Marketing Chapter 13

Which of the following are characteristics that make marketing services different from product marketing?

Perishability Heterogeneity Intangibility

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

Customer _______ refers to human or mechanical activities undertaken by firms to help satisfy their customers' needs and wants.

service

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

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

Customer complaint behavior

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

Which of the following are examples of problems associated with collecting customers' perceptions of service at the time of sale?

Customers may not want to share negative feedback directly. Customers may need more time to accurately evaluate the service. Information may not filter up to key decision makers.

_____ fairness refers to customers' desire to be compensated a fair amount to correct a perceived loss that resulted from a service failure.

Distributive

Which of the following is an effective method marketers often use to promote services that cannot be shown directly to customers?

Evocative symbols and images

Zone of tolerance

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

Point-of-purchase surveys

Inexpensively collects customer's service perceptions in the process of exchange

What are the benefits for service providers of using technology?

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.

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.

What does the Service-Product Continuum reveal about what businesses are able to provide to customers?

Most firms combine both goods and services in their offerings.

Voice-of-customer program

Systematically collects customer inputs and integrates them into managerial decisions

Which statements about dealing with service failures are true?

The company should find a way to involve customers in the actual resolution process. Teamwork between the company and customers usually gives the best result. The proper approach can create a somewhat positive outcome from a negative experience.

Communications gap

The difference between actual service provided to customers and the service that the firm's promotion program promises

Knowledge gap

The difference between customer expectations and what the firm perceives the customer to expect

Which of the following are potential sources of heterogeneity of service quality at a hair salon?

The same hair stylist working at different times of the day, week, or month Two different hair stylists working at the same location

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.

How do automated kiosks help service providers limit the problems associated with variability?

They provide routine customer service in a consistent manner. They automate store services such as gift registry management or rain checks. They free up employees to focus on more complicated service requests.

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

The primary reason there is greater heterogeneity in services than in products is because _____

human inputs generate differently

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 Blank______ since the service cannot really be sampled in advance nor experienced without the provider.

inseparability

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

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

The most fundamental difference between services and goods is that services are

intangible

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

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