Services Marketing and Characteristics of Services - Essay Example

The inseparability of a service means that the production of service cannot be separated from its consumption; thus, the customer is a party to the production of the service. Hence, one can not provide banking services to a customer who is not present (either physically or through other means). A waiter cannot serve to a customer if there is no customer present in the restaurant. This is what inseparability of the service means; that the service is generated and consumed at the same time. This makes the quality control process even more difficult and hence efforts are made to overcome the inseparability aspect of the service by separating production and consumption of services.

This is another important characteristic of services and refers to the change in service quality and effectiveness each time the service is produced and consumed. For instance, the same waiter serving two different customers, or even the same customer two different times, may provide different quality of services. Sometimes, it is essential to adapt to the specific needs of the customer while providing services like dentists who spend more time with children than adults, assuring and reassuring them that the treatment will not hurt.

At other times, a quality control system may be put in place to eliminate the inconsistencies in services, for example, in call centers where all operators are taught to communicate similarly with customers.A drawback of service is that it is difficult to store it and reuse when required. Since services are generated and consumed at the same time usually, these are perished hence minimizing idle time is critical to provide quality services.