Chapter 3: Customer Expectations of Service

Desired service is a blen of what the customer belives "___ ___" and "___ ___".

"Can be" "Should be"

The range of expectations between desired and adequate services can:

-Be wide or narrow -Change over time -Vary among individuals -Vary with the type of product or service

How does a service company stay ahead of competition in meeting customer expectations?

-Build customer loyalty -Be honest when refuting competitors' "inflated" offerings; provide facts -Follow up the sale with a "reality check" about the level of service received relative to industry average.

What is an example of uncontrollable situational factors?

-Catastrophes that affect a large number of people at one time (tornadoes or earthquakes)

What are basic expectations that customer want?

-Competency -Explanations -Respect -Hygiene -Flexibility -Urgency -Consistency -Hassle-Free -Promptness -Competence -Fairness -Empathy

What are the dual customer expectation levels?

-Desired Service -Adequate Service

What are factors that influence desired and predicted services?

-Explicit service promises -Implicit service promises -Word-of-Mouth communication -Past experience

How does a company exceed customer service expectations?

-Honor promises -Do what you are supposed to do -Develop customer relationships -Provide personalized attention -Underpromise -Be unique

What are the sources of Adequate Service Expectations?

-Perceived Service Alternatives -Situational Factors -Predicted Service

What are the sources of desired service expectations?

-Personal Needs -Personal Service Philosophy -Derived Service Expectations

What are the implicit service promise cues dominated by?

-Price -The tangibles associated with the service

What are two types of situational factors?

-Uncontrollable -Personal

Define Delight:

A profoundly positive emotional state that results from having one's expectations exceeded to a surprising degree.

___ service expectations are more subject to escalation than ___ service expectations; they rise as quickly as service delivery or promises rise.

Adequate Desired

A simple way to learn if customers' expectations are realistic is to:

Ask them

Define Customer Expectations

Beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged.

Define Personal Situational Factors:

Consist of short-term, individual factors that make a customer more aware of the need for service.

Adequate service expectations need to be monitored ___.

Continually

When customers are less tolerant of poor service, the zone of tolerance ___ because the adequate service level shifts ___.

Decreases Upward

Desired Service = ___

Delights

Zone of Tolerance = ___

Desirables

Different customers possess ___ zones of tolerance.

Different

___ ___ ___ shape what customers desire in general as well as what they predict will happen in the next service encounter from a particular service provider or in a certain service encounter.

Explicit Service Promises

What are "satisfiers"?

Features that have the potential to further satisfy beyond the basic funtion of the product.

What are situational factors?

Generally considered contemporary in nature.

If customers believe they have multiple service providers to choose from, or if they can provide the service for themselves, their levels of adequate service are ___ than those of customers who believe it is not possible to get better service elsewhere.

Higher

What is an example of personal service philosophy?

If you have ever been a server in a restaurant, you are likely to have standards for restaurant service that have been shaped by your training and experience in that role.

Why does word-of-mouth communication carry a particular weight as an information source?

It is perceived as unbiased.

What is the first and possibly most critical step in delivering quality service?

Knowing what the customer expects.

When prices increase, customers tend to be ___ tolerant of poor service.

Less

Situational factors often temporarily ___ the level of adequate service, ___ the zone of tolerance.

Lower Widening

The higher the price and the more impressive the tangibles, the ___ a customer will expect from the service.

More

Adequate Service = ___

Must

The more important the factor, the ___ the zone of tolerance is likely to be.

Narrower

What are perceived service alternatives?

Other providers from whom customers can, or perceive they can, obtain service.

What are explicit service promises?

Personal and non personal statements about the service made by the organization to customers.

What is an example of personal situational factors?

Personal emergency situations in which service is urgently needed (accident and the need for insurance)

What are "delights"?

Product features that are unexpected and surprisingly enjoyable.

Define Uncontrollable Situational Factors:

Service performance conditions that customers view as beyond the control of the service provider.

What are Implicit Service Promises?

Service-related cues that lead to inferences about what the service should and will be like.

Desired service expectations are more ___. They tend to start high and stay high.

Stable

What is word-of-mouth communication?

Statements made by parties other than the organization - such as those found on social networking websites - convey to customers what the service will be like and influence both predicted and desired service.

What do adequate service expectations represent?

The "minimum tolerable expectations," the bottom level of performance acceptable to the customer

Define Desired Service

The Level of service the customer hopes to receive -The "wished for" level of performance

What is past experience?

The customer's previous exposure to service that is relevant to the focal service.

What is personal service philosophy?

The customer's underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service highest expectations and the proper conduct of service providers.

What is the zone of tolerance?

The extent to which customers recognize and are willing to accept. -Range in which customers do not particularly notice service performance.

What is predicted service?

The level of service that customers anticipate they are likely to get.

Define Adequate Service

The minimum level of service the customer will accept.

What are "musts"?

Their provision is not particularly noticeable, but their absence would be.

What are personal needs?

Those states or conditions essential to the physical or psychological well-being of the customer and are pivotal factors that shape what customers desire in service.

True or False? Predicted service is typically an estimate or a calculation of the service that a customer will receive in an individual transaction rather than in the overall relationship with the service provider.

True