Value Through Services/ Chapter 9

Question 1

what is a service?

Answer 1

any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another which is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything

Question 2

what are the characteristics of services?

Answer 2

• intangible- a deed, performance or effort
• inseparability- simultaneous production and consumption , selection, training and rewarding of staff, avoid inter-customer conflict
• variability- standardisation difficult, selection training, rewarding staff, evaluation systems,
• perishability- consumption cant be stored, match supply and demand, use of part time staff, comfortable waiting area

Question 3

what is the barriers to the matching of expected and perceived service levels?

Answer 3

• misconceptions - management misunderstands what customer expects
• inadequate resources - unwilling to provide resources necessary to meet customer expectations
• inadequate delivery- fail to select, train and reward staff adequately, resulting in poor service
• exaggerated promises- gap between customer expectations and perceptions that can arise through exaggerated promises.

Question 4

how do you get a high level of customer service?

Answer 4

• selection of suitable staff
• training and socialisation
• empowerment
• motivation
• evaluation

Question 5

what factors does the services marketing mix include?

Answer 5

• 4 p’s (product, price, promotion and place)
  as well as
  -physical evidence- environment in which the service is delivered, and any tangible goods that facilitate the performance and communication of the service, layout., -people- without training, control employees tend to be variable in their performance, leading to variable service quality
  -process- procedures, mechanisms and flow of activities by which a service is acquired, e.g. reducing delivery time