Importance of Service Encounters - Assignment Example

Introduction A service encounter by definition is the service from the view point of a Massad as cited in Shostack, (2001 p. 243) has defined service encounter as the period of time that a customer interacts with the service. This interaction includes customer-contact employees, automated systems, machines, physical elements and any other visible elements of a service provider. For instance, on the internet, customers experience service encounters when they visit the website of the company, navigating through it and searching for various information on the services and products offered. Importance of Service Encounters Service industries make a huge part of economies. It is safe to say that every single person consumes services at one point or another. The Australian Bureau of statistics recently published a report that 75% of workers in developed nations are employees in service industries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Albeit service industries are a crucial part of any economy, Koepp (2007) has made an observation that the quality of service is on the decline. For the customer, the most important thing is the quality of the service encounter. Notably, most employers don’t train their employees sufficiently on how to handle customers professionally and discreetly. These employees may be demotivated perhaps because of underpayment, high turnover or job dissatisfaction which eventually translates to poor customer service. The unfortunate thing for most of the employers is that they fail to grasp the solid understanding of how best to improve service encounters with potential or present clients. They often assume that employees need to learn how to smile at, welcome and serve customers. As much as this is important, more emphasis needs to be on the employees themselves. When staff members are well taken care of, great service delivery is almost impossible. In the quest to improve the quality of service encounters and ultimately save the firm from spiraling downwards, effective management of the complex behaviors of employees needs to be maintained at an all-time high. Customers judge the quality of the services offered to them through service encounters ultimately affecting the overall judgment of the service provider. Service Encounters Service Encounter 1 Date: 19th May 2009 Name of Firm: American Airlines So I am on a flight heading to New York City to visit a relative. Once the seatbelt light are turned off, a man walks to the front where the cabin crew members are and proceeds to take the microphone to make an announcement. He introduces himself as the CEO of the airline and goes ahead to say something along the lines of, “Thanks for choosing to fly with us especially with the highly competitive market in this country. We know you could have taken another option but you decided to choose us. We may not get it right all the time and are bound to make mistakes from time to time. Therefore I invite you to come and sit with me if you can and let me hear your comments on how we can improve our service. Have a safe flight.” Analysis of the Encounter I was impressed by this gesture and even though I wasn’t a big fan of the airline, I had to rethink about my relationship because of the one minute talk from the CEO. I found that customer service extremely satisfactory. On a scale of 1-5, I would give it a 5. The reason for the score is that I had certain expectations about the service but my expectations were not only met but surpassed. Bitner, Booms and Tetreault on the “Diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents of with service encounters” observe that unexpected employee actions have an adverse effect on the overall customer satisfaction (Bitner, et.al., 1990 p.71). According to me, the CEO did something that was truly out-of-the ordinary and totally unexpected. It was clear that the airline puts the needs of the customers before their own. The employees are willing to put their best forward to hear from customers and implement on the actions to improve the quality of their service encounters. Many at times, companies have not quite grasped the four aspects of every service which include the offering, the funding mechanism, the employee management system and the customer management system. The last one is especially crucial because that is where the customer feels closer to the firm. In the service encounter above, the firm clearly values customer feedback and takes any and every opportunity available to ensure so. I would definitely use the services of American Airlines therefore on a scale of 1-5; I would give them a score of 5. This means that I have a high likelihood of flying with them in future. Because of customer satisfaction, word of mouth will almost be inevitable. I told almost every friend and family member who bothered to listen to me about this experience. A few of them have used the services and got satisfied; which means they told their friends and families too! Service Encounter 2 Date of the Encounter: 10th May 2010 Name of firm: Jamia Boutique I wanted to purchase a pair of shoes for my sister and since I knew I could do it online by placing an order on the website of Jamia Boutique, I proceeded to do so. I decided to inquire about the quotations of the different shoes on the store so I could come up with the best bargain and quality. Therefore I wrote an e mail to the sales department and waited for my quotation which came through almost immediately. Something wasn’t clear on the quote so I sought to inquire more about it. I wrote another email to gain more insight about it. The response came through but after studying the quotation, I realized that I was not in a position to purchase the pair of shoes because it was way out of my price range. I went ahead and told the customer assistant who was attending to my emails that I couldn’t make any purchase then because I was short on cash but would definitely do it when i could. To my surprise, she responded with a nasty e mail saying I should never put her in such trouble and end up buying nothing at all. She warned me that I should never contact her again and that I should put a stop to buying stuff from them again. Analysis of the Encounter On a scale of 1-5, Jamia Boutique gets a 1. The obvious reason is the cold treatment received from this service firm. I agree with Richard et.al (2000) when he observes that in every service encounter, customers relinquish a certain control to the service firm, to get the job done, yet customers perceive they have some control (Siram et al 2000 p.78). I was exercising some control over the service because I believed it was my right to get the best service. The employee on the other hand felt like she had control over what service to offer me. The attribution theory could have well been at play here on the side of the customer assistant. She was too quick to be confident and proud about her job and was adamant to take blame of her actions. Instead, she probably reported that my behavior as a customer led to her poor service delivery. Looking at this encounter more critically, I draw the inference that the employee had little or no motivation at all to offer good customer service. The reason for this could be low income, lack of proper training, longer working hours, lack of appreciation of effort or lack of passion for the job. There was definitely a huge gap between service expected and service received. I expected her to be patient and wait for me to make my selections then decide whether I should purchase anything or not. Instead, she took over and proved to me that my satisfaction was second to hers. This scenario can be improved by motivating employees by revising their packages, working hours, benefits as well as offering them proper training on how to handle customers. The likelihood of me hiring the services of Jamia Boutique again on a scale of 1-5, is 1. In the Role and Script theories, Mohr and Bitner explain that there are common roles of both the customer and the employee that cause satisfaction/dissatisfaction when met/unmet respectively (Mohr and Bitner, 1994 p.96). Once a customer is not satisfied about the service, it is highly unlikely for them to return. Service Encounter 3 Date of encounter: 10th December 2012 Name of firm: Limo Chemists My friend had travelled quite a distance to come visit my family and I. After having a great time with her, something went amiss. She complained of a stomachache which was accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting. I rushed to Limo Chemists to buy her over the counter drugs just to keep the pain down and stop the diarrhea. On reaching the drug store, I explained to the guy attending to me about the situation of my friend and asked him to recommend drugs that could make her feel better. He recommended a few anti-amoebic tablets and a few other pain killers that he knew would be the best. When he handed me the bill, I was shocked because the cost was nothing short of my expectation. It was on the higher side but since I didn’t want to spend too much time there, I left and gave my pal the tablets. She felt better after 2 days. A few days later I visited another chemist just to find out the cost of the medicinal drugs I had bought. Turns out my earlier chemist had charged me double the market price of the drugs and in addition gave the most expensive options albeit there were cheaper options. I was taken full advantage of because of my innocence. I have never gone back there again. Analysis of the Encounter On a scale of 1-5, I would give the satisfaction from the encounter a 1. I had fully trusted the chemists to put my needs before their own and clearly this was not the case. In the GAPs model, there existed a gap between the service quality specification and service delivery. It is evident that the drug store concentrated more on the flower of service and left out the most important details. I had read on one of the local advertisements that the chemist was the best and had the best service but what I got was the opposite of it. The customer sales rep met none of the levels of customer satisfaction. He neither met my expectations nor exceeded them. He definitely did not partner with my goals and objectives which would have otherwise won me over on a personal level. In the bricks-and-mortar context, researchers have recognized the importance of customer satisfaction because it has been empirically linked to word-of-mouth communication, repurchase intentions/behaviors, and profitability (Massad, 2003). I have shared this experience with some of my circles which means that they have lost potential clients because of putting their needs before those of their customers. Therefore by word of mouth the results would be positive rather than negative. I have to admit however that out of the five dimensions of service quality, i have a good report about tangibility and responsiveness of the service. The products I purchased were up to the expected standard and he gave me great service when I was there by explaining to me why I needed the drugs. However, on a scale of 1-5, I would give the chemist a score of 1 regarding my likelihood to go back there again. This is because the other two dimensions of service quality including reliability and assurance were lacking. They completely lost my trust and it will be quite tricky to restore it again. Service Encounter 4 Date of encounter: 15th August 2013 Name of firm: Blinds and Shades Company My parents were on the look-out for new window treatment for the new house they had recently purchased and told me to take up the task. I gladly accepted and proceeded to my computer to research for the contacts of the local service providers. I wasn’t sure what would look better so I asked the customer care representative to send me not only the types of window treatment solutions they have but their prices and benefits as well. I received the responses almost immediately but wasn’t satisfied. I needed to know more about their service deliveries and how long it would take for them to come home for measurements as well as finish installing the treatment. Their website had a few pictures of work previously done but I needed to see more of the work so I asked the rep to send me more pictures which he did tirelessly. There were a few things he had to confirm to help me feel confident about hiring their services. I ended up working with them and my parents and I loved the window blinds they installed on our windows. Analysis of the Encounter The customer service of Blinds and Shades Company was so great and I will not hesitate to go back there again if the need arises. On a scale of 1-5, I will give it a 5. The company not only met my expectations but exceeded them as well. The employees were very humble and highly professionally. The customer sales rep who was attending to my mails did not complain at any instance about my asking for too much information. He patiently answered all my questions and convinced me to book an appointment with them. When the employees came home the first time, they sat down with my parents for quite a long time just to understand our vision of the house and specifically what we prefer on the windows. Their service quality was over-the-top and extraordinary. Empirical research in service quality and satisfaction affirms the importance of the quality of customer/employee satisfaction in the assessment of the overall quality and/or satisfaction with the services I was extremely satisfied with the service of Blinds and Shades Company. It wasn’t too hard to notice that the employees were motivated and passionate about their responsibilities. The company had understood how to get the service quality the right. The offering was more than amazing; the funding mechanism was on point; the employee management was clearly great; the customer management a priority. There was no gap on any aspect of the service delivery because of probably the role and script theory. Similarities on how employees view service encounters are most likely when the two parties share common role expectations and the service script is well defined (Mohr and Bitner, 1991p 615). I knew what to expect from the window treatment company therefore it was easy to get satisfied when service quality expectations were met. In the same manner, the company understood their role on the service encounter and delivered accordingly. The result is customer satisfaction which translates to more business through word of mouth. On a scale of 1-5, I give Blinds and Shades Company a score of 5 concerning my likelihood to hire their services again. They won me over because their service quality was fast, professional and customer- oriented. They understood that the customer is always right and that it is of utmost priority to please the client. All aspects of the service encounter including tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, assurance and reliability were met in a wonderful way. Conclusion It is amazing how crucial service encounters are to any given firm. The “moment of truth” about the firm happens when a customer meets an employee. The employee doesn’t realize that the reputation of the company is at stake hence the need to give the best service encounter. The overall sales of the firm can either go up or climb down because of the usually little time period of service delivery to the customer. Practically, service providers ought to better their service encounters if they are to gain customer loyalty. The Mehrabian-Russel model implies that the environment of any service encounter influences the overall state of the customer which has an adverse effect on the approach or avoidance response. In their stimulus– organism–response model, the stimuli are external to the person and consist of various elements of physical atmosphere (Bagozzi, 1986 p. 184-206). The environment of the service encounter gives me clues on whether I should go ahead and purchase the service or ran away as fast as possible. What is of utmost importance to note is that when an employee gives poor service to one customer, the company suffers a great deal because word of mouth is almost inevitable. It will not be a surprise when the whole town stops hiring the services of the firm because of a bad service encounter to one customer. Here are a few tips firms can implement to improve on their service encounters; Improve their employees’ packages and benefits Learn how to get the different dimensions of a service right Train the frontline employees on how to handle employees Revise their 7Ps of marketing strategies Take blame for poor service encounters and apologize when mistakes happen Involve customers in their service quality policies References Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Labour statistics in brief. Catalogue 6104. 0. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service Bagozzi R, Gopinath M, Nyer P.1999. The role of emotions in marketing. J Acad Mark Sci 27(2):184–206. Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H.,and Tetreault, M. S. 1990. The service encounter: Diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. Journal of Marketing, 54, 71-84. Bitner, M.J., Booms, B.H., and Mohr, L.A. 1994. "Critical service encounters: The employees viewpoint", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, October, pp. 95-106. Koepp, Stephen. 2007. “Pul-eeze! Will Somebody Help Me?” (February 2) p. 28-32 Massad Nelson, Kevin Crowston. 2003. Using the Service Encounter Model to Enhance Our Understanding of Business-To-Consumer Transactions in an e Environment. Mehrabian .A. $ J.A. Russel.1984. An Approach to Environmental psychology. Cambridge MA. MIT Press Mohr, Lois A and Mary Jo Bitner.1991. “Mutual Understanding Between Customers and Employees in Service Encounters,” in advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, eds. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 611-17 Shostack, L. 2001. Planning the service encounter. In J. Czepiel & M. Solomon & C. Surprenant (Eds.), The Service Encounter (pp. 243-254). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Sriram Dasu and Chase, Richard B. 2001. “Want toPerfect Your Company’s Service? Use Behavioral Science”,Harvard Business Review, vol. 79, no. 6, June 2001, p. 78-85. Read More