and soft standards based on perceptions and opinions)
• 4. Change management (creating service standards may require changes in processes, technologies, or organizational structure)
• 5. Standardization vs Customization - some tasks benefits from standardization and others benefit from customization
• 6. Technology Integration - leveraging technology to facilitate standardization, improve work methods, and enhance efficiency of service delivery.
• 7. Gap Reduction - standardization helps to close gap 2 (between customer expectations and service provided)
• 8. Customer-Defined Service Standards - differentiate between hard and soft standards.
• 9. One time fixes - identify and implement one time fixes that don’t involve extensive employee involvement
• 10. Development of Customer-Defined Service Standards - identify existing or desired service sequences. Translate these expectations into behaviours
• 11. Determining Appropriate Standards - choose hard and soft standards based on the importance of behaviours, improvements etc.
• 12. Development of Measurement Standards - chose measurements that effectively capture the established standards.
• 13. Establish Target Levels - set hard and soft targets to quantify is organization is meeting customer expectations
• 14. Tracking Measures Against Standards - assess operational performance vs standards
• 15. Providing feedback to employees - develop mechanisms to monitor, evaluate and then provide constructive feedback to employees.
• 16. Periodic updates - regularly update target levels, measure and customer requirements to stay aligned with evolving expectations.
What are the three challenges customer defined services face? What are some options for solutions?
• 1. Balancing hard and soft standards to create a complete service experience
◦ Solution: Implement systems to monitor and adapt resource allocation to changing priorities and business needs
• 2. Incorporating service standards into organizational culture requires constant reinforcement and leadership
◦ Solution: Encourage employees to proactively identify service standards and recommend innovations
• 3. Keeping service standards relevant and adaptable to changing dynamics
◦ Solution: Establish service excellence as a core value of the organizational culture and recognize and reward behaviour that exemplifies these standards.
‣ Goal is to keep customer happy and satisfied, customer is king!!
