Service Marketing ( Organization that you have chosen ) - Essay Example

The remainder represents the amount of money that a customer is prepared to spend for the ambience of the restaurant, including the decor, furniture and furnishing , the music ( and the atmosphere) and the brand experience in general. The Flowchart on front stage and back stage operations helps explain this concept. The Flowchart is given in Appendix 1. The service operations of Mc Donald’s can be defined as the ‘restaurant drama’ which comprises of various acts, both front stage and back stage (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007).

These acts are further separated by the order in which they are executed: activities prior to the encounter of the product, activities involved in the actual delivery of the product and the post-delivery activities (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007). The front stage activities of Mc Donald’s comprise of the ambience of the restaurant, including the logo-design (the Golden arches that symbolize the brand), the tag line ( I’m lovin’ it), the attire of the waiters/ waitresses, the decor, lighting, as well as the way tables and chairs are set along with the famous Mc Donald’s character- the clown. . This is essentially the first encounter.

The second encounter occurs when the customer arrives and is escorted to the table that is reserved for him/her. These front stage operations are supported by back stage operations at Mc Donald’s such as recording the customer’s reservations, handling his/her belongings, greeting him/her, preparation and delivery of the meal and use of IT for storing valuable customer information such as the name, address, telephone number and other order details for future use (a key ingredient of customer relationship management).

Customers with Mc Donald’s are then exposed to the final product; that is the meal, when the curtains are raised (Act II). The menu card is given to the customer, along with any recommendations such as Mc Donald’s specialties (provided upon the customer’s request). Another approach is that the customer proceeds to the order counter himself/herself and by visualizing the orders on the electronic screen, place the order with the Mc Donald’s salesman. The skills of the person taking the order are crucial here and any mistakes in taking the order can lead to breakdown of quality in organizations.

Thus, the person in contact with the customers giving the order is highly trained and has excellent communication skills to avoid such failures. In the next stage, customers at Mc Donald’s evaluate the quality of service and it is extremely important that the order is delivered on time. However, caution must be exercised here as too speedy delivery can lead to the perception that the meal was frozen and has just been re-cooked in the microwave. This was, in fact, one of the insights I got from one of the customers when I brought them the order in less than 10 minutes. Thus,