BA370 - Ch. 13

Delivery Gap

Get employees to meet or exceed service standards difference between the firm's services standards and the actual service it provides to customers

Commitment to delivering quality service ________

is driven from the top down

Communications Gap

Be realistic in telling potential buyers about the services that can be provided and manage those customer expectations effectively difference between actual service and the service that the firm's promotion program promises

Intangible

It is difficult for the salon to convey the benefits of a new type of new hand cleaning technique

Standards Gap

Set appropriate service levels for performance and measure service performance difference between the firm's perceptions of customers wants and the service standards it sets

Homogeneity 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

Customer service is best represented by which of the following statements? Customer service _____

adds to marketing efforts by helping to meet buyers' needs and wants

customer complaint behavior

analyzes the unfulfilled needs of customers in regards to their perceptions of the performed service used to modify future performance

Susan is looking to purchase a cruise to Alaska. In the search process, she discovers that the purchase is different from purchasing an automobile, in that the cruise _______

cannot be early separated from the service providers such as the stewards and the crew

Zone of tolerance

creates the area between the desired and minimum standard of acceptable service based on five service dimensions

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 method to recover from a service delivery is to provide _____ fairness, by which customer perceive they are getting an equivalent return for the inconvenience they suffered when the service was not delivered as expected

distributive

When a firm such as Ruth's Chris Steak House tells servers to use your best judgment in service a customer who is not satisfied with his $40 steak, it is allowing the server to make decisions at the point of deliver. This is called ________

empowerment

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

When a hotel has a service delivery problem such as a broken AC system on a very hot weekend, one critical element of service recovery is to _________

find a solution that seems fair to all customers

point of purchase surveys

inexpensively collects customers' service perceptions in the process of exchange

Buying a service such as a haircut, a medical treatment, or a lawyer's advice is perceived as more risky to the consumer, because of the service characteristic of ______ since the service cannot really be sampled in advance nor experienced without the provider

inseparability

One of the basic ways in which services differ from products is that production and consumption are _____ from each other.

inseparable

Bill's father is going to have major heart surgery. The uncertainty the family is feeling is in part due to care services being _____. In other words, the patient and his family are not able to precisely measure the quality of his care and treatment

intangible

Services are ______ which means that they cannot be touched, tasted, or seen

intangible

The marketing manager needs to communicate with customers and employees on an ongoing basis in order to underman buyers' expectations an to reduct the _____ gap

knowledge

Knowledge Gap

match customer expectations with actual service provided through research difference between customer expectations and what the firm perceives the customer to expect

An important element of offering emotional support to employees is to _____ when they have been empowered to make decisions in dealing with the customer

not punish them

United Airlines flies a plan from LA to NY at 8pm on Tuesday night only 25% full. On Friday the same flight is overbooked by 15%. One of the traits of service marketing is this quality of _______, which the flights must be delivered on the day scheduled or it is lost.

perishability

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 electronics stores have instituted a restocking fee

procedural fairness

voice of customer program

systematically collects customer inputs and integrates them into decisions

One of the aspects of service provision in recent years that has dramatically changed the delivery of services and improved consistency and efficiency is the use of:

tech

The Service-Product Continuum evidences ________

that most firms combine both goods and services in their offerings

A grocery store is at the product-dominant side of the Service-Product Continuum since most items are selected self-service from the shelves; however, ______

the firm can still view service as a viable competitive advantage

Procedural fairness is defined as ________

the perceived fairness of the process used to solve complaints

When there is a service failure, customers like an apology but they also want distributive fairness. In other words, they want ________

to receive tangible restitution

Inseperable

Customers tend to get upset when their favorite manicurist is not working

Heterogeneous

On Fridays and Saturdays the staff is different and the normal process is shortened from 55 to 45 minutes per customer

Perishable

There is a waiting line on Friday and Saturday afternoons but those time slots cannot be inventoried for when there is no demand

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

In delivery of a service, one of the most significant elements is to be able to predict:

consumer expectations

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