CHAPTER #13
Customers' expectations of the type of service they will receive is primarily based on their knowledge and ______.
experiences
When a hotel has a service delivery problem such as a broken air conditioning system on a very hot weekend, one critical element of service recovery is to ______.
find a solution that seems fair to all customers
The failure of a service to meet the customer's expectations is known as a service ________
gaps (or) gap
______ is a customer's perception of the benefits received compared to the costs.
Distributive fairness
Which of the following actions are associated with voice-of-customer programs? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Assessing the degree to which customer needs are being met - Using customer input to make management decisions - Gathering customer feedback
Which of the following is an example of a high tech, high human effort service interaction?
A brain surgeon using a minuscule robot to make microscopic incisions
Empowerment of employees would be most important in which of the following service situations?
A bride is unhappy with the hair style the stylist has created on the morning of her wedding.
Which of the following products or services is considered perishable in the sense that it cannot be stockpiled?
A dental exam
Which of the following is most likely to lead to high levels of customer loyalty?
High customer satisfaction ratings
A service provider offers many amenities that he believes the customer desires, but the delivered services are not what is expected by the customer. This is an example of a ______ gap.
knowledge
One of the best ways for managers to reduce the ______ gap is to conduct ongoing research and regularly talk with employees to explain what customers expect to get from the brand and the firm.
knowledge
The ________ gap shows the difference between a customer's expectations and what the company thinks the customer expects.
knowledge
A golf course manager is concerned about the quality of service the staff is providing to guests and wants to implement some changes. What is the best way to ensure that employees buy into the plan?
Seek employee input when setting goals
The marketing manager needs to communicate with customers and employees on an ongoing basis in order to understand buyers' expectations and to reduce the ______ gap.
knowledge
One of the most effective methods to assess how well a firm is delivering adequate service to consumers is to employ the ______ Model to evaluate their service provision.
Service Gaps
Which of the following characteristics is NOT one that distinguishes services from products?
Volatility --------------------------- DISTINGUISHES SERVICES FROM PRODUCTS - Intangibility - Heterogeneity - Perishability - Inseparability
When setting and explaining service goals during employee training, it is most important that the goals be ______.
specific
A customer's expectations for a single service provider might vary substantially based on the ______.
specific situation
Involving employees in setting service performance goals can be very instructive in helping a firm reduce the ______ gap as it increases their input into systematizing the expected output.
standards
Heterogeneity in service delivery at a restaurant can result from all of the following EXCEPT ______.
a manager who designs a specific way for all hostesses to accept reservations over the phone --------------------------- CAN RESULT FROM: - each server performing the service in his or her own particular way - a server who is usually efficient but sometimes comes to work distracted and in a bad mood - a mix of inexperienced and experienced servers
A straightforward and inexpensive method that marketing managers can employ to collect information about buyers' service quality perceptions is to ask them at the point of sale. A problem with this method, however, is that ______.
customers are often reluctant to provide negative feedback to the employee who provided the service
Service quality is defined as ______.
customers' perceptions of how well a service meets or exceeds their expectations
One of the distinct advantages of heterogeneity of services is that it enables the provider to ______ the service and not deliver a standardized, cookie-cutter approach uniformly to every buyer.
customize
One difference between products and services is demonstrated by a hair salon, where the stylist delivers the service at the same time the customer receives it. This is called ______.
inseparability
A restaurant delivers particularly bad service at lunch one Tuesday. One of the biggest problems with the marketing of such services is that the restaurant service providers cannot ______.
undo "bad" service and often are unaware of the extent of the problem until the buyer complains
A continuing dilemma for marketers of services is to understand buyers' ________, which means to understand in advance what they think will be delivered based on their previous experiences and knowledge.
xpectations
Joe owns a large retail company and wants to find out more about his customers' service expectations. Which one of the following is the best way for Joe to gain this insight?
Joe needs to engage in structured market research on his industry and brand.
In the context of the Service Gaps Model, which of the following should the management do to bridge the knowledge gap?
Use marketing metrics such as service quality and the zone of tolerance
The most fundamental difference between services and goods is that services are ______.
intangible
Services are ________, which means that they cannot be touched, tasted, or seen.
intangible (or) intagible
A business that experiences service delivery gaps can use which of the following methods to improve the quality of its service? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Implement self-service technologies - Provide incentives and support for service providers - Empower employees to work in the customer's best interest
First Local Bank customers have raised a number of complaints about the amount of time and effort it takes to receive certain services from the bank's tellers and customer service representatives. Which of the following is a method First Local Bank could use to give customers greater control over the bank's services?
Incorporate technology such as automated teller machines or online banking
Which of the following would most likely cause the delivery gap to negatively impact service quality?
The company doesn't understand what the customer wants.
Which of the following usually leads to the best outcome for a service failure?
The company works with the customers to find a solution.
In addition to empowering and rewarding service providers, as well as offering instrumental support, service managers are advised to ______.
be consistent and predictable in their support
One way for a firm to reduce the ______ gap is to ensure that the sales force does not make promises the firm cannot keep.
communication
Ryanair advertised the lowest rates in Europe with fares of $12 between Paris and Munich. However, when Bill arrived at the airport, he had to pay $28 in taxes, $25 for one small carry-on bag, $6 for a non-alcoholic beverage, and $2.50 to use the restroom on the plane. Between Ryanair and the customer there is a ______ gap.
communication
The ________ gap is the difference between a company's standards and the actual service it provides to customers.
delivery
McDonald's has a policy that, in addition to ketchup, mustard, and onions, all burgers must have two pickles. This contributes to efforts to reduce the ______ gap and provide measurable service quality based on expectations.
standards
The manager of a four-star hotel learns that the bathrooms in the hotel are receiving complaints for being dirty. He believes that hotel guests are being too picky and he decides not to instruct housekeeping to clean the bathrooms more thoroughly. Because the hotel does not change the cleaning policy, there is a ______ gap.
standards
The ________ gap is the difference between the company's perceptions of the customer's expectations and the service standards it sets.
standards or standard
A financial advisement company knows that it takes approximately six months to improve a customer's credit score. Whereas some customers improve their score in as little as three months, others take up to a year. Which of the following promises will help attract customers while also reducing the firm's communications gap?
"Improve your credit score in one year or less!"
A customer who is dissatisfied with a restaurant's service delivery and finds it to be quite different from what was promised in the advertising is very likely to do which of the following? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Communicate the negative experience via the Internet - Not return to the restaurant - Communicate the negative experience via word of mouth
Which of the following are examples of problems associated with collecting customers' perceptions of service at the time of sale? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Customers may not want to share negative feedback directly. - Information may not filter up to key decision makers. - Customers may need more time to accurately evaluate the service.
One of the best methods to ensure that guests at Hilton Hotels receive quality service is to solicit suggestions and feedback from whom? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Guests - Employees
Which of the following are benefits that a service provider receives from engaging in effective service recovery? (Check all that apply.)
- Improved word of mouth - Increased purchase intention
Which of the following are characteristics that make marketing services different from product marketing? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Intangibility - Heterogeneity - Perishability
What are the benefits for service providers of using technology? (Choose every correct answer.)
- It gives customers increased control over the service. - It creates less heterogeneity than human service providers do. - It offers customers access to a wider variety of services and information.
Which statements about dealing with service failures are true? (Choose every correct answer.)
- The company should find a way to involve customers in the actual resolution process. - The proper approach can create a somewhat positive outcome from a negative experience. - Teamwork between the company and customers usually gives the best result.
What are some common problems caused by the use of technology in a service setting?
- The technology does not perform adequately. - Customers do not understand how to use the technology. - Customers dislike replacing humans with machines.
What is the purpose of the "management by walking around" strategy? (Choose every correct answer.)
- To have managers understand what their service providers face each day - To provide opportunities for managers to interact with customers directly
Which of the following are potential sources of heterogeneity of service quality at a hair salon? (Choose every correct answer.)
- Two different hair stylists working at the same location - The same hair stylist working at different times of the day, week, or month --------------------------- NOT - Haircuts being priced the same for all customers - Stylists using the same equipment every day
Which of the following is an example of tangible restitution?
A voucher for a free night in a hotel --------------------------- NOT - A promise to never make the same mistake again - A handshake and/or a hug - A sincere apology
How much time should a service provider give to a customer who wants to file a complaint?
As long as it takes for the customer to say everything he or she has to say
Which of the following situations best illustrates how a firm can offer employees emotional support and stand behind the employees' actions?
At a copy center, part-time employees are encouraged to turn over any unhappy customer to the supervisor immediately.
How can a salesperson manage customer expectations regarding the delivery of a service?
Coordinate the order with those responsible for the delivery
Match each explanation (on the right) with the marketing metric or approach to gathering customer feedback that it explains (on the left).
Customer complaint behavior <-----> Analyzes the unfulfilled needs of customers in regards to their perceptions of the performed service used to modify future performance Point-of-purchase surveys <-----> Choice Inexpensively collects customer's service perceptions in the process of exchange Zone of tolerance <-----> Choice Identifies the area between the desired and minimum standard of acceptable service based on five service dimensions Voice-of-customer program <-----> Systematically collects customer inputs and integrates them into managerial decisions
What should a manager keep in mind while managing customer expectations?
Customers tend to respond negatively to surprises.
________ fairness refers to customers' desire to be compensated a fair amount to correct a perceived loss that resulted from a service failure.
Distributive (or) Distribute (or) Distributed (or) Distribution (or) Distributing
Lisa is a manager at a customer service call center for a footwear manufacturer. One of the customer service representatives, Mark, is upset because he just finished a call in which the customer berated him for the poor quality of a pair of shoes. Mark is worried that he may be punished for offering the customer a refund and a 20% discount on her next pair of shoes, but Lisa reassures him that he made the right decision and tells a few jokes to get his spirits up. What type of support has Lisa provided?
Emotional
True or False: It is easier to fix bad service experiences than it is to fix bad product experiences.
False
True or False: Service providers that have high customer satisfaction ratings this year are unlikely to achieve the same level of satisfaction next year.
False
True or False: The zone of tolerance is a program that collects customer inputs and integrates them into managerial decisions.
False
According to the Service Gaps Model, which of the following is NOT one of the gaps that might be encountered by a service provider in meeting the customer's needs?
Financial -------------------------- GAP - Communication - Knowledge - Standards - Delivery
What type of support is provided by retailers who feature in-store computer displays for their customer service employees?
Instrumental
A cosmetics store has a list of service goals for its employees. One of the goals is to "give every customer as much attention as they need." What is the problem with this goal?
It is neither specific nor measurable.
Susie decided to try a weight-loss program by Extreme Fit Foods that promised she could lose 15 pounds her first week. Susie followed the guidelines exactly and only lost 1 pound the first week. She is planning on canceling her membership and telling her other friends not to try Extreme Fit Foods. What mistake did Extreme Fit Foods make?
It needs to communicate accurate results information to meet customers' expectations.
Match each type of service gap (on the left) with the corresponding way of achieving closure (on the right).
Knowledge gap <-----> Conduct research to better understand what customers want Standards gap <-----> Set appropriate service goals and measure service performance Delivery gap <-----> Improve employee performance through support, incentives, and the use of technology Communications gap matches <-----> Be realistic in telling potential buyers about the services that can be provided and manage those customer expectations effectively
Match each type of service gap (on the left) with its definition (on the right).
Knowledge gap <-----> The difference between customer expectations and what the firm perceives the customer to expect Standards gap <-----> The difference between the firm's perceptions of customers expectations and the service standards it sets Delivery gap <-----> The difference between the firm's service standards and the actual service it provides to customers Communications gap <-----> Choice The difference between actual service provided to customers and the service that the firm's promotion program promises
The self-checkout counter at a local grocery store is which type of technological service interaction?
Low technology, low human effort
Which of the following best illustrates a specific service standard that is directly measurable?
Make eye contact with every customer and greet them with a smile.
Mary went to the local supermarket, where she shopped regularly, to purchase her groceries for the week. Which of the following was a delivery gap that resulted in a service failure by the grocery store?
Mary had to wait a long time in the checkout line because the clerk kept making errors using the cash register.
Which of the following is an example of a service?
Massage
Mike is the manager of a sandwich shop and received a complaint from a customer unhappy because it took too long to get his food. Mike apologized to the customer and sent him a coupon for a free sandwich for the next time he visited. Why is it important for Mike to listen to the customer and provide feedback?
Mike is able to identify a way to improve service; he can schedule labor appropriately and set benchmarks.
An athletic equipment store offers customers a free shoe-fitting service in which the customer's foot size, stride length, and gait are analyzed to determine the best athletic shoe for his or her needs. Recognizing that not all customers will be happy with their results, the store offers a 30-day trial period, during which the customer can return the shoes and receive a 10% discount on his or her next purchase. What is this an example of?
Procedural fairness
An interior design consulting firm offers a $100 gift card to the employee with the highest customer satisfaction scores at the end of each month. Which method of eliminating the delivery gap is this an example of?
Rewards and incentives
During the busy holiday shopping season, a cashier accidentally under charges the customer $1. The customer offers to wait while the cashier rings the item again. With many customers waiting in line, the cashier forgoes company guidelines and lets the customer keep the item at the price she was charged. What is this an example of?
Procedural fairness
Which of the following is NOT a method by which managers can provide rewards and incentives to employees?
Providing technology and instrumental support at the facility ---------------------------REWARDS AND INCENTIVES - Designating an employee of the month parking spot - Recognizing them in company newsletters - Providing bonuses based on performance
Lilly went to the Yummy Fork for lunch, and when her food arrived, it was not what she ordered. She later posted a negative comment about the Yummy Fork on a blog. Which one of the five service dimensions was used by Lilly to determine she did not like the service by the Yummy Fork?
Reliability
MAtch
Reliability <-----> Ability to perform the service dependably and accurately Perishability <-----> The inability of services to be stored, warehoused, or inventoried Responsiveness <-----> The ability to provide prompt service Assurance <-----> The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust Empathy <-----> Caring, individualized attention to customers Tangibles <-----> The physical evidence of a service, including the physical facilities, tools, and equipment used to provide the service
In which one of the following examples has the service provider worked to fairly successfully close the communications gap?
Target store advertises no more than three people waiting in line or additional registers will be opened immediately.
Marissa works for a local restaurant. Each time a customer reports a compliment to a manager about an employee, the employee receives a star pin to wear. What is the advantage of the "star pin" to the restaurant and Marissa?
The star pin is a reward that reinforces the provision of excellent customer service and makes the employee feel recognized.
Jane has multiple managers at her retail job. It is company policy that customers cannot return items without a receipt, but sometimes managers will allow customers to receive store credit for their returns. One day a customer was irate that Jane would not allow a return for store credit because the manager on duty adhered to the company policy. The customer wrote a complaint about Jane to the corporate office. What needs to change about this situation?
The support that managers provide must be consistent and coherent throughout the organization.
What problem might occur if a grocery store decides to install self-checkout devices?
The technology will be too challenging for some customers.
Which of the following is NOT a method to reduce delivery gaps?
Threaten to terminate employees --------------------------- METHODS - Provide support and incentives - Empower employees - Use technology to minimize errors
True or False: Delivery gaps always result in a service failure.
True
True or False: To assess service quality, it is necessary to understand both customers' perceptions and their expectations.
True
When is empowering employees most important?
When the service is individualized
Is providing rewards to employees for excellent services a key part of customer service program? Why or why not?
Yes, rewards reinforce behavior that encourages employees to continually give great service.
A firm wants to understand customers' expectations for service and the minimal level of service they will accept before going elsewhere. Which marketing metric should the firm study?
Zone of tolerance
Customer service is best represented by which of the following statements? Customer service ______.
adds to marketing efforts by helping to meet the customers' needs and wants
One of the side benefits of listening to customers' complaints is that ______.
airing the complaint can be very therapeutic for the buyer
An important element of offering emotional support to employees is to ______ when they have been empowered to make decisions in dealing with the customer.
avoid punishing them
A tire store finds that its business is heavily skewed to the weekend, and few customers arrive on Monday through Wednesday. Since rotating, balancing, and replacing tires is a service that cannot be stockpiled, one of the dilemmas facing the firm is ______.
balancing supply and demand
Since service delivery is not always uniform, it is important for the provider to be sure to close the ______ gap and not promise more in their messages to buyers than they can deliver on a regular basis.
communications
If the Americana Hotel has successfully closed the standards gap, the knowledge gap, and the delivery gap in providing customers with service, it is still necessary for the hotel to close the ________ gap.
communications (or) communication (or) communicating (or) communicate
An effective method to assess customer service expectations is to analyze customer ______ behavior in which management is told by buyers what dissatisfies them.
complaint
In delivery of a service, one of the most important early steps is addressing the knowledge gap, or the ability to understand ______.
consumer expectations
Under normal conditions, the hotel never runs out of towels, but during Christmas vacation when the hotel is filled with families, there is a ______ gap and the hotel laundry cannot keep up with the linen usage.
delivery
One method to recover from a service delivery problem is to provide ______ fairness, by which customers perceive they are getting an equivalent return for the inconvenience they suffered when the service was not delivered as expected.
distributive
If a customer issues a complaint about poor service but is compensated in a way that he or she feels offsets the inconvenience of the service failure, the customer has received ______.
distributive fairness
Janet had to deal with a very difficult customer who wanted to be given complimentary services such as free flights and upgrades on future flights when he very vocally complained in the airport about delays and lost luggage. He screamed at Janet and was very offensive. Her supervisor made Janet feel a little better about the unsettling experience by offering ______ support and commending her on how she handled the difficult passenger.
emotional
An airline employee is able to make a decision at the moment of assigning a passenger a seat at the gate when it is obvious the flier is in a wheel chair. The firm has ______ the employee by allowing him to move the passenger to first-class seating.
empowered
When a firm such as Ruth's Chris Steak House tells servers to "use your best judgment" in serving a customer who is not satisfied with his or her $40 steak, it is allowing the server to make decisions at the point of delivery. This is called ________
empowerment (or) empowering (or) empowered (or) empowers (or) empower
A restaurant is facing a problem in service delivery on a night when there are twice as many customers dining as usual. An integral part of recovery of the service dilemma is to provide both distributive and procedural ________ in resolving the delays in getting all customers served.
fairness (or) justice
Jane has realized that she does not enjoy taking a taxi to work because there is substantial ______ in the delivery of the service depending on who is driving her cab that day.
heterogeneity
One of the characteristics that makes services different from product marketing is the fact there is tremendous ______ in delivery based on how the provider is performing the task at different times. The same waiter, for example, might provide excellent service one day, and the next day, when he is not feeling well, his delivered service might be terrible.
heterogeneity
Since humans' work output cannot be standardized to the same degree as the output of a machine, one substantial difference between the marketing of services and products is the ______ of service delivery.
heterogeneity
Three of the dermatologist's patients have very different skin problems. Because of the ______ of services, the doctor needs to customize each patient's diagnosis and treatment.
heterogeneity
When many students are complaining about a problem at an online university, one of the best things the university can do to better serve its students is to ______.
honestly listen to students' complaints and use their messages to build a committed relationship
The primary reason there is greater heterogeneity in services than in products is because ______.
human inputs generate differences
One of the basic ways in which services differ from products is that production and consumption are ______ from each other. Consequently, service providers often include options for the customer to become more involved in the production of the service, which usually results in greater customer satisfaction.
inseparable
Sally is having trouble deciding which college to attend. While the physical aspects of the schools—their buildings, classrooms, and libraries—are easy to judge, the quality of learning they offer is much more difficult to evaluate. It is this ______ of the purchase that makes marketing the service, a college education, complicated.
intangibility
Consumers can see and touch a product, such as a laptop computer, but cannot touch the financing program used to purchase the laptop. Services cannot be touched, tasted, or seen; they are ______.
intangible
One of the first steps in service recovery is that the firm needs to allow the customer to air his grievance and for the firm to ______ him.
listen to
The delivery of quality service is the task of everyone in the firm, but the commitment to quality service is established and illustrated best by ______, which establishes policy and sets examples for the entire company.
management
One of the problems in using customer complaint behavior to assess buyers' service expectations is that ______.
managers often are more concerned with resolving the complaint than analyzing the essence of the problem
For the marketing manager to be able to deliver consistent quality service, it is imperative to set ______.
measurable goals that are based on customer expectations
Service providers cannot inventory or stockpile things like haircuts during slow times to "sell" later when the facility is busy. This characteristic of services is called ______.
perishability
United Airlines flies a plane from Los Angeles to New York at 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning only 25% full. On Friday, the same flight is overbooked by 15%. One of the traits of service marketing is this quality of ______, in which the flights must be delivered on the day scheduled or it is lost.
perishability
The perceived equity of the process used to resolve complaints is called ________ ________
procedural (or) procedure fairness (or) fair (or) justice
After waiting in line over 2 hours to experience a new ride at an amusement park, the ride breaks. If everyone waiting is given a "rain check" with the sequential order of their line location enabling them to return in 4 hours and re-queue in order. Most guests will be satisfied, as they are experiencing ______.
procedural fairness
Previously, retailers offered no-questions-asked returns but have changed policies in recent years due to customers who took advantage of the policy. Since most buyers appreciate ______ some stores have instead instituted a 90-day limit on returns, as that is a reasonable amount of time for a consumer to decide whether to keep the item.
procedural fairness
Despite having to deal with difficult guests, the service provider can be motivated to provide "service with a smile" when the firm ______.
provides support and incentives to motivate quality service
Service providers provide instrumental support to their staff by ______.
providing systems and equipment to do the job properly
Poor service delivery can be converted into a positive interaction through service ______ an effort that resolves the problem fairly and shows the buyer that the firm is listening to the complaint.
recovery
Firms are able to gain a better understanding of customers' service expectations by using quantitative and qualitative market ______ which can be extensive and expensive.
research
One of the most important factors for adequate service recovery is for the provider to ______.
respond to the customer and resolve the problem quickly
The employees at the Ritz-Carlton are renowned for delivering good-quality service to hotel guests. Their behavior is probably due to ______.
seeing management treating customers well and following the behavior
A deed, performance, or effort that cannot be physically possessed is called a(n) ______.
service
Customer ________ refers to human or mechanical activities undertaken by firms to help satisfy their customers' needs and wants.
service
When there is a service failure, customers typically want some sort of material compensation that offsets their inconvenience or loss. In other words, they want ______.
tangible restitution
The marketing metric used to evaluate if a firm is performing on the five service quality dimensions by finding the minimum level of acceptable service is ______.
the Zone of Tolerance
The zone of tolerance refers to ______.
the area between customers' desired expectations and the minimum level of acceptable service
A customer with a complaint about the way in which a washing machine repair was made will become increasingly more annoyed with the service provider ______.
the longer it takes to get an answer from the firm
Procedural fairness is defined as ______.
the perceived fairness of the process used to solve complaints
