Service Delivery & Encounters - Essay Example

?Service Delivery & Encounters Executive Summary Services marketing are an important concept, which helps the marketer understand the varied dimensions of marketing activities. The services are produced and consumed simultaneously which have a role to play in the production process and helps in solving the customer’s solutions. Effective services marketing are a complex undertaking activity, which involves various different strategies, tasks and skills. The study will deal with five personal encounters by the author of the study and its impact on his customer satisfaction. The author of the study will also highlight the experiences of the customer while purchasing different products and services. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Case Encounter 1: Travel & Tourism Industry 4 Case Encounter 2: Telecommunications Ltd 7 Case Encounter 3: Movie Rental 9 Case Encounter 4: Online Book Ordering 11 Case Encounter 5: Airline Ticket Booking 12 Conclusion 14 Journal Template 15 Introduction Services are intangible products offered to customers and are usually a series of activities which take place as a result of interaction between the customers and the service provider. Execution of different strategies has been complied under thoughtful consideration, which is also called the gap model of service quality (Zeithaml, et. al., 2011).This type of marketing is also known as relationship marketing, which revolves around delivering customer expectations and transactional marketing (Rao, 2011). Services are difficult to describe and communicate and are evident when there is new service development and the management works upon these concepts to fulfil the customer needs and expectations (Udayton, n.d.). The quality of the services delivered by the manufacturer to develop contact with customers personally is influenced by the generalized market standards. These generalized markets standards are basically prepared against the benchmark standards for evaluation of their effectiveness. These service standards do not signify the actual customer requirements, expectations, quality of services and customer perception but they define the quality expected from the manufacturer (Mills, 2002). The five service delivery encounter by me signifies the service performance gap of the different service providers and also the experience encountered by the customers. Recording of different service provider will help in distinguishing between resources employed by these providers and also their actual quality of services. Case Encounter 1: Travel & Tourism Industry Featherworks Limited is renowned travel and Tourism Company which offers travel and tourism services to customers who want to travel in Asian and South East Asian region. The company specializes in offering excusive travel packages as well as guidance that are willing to travel in the above mentioned locations. As a first time customer, I had researched about the company and its travel tours and packages facilities. I had decided to book a travel package for three members. Service Encounter I had decided to purchase the tickets through their city branch office located at Manchester. The staff at Manchester travel city office were not only courteous and well informed about their existing services and offers, but also develop an excellent rapport with the others customers. An adequately staffed organization not only ensured that the customers are not kept waiting but also feel the pleasant ambience. Thorough product knowledge enable me to not only thoughtfully consider an array of travel options at affordable prices, but also helped me in matching the travel packages with my allocated budget. The booking of tickets was done immediately and prior to the booking I was made to fill up personal and professional information as per the policy of the company. Breadth of Model Used: Service Quality The quality of the service decides the customer loyalty and the customer retention power of the company. Managing service quality will help the manufacturers to pay attention to the quality of the products and services delivered by them which can broaden the customer experience (Soard, 2013). Service quality is largely associated with the customer experience and service, which is characterized by meeting the required needs and satisfaction of customers through proper means and helps in developing customized products as per customer specification and requirements (Suttle, 2013a). It has been observed by the marketers that quality cannot be easily quantified and needs the constant supervision of the manager to understand the concepts of service delivery, delivery system and the varied service levels (Santamaria and Ni, 2008). The management has a clear understanding of the customer expectations and requirements through the service quality theory and they look for specific theories like managing evidence, service delivery and unique market strategies for the customization of specific customer demands and needs (Suttle, 2013b). Analysis between the Theory & Practice The service quality focuses on the varied managing quality aspects regarding the product development as per customer’s specification. It was observed that the service quality is a highly abstract concept, which is highly contrasting to the manufacturing of goods and services. This is because customers judge the quality of the products as per their likings and the choices made by their related ones. The service quality is a highly difficult quantifiable task hence it requires the judgment of the service outcome by the customers themselves. I had a pleasant encounter with the staff of the travel company and had no problem while purchasing the tickets or difficult in arriving to a rationale and timely decision. This is mainly due to the fact that the travel companies were not only efficient in providing high quality product knowledge but also were able to make the customer come to a rational decision making. Summary It is observed from the above case encounter that the staff had not helped the customer to make a rationale purchasing decision. The service provided by the staff has made the customer realize that an organization should function in a particular way. This experience has made the customer benchmark the service provided by Featherworks as one of the best travel companies. Case Encounter 2: Telecommunications Ltd Rotate Mobile is one of the renowned telecommunications service provider offering services like fixed dialling, cellular chip, and internet facilities. I had planned to purchase fixed dialling and internet facilities for office and personal purposes. I was able to purchase both the products from one of the city shops. Service Encounter I had purchased a fixed dialling system, which had the convenience of cellular chip and router. It provided these two different functions and helped in modulating and demodulating facilities and also advanced abilities of receiving the signals. While purchasing both the fixed dialling and cellular chips I was faced with an array of option regarding the price of the varied telecom products. This is because the staff had place telecom products of different price ranges before me without the attempt to understanding the basic requirements and wants. I was confused and made a purchasing decision under the influence and pressure of the staff, which turned out to be a wrong decision and was utterly dismayed after returning home. Breadth of Model Used: Service Communication Mix One of the most important elements of the service marketing is the communication mix; it is regarded as a dialogue between the customers and the marketers. (Papantoniou, 2000).The marketer tries its utter best to utilize some of the best communication tools either to promote the products or to cater to the needs of the customers after the introduction of the product. It is regarded as the perfect combination of the service communication tools, which helps the marketer to communicate effectively. Analysis between the Theory & Practice Service communication mix is one of the most effective marketing strategies which help in attracting potential clients and also facilitating smooth communication between the customer and the marketer. There are various dimensions of the service communication tool, which includes advertising, personal selling, direct sales etc and also non personal communication tools between the target audience and the marketer. It also includes several benefits and non personal communication tools like face to face conversation and other means, which helps in measuring effectiveness. As per my experience in Rotate Mobile it was observed that the staff was inexperienced in handling the customers and also had misguided them towards wrong purchasing decision. It was easily observed that the staffs of Rotate Mobile were unaware of the effectiveness of communication mix and the method to apply it. None of the traditional or contemporary forms of service communication marketing strategy was used or any attempt was undertaken to provide excellent customer service. This was one of the feeblest attempts of the marketer to provide excellent customer service. Summary It is observed from the above case encounter that the customer had not only made an incorrect purchasing decision but had a bad customer experience (M. Trehan and R. Trehan, 2010). This is one of the examples in which bad experience by one customer can lead to bad publicity of the company through word of mouth marketing message. This case encounter signifies that effective service communication mix is instrumental in maintaining pleasant relationship with the customers and not all the companies have the ability to utilize this tool effectively. Case Encounter 3: Movie Rental I had decided to become a member of a popular movie rental store in Manchester. The main objective was to take annual membership of the MovieRentz, a popular movie rental store, which has several stores in Manchester. The store is known for offering a wide range of English and other language movies at affordable annual membership prices. The store offers online movie rental facilities and permits the annual members to rent at least 20 movies, documentaries at free of cost in a year. The monthly and the annual members even are specially privileged to receive home delivery. Service Encounter Before becoming an annual member of MovieRentz I had taken full information regarding the movie rental system through the official website. I was very impressed with the official website of the company, which was very informative and instrumental in facilitating communication with the customers. Upon reaching the movie rental store I was warmly greeted by the staff which consequently led to an interactive conversation between the staff and me. The staffs were cordial and were successful in judging my choices and also in developing a smooth relationship. I was led to wide range of DVD, CD display, which contained mostly movies of my choice. After the successful selection of the movies I was led to the reception without being hassled and did the required formalities quickly. Breadth of Model Used: Service Pricing The service pricing strategies are considered after evaluation of the product and service effectiveness and its implications. Pricing would be important in determining the real market value of the products and the services. The price is allocated after deciding upon the competitor’s price, quality of the product, and the manufacturing cost. Analysis between the Theory & Practice The pricing strategies are developed after assessing several pricing models and methods for setting the price of the product and then maximizing the profit of the company (Shanker, 2002). The pricing strategy helps in developing the upper and lower price limit after considering the supply costs, customer demand and price competition of the suppliers. It is observed that the MovieRentz has not only considered the varied dimensions of marketing concepts like service quality, pricing, location, delivery etc, which has helped the company to become one of the popular movie rental store of Manchester. Summary Thus, it is observed from the case encounter that MovieRentz has been able to identify customer requirements and also been able to deliver high quality service for gaining customer satisfaction. The management of MovieRentz has been able to develop and utilize various marketing concepts for delivering high quality products and services. Case Encounter 4: Online Book Ordering I had decided to make a bulk book order for gifting purposes through a popular website named BookStop which is known for its vast stock and efficient delivery. Service Encounter It was one of the very few times that I had decided upon making an online book delivery and this was done after being recommended by relatives and friends. The official website of the company not only provided an array of book options for me, but also was informative in providing the methods of payments system for online delivering. Breadth of Model Used: Service Pricing & Communication Strategy Pricing of a product or service is done after taking the customer perception regarding the quality of the product in consideration. Different types of pricing service like psychological, price skimming, real time, etc are applied to yield proper management practice and develop customer retention (Berends, 2004). Service communication tools like direct selling and varied other methods are used for customer satisfaction and retention purposes (Hoffman and Bateson, 2010). Analysis between the Theory & Practice From the above case encounter I had observed that BookStop was able to rightfully utilize the marketing concepts of service communication and pricing strategy, which had made the company one of the most popular and efficient online book delivery systems. This has ensured that the company maintains online and offline delivery system through the utilization of varied marketing concepts. Summary Thus, it is observed that the customer had a pleasant shopping experience and this was because of the expertise and skills of the staff of BookStop, which has made it one of the most popular online shopping companies. Case Encounter 5: Airline Ticket Booking I had decided upon purchasing airline tickets for gifting purposes and had bought tickets from a leading airline company selling tickets at affordable prices. Service Encounter Instead of purchasing airline tickets from the official websites, I had decided upon purchasing of tickets from one of their city branches and then gathering information regarding their airfares and airline services provided by them. Breadth of Model Used: Service Quality Gap The GAP model of service quality formulated by Bitner and Zeithamal served purposeful as a guide and helped in the creation of framework for how superior quality of products and services can be created. This framework helps in identification of the potential sources of satisfaction of customers. Analysis between the Theory & Practice The airline company was largely influenced by the service quality gap which helped the company to provide accurate information, high quality services and establish good rapport with customers. Conclusion Thus, it is observed that application of the service marketing concept helps in improvement of service quality, communication, testing of services, motivating and standardization of products and services. The customer experience is largely influenced by high quality production of services and goods and also by the attitude of the employees. The above mentioned case encounters have helped the customer to understand the functionality of different types of organization. The services provided by the above mentioned organization has had a profound impact on the customer and made him realize the importance of customer orientation from the perspective of the marketer. It has also made him realize that the vitality of service marketing is prevalent in all types of organization. Journal Template Name of Service Provider Featherworks Ltd Rotate Mobile MovieRentz BookStop Vista Ltd Type of Service Tourism Telecommunication Services Movie Rental Online book purchasing Airline company Date and Time 17 August 2013 03 August 2013 20 August 2013 14 August 2013 03 August 2013 How did the encounter take place? Branch Office City Store City Store Online City Branch Office What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? Purchase of tickets for family outing. Purchase of telecom products for official and personal reasons. Annual membership for hiring movies on rental basis. Books for gifting purposes Travel outing family How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter on a scale of 1 to 5? with 1 being the highest satisfaction level and 5 being the lowest satisfaction level 1 4 1 3 4 What could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? ­­­­­ I was extremely satisfied with the offerings of the service providers. The staff should be extremely well informed about the existing product and service offerings to disseminate eth same to the customers. I was extremely satisfied with the offerings of the service The shipment delivery time should be notified to the customer vide telephone or email. The staff should be more focused on understanding customer requirements than applying profit oriented approach. Reference List Berends, W.R., 2004. Price & profit%: The essential guide to product & service pricing and profit forecasting. Ontario: Berends &Associates. Hoffman, K.D. and Bateson, J.E.G., 2010. Services marketing: Concepts, strategies, and cases. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Mills, G., 2002. Retail pricing strategies and market power. Melbourne: Melbourne Univ. Publishing. Papantoniou, P.C., 2000. Marketing: The complete awakening. Malaysia: Pass Publication. Rao, K.R.M., 2011. Services marketing. New Delhi: Pearson Education. Santamaria, B. and Ni, S., 2008. Entry Modes of Starbucks [pdf] Available at: < http://mdh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:121498/FULLTEXT01 > [Accessed 25 June 2013]. Shanker, R., 2002. Services marketing. New Delhi: Excel Books. Suttle, R., 2013a. What is a Product Mix? [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 June 2013]. Suttle, R., 2013b. Characteristics of Consumer Markets [online] Available at: < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/characteristics-consumer-markets-1418.html > [Accessed 25 June 2013 ]. Trehan, M. and Trehan, R., 2010. Advertising and sales management. New Delhi: FK Publications. Udayton, n.d. Describing Organizational Markets [pdf] Available at: < http://campus.udayton.edu/~jrs/tools/notes/organizational%20market%20segmentation.pdf > [Accessed 25 June 2013 ]. Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M. J., Gremler, D.D. and Pandit, A., 2011. Services marketing. Noida: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Read More