Essentials of Services Marketing - Case Study Example

Service marketing report Name: Title: Date: Executive summary Service encounter is an important moment when a consumer interacts with the firm directly. The report involves an analysis of various service encounters. Every encounter proves to be unique in regard to the changes on environmental situations as well as the behavior of consumers. With the growth of service industry, there is an increase in dissatisfaction, frustration and irritation of consumers. The satisfaction of customer depends directly on the management as well as monitoring of individual service encounters. The main challenge to service providers is to understand how to actually conduct a service activity and coming out with a model that supports the service as well as adopt the changes in environment. The encounters indicate social orientation where the presence of an in-depth analysis on the behavior of the client, will lead to great significance in regard to service quality. Introduction A consumer holds a very powerful as well as influential tool, that is, money. However, regardless of what the consumers are buying, they expect to get value in regard to their monetary expenditures. Customers always tend to have high level of confidence in regard to their expectations for the services. Once a customer is committed, he or she assumes a higher risk of variability. Based on such statement, an organization should attentively focus on the quality of service. As a result, an organization must measure the varying distances between the perceptions and expectations of customers (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). Marketing services is unique as when people do so their main aim is not to get the buyers of the product but to get people to do business with a particular establishment. For instance, when a restaurant is marketing itself, its main challenge is convincing the customers that it is preferred in relation to other restaurants and its facility as well is worth the trip. Marketing of services focuses on issues such as what is being offered, how it compares to other similar things, what is the price point as well as why should people chose a certain iteration over various other options. It is also important to note that there is a need to convince the consumers that it is something that they require that will lead to some benefits. This is done through marketing (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2009). This report involves an analysis of service encounters based concepts and frameworks covered in the course. The encounters are of great importance in understanding the link between service marketing theory and practice. Type of service: Hair cut The expectations of a customer are usually formulated specifically before we are involved or participate in a service. Getting a haircut at this establishment is the best service that I encountered. A couple of months ago, I visited a franchise salon. What got into my mind first is to recall that when I received a cheap haircut, I hardly reached my desired level. As a result, I decided to take a leave and visit an establishment that I frequented a few stores over. At this point, I implemented two crucial elements that influence the predicted level of service to an individual. These are the implicit service promises and past experiences. In regard to implicit service promises, they are usually assumed by the customer but on the other hand, the business owner does not state them. Since this establishment usually cost more, I made an assumption that the higher quality of my haircut would be guaranteed implicitly. It is worth noting that when I applied this element, I was reinforced by my past experiences where this phrase held truth ((Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). Based on my next several visits to this establishment, they maintained a high level of performance in a consistence manner in an area that was of great importance to me. As a result, this generated a feeling of a very strong connection with the Family Hair & Salon. I could experience a great haircut every time I visited this establishment and see the evidence of it. Every time I paid a visit to this establishment, my adequate expectations of the service were elevated. After several and frequent visits to the establishment, my expectation were gradually leveled and with time, they became very stable. It is worth noting that such development of stability branched from the idea that the elements in regard to my predicted service had been attained in a unique as well as a satisfying way. The most important service quality perception that this establishment satisfied was reliability (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2009). Throughout my visits to this establishment, I have received such a great hair cut in a consistent way and as a result, it has become very foreign for me to give consideration to any other hair salon. Thus, it can be concluded that this establishment has exceeded my expectations as a customer in a better way that any other competitor could ever do. Type of service: Restaurant The core issue in the service of the restaurant is failure to have a design in their system of ordering. The expanded marketing mix of the services in the restaurant should have been more focused on the process aspect. The greatest competitive advantage of this restaurant is their ability to produce high-quality and inexpensive products (Day, 1991). Nevertheless, I have a perception that the other service alternatives provide faster delivery, a factor that my overall customer satisfaction for this restaurant. The restaurant had two cash registers and one additional employee for making food items, a situation that resulted to backup due to taking more orders than they could handle. In order to speed up this process, the restaurant requires developing its system of ordering. In addition, due to the proximity of the cash register and the small area behind the counter, the employees tended to walk into each other in order to access all of their items. As a result, the delivery process looked disorganized. Another major issue in regard to my poor experience was related to other customers ahead of me. They failed to fulfill their roles efficiently as they waited for more than five minutes before employees could take their order. The customers should have checked the menu and decided on their order before getting to the counter. By making other customers to wait longer behind them because of lack of prior decision on what to order, they delayed the process. In regard to gap analysis, the most application lies in provider gap 3 which involve the difference between service design that is customer-driven and standards and service delivery. As a restaurant, it requires an effective and efficient system in order to meet customers’ demands based on speed and quality. It is worth noting that the utmost importance is high level of service performance (Day, 1991). The widening of the gap was also based on the fact that the employees more focused on transactional aspect than the relational aspect of their job. This restaurant should make decision in regard to who are their specific target customers by use of marketing techniques that would serve them best. In addition such waiting problems could be solved through creation of a separate line that is meant only for drink orders. It could be argues that the core business of the restaurant is coffee products. Their decision to add full breakfast may be a barrier to many potential customers due to large increases in regard to waiting times (Lovelock, Patterson, & Walker, 2007). My personal emotions may have contributed to the negative experience as well. By walking so fast on a Monday morning from a very demanding class does not make me excited. The moment I arrived at the restaurant cold and tired and having to wait an additional minutes affected my emotional state. Thus, based on the zone of tolerance, if I was on positive mood, to effect my experience and emotions would have taken more (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). I will continue returning to this restaurant because I drink coffee a lot and I also enjoy their product. However, if there is a nearby competitor, I would go for the one with the shortest line because my ranking on speed of delivery is higher than the quality of the coffee. Type of service: Online shopping In regard to eBay, I had not had a chance to use the service before; hence I did not have past experiences in regard to benchmarking my expectations against. However, I had information from people with different experiences which varied from disastrous to excellent but this did not assist in formation of derived service expectations. As a result, I had a wide zone of tolerance: based on my minimum adequate service level, I would get what I had purchased eventually. In regard to my desired level, I would receive what I had purchased before my mum’s birthday (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). However, eBay and the sellers did a combination that resulted to exceeding my desired level through a very quick delivery. The operation on eBay is unique because both the seller and the buyer are their customers. This means they must rely on sellers and customers in order to ensure that their service roles are performed efficiently for deliverance of service quality. Thus, they work together to make the process very efficient. The action details of the seller about the purchase outlined various service guarantees. The promises involved shipment of the product within a certain number of days and the seller would be available for any questioning regard the service. It is worth noting that when the seller lived up to the promises, it lead to an increase in my satisfaction as well as the likelihood of repurchasing more from not only the seller as an individual but also to eBay as a whole (Bateson, & Douglas-Hoffman, 2002). It is also important to note that the whole process aspect of the marketing mix of eBay was great. I had wasted a lot of time going through a variety of physical stores. The service design of eBay provided an opportunity for finding as well as purchasing a rare item, something that I could not have acquired anywhere else in about an hour. The delivery of the product was efficient; their searching criteria directed me to finding the gift, the option on “buy it now” helped in skipping the auction period while the feature on PayPal provided an opportunity to pay for the purchase immediately (Day, 1991). As a result, this pleasant experience increased the likelihood of using eBay again although I fear that during my next purchase I would have a little too high expectations based on the high level of service that I got. Type of service: Mobile service My expectations with regard to my mobile service are detailed based on the fact that I ensure that I read as well as understand the contract. That is, my expectations are that they will provide to me the services that we have agreed upon. This implied that I would be able to switch location per the agreed amount but on the contrary, this forced me to cancel my current plan as well as sign a new one in case I required a local number. In regard to our several years of service relationship, I added additional features to my plan in order to take advantage of special rates at the cost of extending the length of my plan. Such is the heart our customer relationship, that is, to guarantee Vodafone a higher life time value and on the other hand, receive additional benefits. I did adjustment to my plan in order to reach a level that would cost me up to half of what my colleagues would pay monthly for similar usage. With a customization bond, they were supposed to provide me with services that I required. On the contrary, I was required to give up all my accumulated benefits, a situation that broke the basis of our relationship. It is worth noting that the main problem is such as situation was based on the provider gap 4, that is, failure to match performance to promises (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). Before taking any step, I had asked an agent if it was possible to change my local area in case I moved. The agent assured me that this was possible. This can be regard as a poor horizontal communications between operations and sales across the country. It is important to inform employees about any changes as well as their plans that occur between different regions, especially in a situation when they employ incorrect information as a means of selling their service. In addition, a failure of the provider gap 2 can also be identified due to service standards that were poorly designed. The firm is supposed to be a national communications provider; however, failure to align their services leads to problems in providing standardized products to meet the needs of the customers (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2007). Such a situation could have been rectified by allowing me a local number based on their promise or they could have acted before by informing me in advance that if I changed location, my plan could not be switched. In this case, I would not have extended my contract to another location. However, the likeliness of my return to Vodafone is still high. This is based on the fact that switching costs and barriers are high for mobile communications and as a result, I will wait until my contract end in order to avoid additional fees. In addition, for the most part of the firm’s services are within my zone of tolerance, I am still yet to find another consumer who is 100% satisfied with their cellular provider. As a result, due to the lack of superior alternative providers, there is creation of a sense of indifference (Bateson, & Douglas-Hoffman, 2002). Based on such statements, it will ultimately depend on available products and rates on the competitors when my contract will expire as because of this encounter, my loyalty has diminished. Type of service: Airline The core underlying failure of service is based in this encounter is based on inadequate horizontal communications between employees in Melbourne and Brisbane. It is due to the fact that the employees failed to inform all levels about the stopover in Sydney that took more than six hours that resulted to unnecessary concern for my friend who was eagerly waiting for me in Brisbane. Though they had an excellent communication onboard due to their frequent updates every ten minutes, this was never relayed in Brisbane. My expectations to the services provided by the airline are that they must do whatever possible to ease the concern of everyone that their services affect but not just their passengers. I am willing not to focus on various issues such as rude service and long lines because my service expectations for them are minimal. However, it is important to note that my zone of tolerance is narrower for communication and safety issues. This is because these types of failures cause significant impact in regard to my overall satisfaction (McColl-Kennedy, 2003). The firm expanded the customer gap 4 through failure in delivery of their service promises. The firm made non-personal explicit service promise on their website about their flight schedules. In the part, their flights have had stopovers and that is why I tended to use other airlines based on short flights. However, I took Virgin Atlantic because I expected it to be direct as they had promised but in the contrary, they broke their promise by making stop-over. However, this can be explained as a customer gap 3 since they failed to deliver their services as planned (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2011). Such a problem would have been corrected easily by simply communicating to Brisbane that our fight was held up in Sydney. Although the situation could not have lead to my sooner arrival to Brisbane, it would at least inform my friend what was really going on. However, I often experience poor onboard service as well as delays in my previous flights but in this case; I felt that there was a breach of a critical issue. I could expect personal inconveniences while taking flights, but it is intolerable to put my friends and family through unnecessary concern and stress on account of my service provider. This made my likelihood of returning to the firm 1 out of 5. However, I upgraded this to 3 after the firm provided service recovery. Their credit and apology in regard to the next flight satisfied me that the firm is concerned about the problem and they will rectify it (Lovelock, Patterson, Walker, 2007). Conclusion A service encounter is an implication that the customer is interacting with the firm directly. Based on such encounter, it has been shown that is has a deterministic effect on the customer and there is a great deal in regard to how to effectively handle this moment of truth. From the above service encounters, it is clear that each service encounter is very unique based on the changes in the environmental situations of the consumers. As a result, it is challenging to guide employees in detail in regard to how to conduct interaction in the correct way. Another challenge in regard to understanding of service system is how to actually conduct the service activity as well as how to develop a model that will support the service in order to adapt to changes in environment. Finally, as a social-orientation, an in-depth analysis of a service encounter in regard to the behavior of the consumer will substantially contribute to service quality. References Bateson, J.E., Douglas-Hoffman, K. (2002) Essentials of services marketing – concepts, strategies & cases. Fortworth: The Dryden Press. Day, G.S. (1991). Market Driven Strategy: Processes for Creating Value, Journal of Marketing, 55(4), pp. 116-118 Lovelock, C.H., Patterson, P.G., Walker, R., (2011) Services marketing. An Asia Pacific perspective (5thEd.) NSW: Pearson Prentice-Hall. Lovelock, Patterson, and Walker (2007). Services Marketing, An Asia-Pacific and Australian perspective, 4th Edition, Pearson Education, Australia. McColl-Kennedy, J.R. (2003). Services marketing: A managerial approach. QLD: John Wiley & Sons. Zeithaml, V., Bitner, M. and Gremler, D. (2009). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Appendix: Service journal entry form Journal entry: 1 Name of Firm: Family Hair & Salon Type of Service: Haircut Date of Encounter: 29th March 2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 11: 00 AM How did the encounter take place? Personal What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? I had taken an Easter break and I was in need of a haircut. I decided to have a haircut at Family Salon and I received a pleasant service. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most appropriate number.) 1 2 3 4 5 Terrible Delighted What exactly made you feel that way? I had made frequent visits to the establishments for several months. My stylist is very aware of specific details in regard to the haircut that I like. My stylist is very nice as well as personable. What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? I was very satisfied and have been throughout the whole process and encounter. How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm? 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely extremely unlikely likely Journal entry: 2 Name of Firm: Type of Service: Restaurant Date of Encounter: 4th March 2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 8:50 AM How did the encounter take place? Personal What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? I was in a hurry on my way to class but decided to stop for a coffee and the time between my classes was approximately 10 minutes. The encounter was frustrating since I spent excessive time in line. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most appropriate number.) 1 2 3 4 5 Terrible Delighted What exactly made you feel that way? More than 60% of the people ahead of me were not sure of what they really wanted and ended up ordering snacks. Ordering such items takes at least four times long than ordering a typical coffee. Such a problem was re-occurring and the management did to seem to be willing to fix it. What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? If they could create a separate line specifically for drink orders only, they could avoid such waiting issues. How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm? 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely extremely unlikely likely Journal entry: 3 Name of Firm: eBay Type of Service: Online shopping Date of Encounter: 13th March 2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 10:00 AM How did the encounter take place? Mail What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? I used eBay to purchase a birthday present for my mum a week the birth. The transaction was quickly because the seller delivered the present to me within three days. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most appropriate number.) 1 2 3 4 5 Terrible Delighted What exactly made you feel that way? The auction information from the seller stated that they would take between 4 and 7 business days in order to deliver the product to the customer. It was a pleasant surprise since I received the product on the third day. What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? There is no way that I think eBay could have improved in regard to my experience. How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm? 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely extremely unlikely likely Journal entry: 4 Name of Firm: Vodafone Type of Service: Mobile service Date of Encounter: 9th Feb 2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 9: 00 AM How did the encounter take place? Telephone What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? I renewed my contract with Vodafone in Queensland a few months ago before moving to Western Australia during the valentine period but this locked me into a new one year contract. After I received a contract, I was promised that I could be able to switch my service location as well as receive a local number in case I ever moved anywhere in Australia. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most appropriate number.) 1 2 3 4 5 Terrible Delighted What exactly made you feel that way? When I tried to switch my number after I changed location, they communicated to me and said that they were unable to transfer my current plan even though they claim to be a nation-wide provider. What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? They could have standardized their products in order to meet the needs of customers. How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm? 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely extremely unlikely likely Journal entry: 5 Name of Firm: Virgin Australia Type of Service: Airline Date of Encounter: 29th March 2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 12: 10- 11: 50 PM How did the encounter take place? Personal What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? I flew from Melbourne to Brisbane on Virgin Australia and this was supposed to be a direct flight but we had an unscheduled stop-over at Sydney, a location that we experienced several delays. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most appropriate number.) 1 2 3 4 5 Terrible Delighted What exactly made you feel that way? What was most frustrating after my flight is that informed me that the employees had no idea that that particular flight had stopped in Sydney. They did not have information about my flight status as well as lack of explanation why the flight had not arrived yet. What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? They required communicating to Brisbane that our flight was held up in Sydney How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm? 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely extremely unlikely likely Read More