SM Chapter 13

True or false: Service providers that have high customer satisfaction ratings this year are unlikely to achieve the same level of satisfaction next year.

F

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.

In addition to providing service employees with emotional and instrumental support, management should offer the staff ______ that reward them for providing customers with good service.

incentives

Which of the following situations best evidences 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.

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

A business that experiences service delivery gaps can use which of the following methods to improve the quality of its service? (Select all that apply.)

Empower employees to work in the customer's best interest. Provide incentives and support for service providers. Implement self-service technologies.

Which of the following is most likely to lead to high levels of customer loyalty?

High customer satisfaction ratings

Which of the following are benefits that a service provider receives from engaging in effective service recovery? (Select all that apply.)

Increased purchase intention Improved word of mouth

Which of the following are characteristics that make marketing services different from product marketing? (Select all that apply.)

Intangible Heterogeneous Perishable

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.

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 = Be realistic in telling potential buyers about the services that can be provided and manage those customer expectations effectively.

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

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

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

Which of the following is NOT a method to reduce delivery gaps?

Threaten to terminate employees

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.

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 to close the

communication gap

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 ______.

communication gap

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

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 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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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 Service-Product Continuum evidences ______.

that most firms combine both goods and services in their offerings.

True or false: Delivery gaps always result in a service failure.

true