Service Marketing: The Experience of the Breakdown in Service Provision - Assignment Example

Executive Summary The search for better and satisfactory services has been on the rise over the past decade. Provision of good service guarantees the service provider repeat customers and thus an ever expanding and loyal customer base (Lusch, Vargo & Obrien 2007, p. 5). Service encounter is thus the service experience from the customer’s own perspective. My encounter in with the different service providers was negative although these failures could most probably have genuine reasons. No business would willingly want to disappoint its customers and this would be most likely the case with the four service providers I interacted with. My findings ranged from lack of “care” about consumers, poor communication or complete lack of it to customers, unmotivated employees, time management issues and lack of employee training on the different facets of service provision. All these service failures could be corrected if the different models of service marketing are employed by management of each of the service providers. In my report, I am going to pinpoint in detail service provision issues that I think each provider needs to work on and give recommendations on how to overcome these issues and provide good services. This will help the management to understand who they are dealing with and thus be able to provide the required services satisfactorily. In general, all my recommendations centre on encouraging service providers to apply the various models of service marketing to understand their consumers. The ability to create and maintain a company’s image on the mind of the consumers is also among the recommendations I made and the most important part is in the maintaining since failure to sustain this image will not differentiate the service provider from those offering the same service (Lusch & Vargo 2007, p. 8). Application of service marketing models is thus important if service providers want to attract and retain potential and already loyal customers. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….3 1 Encounter at New Image Hair Salon…………………………………………………………………...3 1.1 Encounter description………………………………………………………….........................3 1.2 New Image Hair Salon Culture Analysis……………………………………………………...4 1.3 New Image Hair Salon Recommendations………………………………………....................4 2. Encounter at IIve Kitchen Appliances………………………………………………………………...5 2.1 Encounter Description…………………………………………………………………………5 2.2 IIve Kitchen Appliances Three Stage Model of Service Consumption……………………….5 2.3 IIve Kitchen Appliances Recommendations…………………………………………………..6 3. Encounter at Genesis fitness Centre……………………………………………………………………6 3.1 Encounter Description………………………………………………………………………...6 3.2 Genesis fitness Centre Disconfirmation of Expectations Model………………………………7 3.3 Genesis fitness Centre Recommendations…………………………………………………….7 4. Encounter at Fast Eddys……………………………………………………………………………….8 4.1 Encounter Description………………………………………………………………………...8 4.2 Encounter at Fast Eddys and Positioning Analysis…………………………………………...8 4.3 Encounter at Fast Eddys Recommendations………………………………………………….9 5. Summary of Recommendations……………………………………………………………………….9 6. Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………………11 7. References…………………………………………………………………………………………….15 2 Introduction Consumers boast of being custodians of a very powerful tool, money. Therefore, whatever we buy from retailers, be it a product or a service, we expect to get value for money (Lovelock & Gummesson 2004, p. 9). For tangible products, it is easy to return them to the store if one is not contented. This is however not possible with services as they are produced and ingested at the same time. Once the consumer has committed him/herself, then the risk of variability increases; thereby prompting service providers to put more emphasis on service quality (Lovelock & Gummesson 2004, p. 10). In my report, I am going to discuss four personal encounters I had with my first encounter being at New Image Hair salon where I had gone for a haircut. I was referred to the salon by a friend who had told me that they did a good job at it. My second encounter was at IIve Kitchen Appliances where I had taken my cousin to get a few kitchen appliances since he was new in town. My third encounter was at Genesis fitness Centre where I had decided to register as a monthly member as being a daily member was becoming expensive. My fourth and final encounter was at Fast Eddys fast foods where my friends and I had decided to drop in and have a soda and a plate of fries each as we were starving from a long day’s walk around town. Models/theories used include Cultural dimensions model, Three Stage Model of Service Consumption, Disconfirmation of Expectations model, and the Positioning model. 3 Encounter at New Image Hair Salon 2.1 Encounter description I had decided to go for a haircut at New Image Hair Salon because a friend had recommended it to me due to the great service and fair charges at the place. On arriving at the salon the following morning, I was greeted by the receptionist who placed in the waiting list. Moments later my turn came and from the onset the stylist did not seem friendly. She directed me to the chair and asked me how I preferred my hair cut and that was the only meaning conversation we had. I tried to engage her into conversing but was met by one word answers and at the end I thought I was bothering her so I decided to keep quiet. I must admit, that was the longest and most boring hair cut I had ever had. 2.2 New Image Hair Salon Culture Analysis Universal management theory does not exist in today’s service industry. Service delivery cannot be applied to consumers holistically due to the very fact that the society is made up of different cultures; social, political, economical and even religious (Laroche 2005, p. 20). It is the responsibility of service providers to tune their service delivery practices to accommodate the different consumer cultures that make up one of their most important external environment. If a consumer in the process of getting services that does not meet his standards he expected then it would be very difficult to convince him/her to come for your services again. It is fundamental for managers of service providing companies to know that in the service industry, what matters is how the service is delivered and not what is delivered (Laroche 2005, p. 32). One might be offering a very important service that consumers cannot do without, such as a haircut, but if the person delivering the service does a poor job at delivering the service then the service itself loses its beauty and consequently the consumer and other potential consumers. The ability of a service provider to accommodate the different cultures within its operations will promise consumer satisfaction and eventually retention. I am an outgoing person and so I love to kick start conversations with almost everybody but at the salon, the stylist seemed pre-occupied in her mind, management should therefore train their staff on being able to accommodate different client personality so as to avoid awkward moments that would give a very different impression of the service providers. I have no doubt that my hair style was the problem as it is complicated and takes a while to perform which can be frustrating to some stylists who prefer not to do it. Therefore, carrying out market research to find out the type of people living in the area and their cultures in hair styles preferences is paramount if a service provider wants to stay in business. This model allows the service provider to analyze the preferences of each facet of the community and makes it easy to come up with strategies that will satisfy each person going in receive a service (Laroche 2005, p. 46). 2.3 New Image Hair Salon Recommendations The harrowing encounter I had with the stylist at New Image Hair Salon might have been due to several reasons but my guess is that the stylist must have been of the opinion that the way I preferred to do my hair cut was a long and complex process that most stylist found time consuming given the fact that most of them are remunerated on commission basis. It would be extremely rewarding if the management undertook training of their staff in consumer relations so that they are able to accommodate any type of client, be they extroverts or introverts, so that they feel comfortable in their premises. After the in-depth research and armed with relevant information, they go ahead and employ stylists who are experienced in the different styles. It would make consumers comfortable if they learned that each stylist at New Image Hair Salon has knowledge of two or three different styles and can perform to the satisfaction of the consumers. It is very possible that if consumers know that they can get what they need at the salon, then it would be an easy task to retain them and attract more (Laroche 2005, p. 79). 3 Encounter at IIve Kitchen Appliances 3.1 Encounter Description I and my cousin had gone to buy some kitchen appliances as he had just moved into the neighborhood and needed to set up his place. We headed to IIve since it was the closest from his place. As we entered, we noticed that appliances were all over the place. There was no order and finding stuff was so difficult. We also had to wait a long time to get assistance and when it came, it was in the form of a new employee who did little to help us through the whole ordeal. We spent an hour gathering what we needed and eventually found everything. However, we were not assigned somebody to help us carry the appliances to the car, we had to do it by ourselves. 3.2 IIve Kitchen Appliances Three Stage Model of Service Consumption The three stage model of service consumption has three stages with the first being the pre-purchase stage (Lusch, Vargo & Obrien 2007, p. 10). It is at this stage that my cousin and I knew that he needed fairly priced kitchen appliances since he did not have any. We did our research and off all the retail stores that we compared, the nearest and fairest of them all was IIve Kitchen Appliances. It is therefore at this stage too that service providers should know what consumers need and make them easily and readily available. We thus made a decision to go to IIve for his kitchen appliances. The second stage of this model is the service encounter stage where we had a difficult time in locating what we needed and employee help was minimal if not helpful and we had expected better service this being a high contact level of service encounter. At this stage, IIve had drawn us, their consumers, to their premises and they should have done their best to make our encounter as hustle free as possible. The last stage is the post encounter stage where we had to evaluate nature of the service we received at IIve and unfortunately, we must admit that we were disappointed. The amount of time spent just looking for what we needed was unreasonable and the assistance from the new employee did little to ease our struggles. This, coupled with the fact that IIve’s did not offer anybody to help us carry our purchases to the car only served to mean that their after-sales service was unreliable (Lusch, Vargo & Obrien 2007, p. 16). 3.3 IIve Kitchen Appliances Recommendations The three stage model is a very important in service marketing and would really help IIve only if its management would take advantage of what it has to offer (Lusch, Vargo & Obrien 2007, p. 17). My recommendation would be for the management to learn what the model entirely means. It would be strategic for them to take advantage of their nearness to a residential neighborhood and make it their strong point. With this in mind, they should employ the services of an interior design expert who will help them to appropriately arrange their appliances so that consumers can find them with ease. The second stage is the most important of the three stages as it where high contact with the consumer is experienced and therefore I would recommend that management makes sure that new employees are well oriented to know where to find different appliances in the store. It would be also important for them to put in place an after-sale service policy as it is human nature to mostly remember vividly the last episodes of any encounter and consumers are not left out. 4. Encounter at Genesis fitness Centre 4.1 Encounter Description This was my third encounter was at Genesis fitness Centre and being a daily member for some time, I was satisfied with their service delivery. However, this changed on 11th November morning as, there were no clean towels available to the customers, water supply was on and off and therefore unreliable for shower use, the machines had sweat all over them and rather than use headphones one customer had the radio on full volume. To make matters worse, and to the surprise of many, the owners and employees were not responding to customers’ requests. For instance, as I arrived I asked the attendant for a face towel but I was met with an unapologetic, “we are out” tone. 4.2 Genesis fitness Centre Disconfirmation of Expectations Model The Disconfirmation of Expectation theory in service marketing poses that responses as a result of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction stem from the process of the mind evaluating how previous beliefs about a service outcome compares to the actually realized outcomes after the consumption of the same service (Lovelock, Patterson, Wirtz & Walke 2010). What results from this comparison is what is referred to as expectation disconfirmation and may range from negative to positive (Lovelock, Patterson, Wirtz & Walke 2010). My previous interaction with the employees and owners at the gym made me feel that the service provided was according to my expectations and I never felt like I had a reason to complain. Every day the gym was in order and whenever I went in I expected the high level of customer satisfaction I received the previous day. These previous encounters are what formed my high expectations in subsequent future expectations in service delivery. However, these high expectations were thwarted that morning. Everything, including the owners, employees and some customers, had taken a turn for the worse, based on past experiences. According to the disconfirmation of expectations model, when I compare my previous beliefs on service at the gym to the service I encountered that morning, the expectancy disconfirmation was a negative experience for me since my expectations before I went in exceeded the outcome of what I actually realized. Basically, the expectations I had in mind were not confirmed in any way making it had to even enjoy my workout session. I was now undecided if I should sign up as a monthly member since I wasn’t sure if this would happen again and again thereby loosing value for money. 4.3 Genesis fitness Centre Recommendations As a regular member at the gym and having not experienced such poor service, it would be reasonable to conclude that it was a onetime hitch in the gym’s operations. Despite this, the management of Genesis fitness Centre should know that expectancy disconfirmation of a negative value experienced by consumers is bad for business. I would recommend that its management applies strategies that would result in high consumer satisfaction levels. A fail-safe strategy would be great in improving service recovery such as buying enough towels to avoid running out when customers need them the most (Lovelock, Patterson, Wirtz & Walke 2010). Another strategy would be to train employees on quick response just in case service failure occurs as this will arm them with the ability to respond to customer complaints and wishes immediately. I would also recommend a suggestion box as it would encourage those customers who would wish to raise complaints anonymously and would also promise customer feedback on the gym’s service delivery, whether positive or negative (Cassidy, Harris, Baron & Hilton 2009, p. 98). 5. Encounter at Fast Eddys 5.1 Encounter Description It was the afternoon of November 21 around 4pm, and after hours of running errands with my brother, we were starving and so we decided to pass by Fast Eddys and grab a plate of fries each with a glass of juice. We ordered via the drive through speaker and 45 seconds later there was no response. I got out went to order inside where a queue of about 6 people stood waiting. I got to the front and a young kid asked for my order which took another 15 minutes to be ready. All the while I was asking about the status of my order the kid reassured me that it would be packed and ready in a minute. 5.2 Encounter at Fast Eddys and Positioning Analysis Positioning is a marketing model that is applied to create opinion of a product, service or company (Larson 2013, p. 38). This model holds that it has nothing to do with the product but a lot to do with what the service provider does to the potential consumer’s mind. Basically, positioning entails placing the product or service in the potential consumer’s mind. Marketers thus use this technique to create an identity for a company or product or service in the view of the intended market. Tools marketers use in positioning include market surveys and mapping (Larson 2013, p. 46). Fast Eddys has positioned itself as one of the most reliable drive-through fast food joints in the city. Service is fast and it is strategically located to serve the specific population that is in a hurry and cannot afford to sit in and take their meals. The positioning of service delivery at Fast Eddys is based on functionality and symbolism. The functionality base is to solve queuing problems that most fast food joints experience thereby giving them the chance to serve more customers and the symbolic base is to give Fast Eddys the image of a reliable and quick drive-through fast food stop. The company had positioned their fast service in my mind and every time I wanted a take away meal it would be my first stop. Their fast service is the image I have always had in my mind and not their fast foods. It was therefore surprising to wait for 45secs at the drive-through and a further 15 minutes inside to get served. 5.3 Encounter at Fast Eddys Recommendations Whatever a service provider position in the mind of a consumer or a potential is very important that provider does its best to retain that perception (Hoffman & Bateson 2010, p. 51). It would be important for Fast Eddys management to employ strategies that gave a “care” about consumers of their services. I would recommend that, since their busiest hours are after 5pm, they double the number of employees in each section during their peak hours so that they are able to handle the increased orders. Employees working under great pressure become tired so fast and are less motivated thereby compromising on service provision. Another strategy I would recommend the management employ would be to promote team work, honesty and collaboration amongst the staff. This would ensure that the company provides outstanding service and would hence translate to a high retention rate of customers. If the kid had been honest with me and told me truthfully that my order would delay a bit and apologized for it, then the damage would have been controlled. He instead kept lying that my order would be ready in a minute every time I asked about it. Summary of Recommendations The breakdown in service provision I experienced with the various service providers was not intentional and as such the failures could be corrected if the different models of service marketing are employed by management of each of the service providers. In my recommendations for New Image Hair Salon for instance, I encourage management to undertake research and perform a culture analysis of their consumers and potential consumers. This will help the management to understand who they are dealing with and thus be able to provide the required services satisfactorily. For Genesis Fitness Centre, I recommended that management undertake strategies such as fail-safe and employee training strategies. In general, all my recommendations centre on encouraging service providers to apply the various models of service marketing to understand their consumers. My recommendations for Fast Eddys was for management to hire more staff during their peak hours and also promote honesty, team work and collaboration so as to give outstanding service. The ability to create and maintain a company’s image on the mind of the consumers is also among the recommendations I made and the most important part is in the maintaining since failure to sustain this image will not differentiate the service provider from those offering. the same service. Recommendations to IIve Kitchen Appliances were to properly orient their new employees and also arrange their store for easy customer access. They should also introduce an after sales policy. Application of service marketing models is thus important if service providers want to attract and retain potential and already loyal customers (Cassidy, Harris, Baron & Hilton 2009, p. 122). APPENDICES Service Encounter Journal Name: Journal Entry: 1 Name of Firm: New Image Hair Salon Type of Service (industry): Hair Salon Date of Encounter: 04-10-2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 10:30 AM I was in dire need of a haircut and had decided to go to my usual stylist the following day. However I ran into a friend of mine who had just had his hair done. I liked it and asked him who had done such a good job. He told me he usually has his hair done at New Image Hair Salon and he recommended it to me due to their great work at fair prices. I therefore decided that I would go and get my hair done there just so that I could get a feel of their services. The following morning I went to New Image Hair Salon and what I liked about them is that you do not have to make an appointment, they also encourage walk ins. I was received by the receptionist who entered my details in to system so that she could place me in the waiting list. The waiting line was not that long so I knew I would get my chance in a few minutes. I took a seat and after 45 minutes a stylist beckoned me. I could sense something was not right because she did not even greet me. May be she was having a bad day. She directed me to the seat and asked me how I preferred my hair done which I explained. I must say that that was the only meaningful conversation we had and every time I tried to converse with her, she just gave one word answers. After a few trials I decided to just seat quietly and let her do her work. This was the longest haircut I had ever had in my life, I must confess. I liked the way she did my hair but it did not feel like it because the experience I had with her shadowed the good work she had done. Service Encounter Journal Name: Journal Entry: 2 Name of Firm: IIve Kitchen Appliances Type of Service (industry): Retail Date of Encounter: 25-10-2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 2:10 PM My cousin had just moved into the neighborhood and was in need of home appliances. We embarked on searching for the best and nearest store to buy the kitchen appliances first. Among the stores we searched, IIve Kitchen Appliances appealed to us and we left after having our lunch. When we got to the store, the guard greeted us as we went. We decided to look for a microwave first and it took us quite a while getting the brand that he needed. This wasn’t the only appliance that took us long to locate and we discovered that the arrangement of the appliances did not have any order. We asked for assistance from an employee who was friendly and willing to help. However, he was not of much help and he confessed that he was a new employee who was just aquatinting himself with the store. It took us a whole hour finding everything we needed. We gathered the appliances and went to the cashier to pay. Given that had a lot to carry, we knew that the store would provide porting services to the car as part of their after-sales services. After paying, we waited for one of the employees to come help us carry them but this was not forthcoming. Apparently they did not offer porting services so we had to carry the appliances ourselves to the car. It was one grueling and tiring task and we were so disappointed. My cousin vowed to never go to IIve Kitchen Appliances ever and incase he needed to buy a kitchen appliance in the future, he would rather spend more and get better services. Service Encounter Journal Name: Journal Entry: 3 Name of Firm: Genesis Fitness Centre Type of Service (industry): Fitness Date of Encounter: 11-11-2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 9:20 AM It was the morning of 11 November 2013 and as usual I headed to the gym for my work out. I got to the gym and went to change in the washrooms and on my way there I said “hi” to the attendant who did not even acknowledge me. I proceeded to the washrooms and after changing, I asked for a face towel to which the washroom attendant replied, “we’re out,’” without giving reasons why. I went to the gym floor only for my ears to be subjected to the blasting volume from the radio. A client had opted to use the radio’s full volume rather than use the headphones as it was the gym’s policy. As I started working out I realized that the equipment was not wiped and each had drops of sweat from previous customers who had used them. This was disgusting for me. In the many months in had been using the gym, nothing of this sort had happened and questions asked to the employees were met with ambiguous answers that did little to explain the situation. I decided to just use the treadmill and avoid the sweaty equipment as it did not require direct body contact. After 20 minutes of running on the treadmill, I went to the washroom again where the other clients made me understand that there was no running water. This meant that I had to go out of the gym all sweaty and have a shower at home. This was really annoying and I started thinking twice about changing my daily membership into monthly membership. This was the first time was encountering this and therefore I decided to hold my decision of paying for the monthly membership and stick to the daily membership just so that I could wait for management to clarify on the causes of the poor service at the gym that morning. Service Encounter Journal Name: Journal Entry: 4 Name of Firm: Fast Eddys Type of Service (industry): Food Date of Encounter: 21-11-2013 Time Encounter Occurred: 5:15 PM We were just done with running errands in town and my brother and I decided to drive by Fast Eddys drive-through for a take away meal. We got there at about 5.15 pm and proceeded to order via the drive-through microphone. There was no answer after 45 seconds and so I decided to go and order from inside. I found a queue of about 6 people placing orders. I could hear the other customers grumbling in low tones about how the service was painstakingly slow and I decided to prepared myself, psychologically, for the long wait. It was grueling waiting and not knowing what was wrong though it was apparent that there was something wrong in the kitchen. I was patient enough and when my turn to place my order came, I did so. It was a young kid taking orders and my guess was that he had not acquainted himself with operations at Fast Eddys. Minutes went by and every time I asked him about the status of my order he kept reassuring me that “it would be out in a minute.” The minutes added up to 15 minutes and my brother even came in to ask me what was happening. We took our order and to our surprise nobody apologized for the painfully slow service. We took our meal and headed home. References Lovelock, C., & Gummesson, E. 2004. Wither Service Marketing?” In Search of New Paradigm and Fresh Perspectives. Journal of Service Research, 47, 9−20. Lusch, R., & Vargo, S. 2006. The Service-dominant Logic of Marketing: Dialog, Debate and Directions. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Lusch, R., Vargo, S., & Obrien, M. (2007). Competing through service: Insights from Service- Dominant Logic. Journal of Retailing, 83(1), 5−18. Baron, S., Harris, K., Cassidy, K., & Hilton, T. 2009. Service Marketing: Texts and Cases. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hoffman, D., & Bateson, J. 2010. Service Marketing: Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Laroche, M. 2005. Cultural Perspectives on Services Marketing. Bristol: Emerald Group Publishing. Larson, R. 2013, October 24. Focusing on Customer Service as Part of Your Marketing Strategy. PR Daily. Retrieved from http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Focusing_on_customer_service_as_part_of_your_ market_15173 Lovelock, C., Patterson, P., Wirtz, J., & Walker, R. 2010. Service Marketing: An Asian-Pacific and Australian Perspective. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education. Read More