The present key business strategy eyes on keeping the current customers and developing relationships with the new ones. Providing services to the customers or the consumers is very difficult. Unfortunately the services provided to the customers can never be perfect, the failure can be due to unprompted employee actions, failure to respond to specific customer needs or also due to core service facilities. Hence the companies try their best to reduce the mistakes from repeating again and in satisfying the customers needs. This article discusses about the “service recovery paradox” steps that is being followed by the organizations to recover from their service failures. According to McCollough and Bharadwaj 2002, service recovery paradox can be said as the situation at which the customers post failure expectations exceed pre failure expectations. This is like the organization taking preventive steps to satisfy their customers by reducing their failures and also in not Continue reading
Services Marketing
Impact of Service-Dominant Logic on Strategic Marketing and Relationship Marketing
The Stephen Vargo and Robert Lusch paper “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing” (2004, Journal of Marketing) redefines and redirects the age-old economic view of goods and services. Their paper states, “Over the past several decades, marketing has been evolving toward a new dominant logic… The evolving logic represents a shift away from the exchange of tangible output (goods) toward the exchange of services, which are defined as the application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills), through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself.” This philosophy of marketing argues that firms are not really providing goods, but are actually rendering a service to consumers through their goods. This new service-dominant logic view of marketing has already made a huge impact on both the strategic marketing and relationship marketing of firms and will continue to further impact future marketing strategy. For nearly Continue reading
Service Quality
Definition of Service Quality There are a number of different “definitions” as to what is meant by services quality. In its simplest form service quality is a product of the effort that every member of the organization invests in satisfying customers. In its broadest sense service quality is defined as superiority or excellence as perceived by the customer. More especially service quality has been defined as: The delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer expectations. Quality is behavior – an attitude – that says you will never settle for anything less community, your stockholders or colleagues with whom you work every day. When we want to be effective – delivering good quality to the customer – we must produce services that meet “as much as possible” the needs of the consumer. Quality is providing a better service than the customer expects. One that is commonly us defines services Continue reading
Consumer Decision Process In Services Marketing
Knowledge of the Buyer In buying decisions many times other people also influence the decision. In services these roles are played by many persons. In purchase of any service six distinct roles are played. They are; Initiator : The person who has a specific need and proposes to buy a service Influencer : The person or group of persons whom the decision maker refers to or who advice the decision maker Gate Keeper : The person or organization or promotional material, which act as filter on the range of services which enter the decision choice Decider : The person who makes the buying decision Buyer : The person makes the actual purchaser User : The actual user. Consumer Decision Making Process in Services Marketing The consumer’s decision to purchase or reject a product or service is the moment of final truth for the marketer. It signifies the marketing strategy has Continue reading
10 Trends identified in the Service Sector in 21st Century
At the beginning of 21st Century, special issues have developed in area of marketing due to drastic changes in business environment and intense competition that has compelled the marketers to change the way of doing business. Marketing is changing and that’s obvious. The focus of marketing has widened from the classic product, price, and place, promotion to incorporate the yield management, customer experience and customization that necessitates marketer to concentrate on issues such as processes, people and consumer insight. Escalating customer’s demands, development of technology, increasing competition, increasing consumerism all have been main causes that led strategic change in marketing. Service sector in post industrial economies is facing unprecedented changes. Service marketing in 21st century is all about achieving return on investment (ROI) and relationship (ROR), retaining customer and increasing customer lifetime value. The changing role of marketing in service sector demands efficient and effective management of customers, channels, markets Continue reading
Management Control in Services Organizations
The type of control which would be suitable for a particular firm depends upon the nature and complexities of its operations. A suitable control system has to be designed to suit the specific requirements of a particular firm. Service organizations are those organizations that provide intangible services. Service organizations include hotels, restaurants, and other lodging and eating establishments; barbershops, beauty parlors and other personal service; repair services; motion picture, television and other amusement and recreation services; legal services; and accounting, engineering, research/development, architecture and other professional service organizations. Characteristics of Service Organizations 1. Absence of Inventory: Services cannot be stored. If the services available today are not sold today, the revenue from these services is lost forever. In addition the resources available for sale in many service organizations are essentially fixed in the short run. A key variable in most service organizations therefore is the extent to which current capacity Continue reading