CH 13 MKTG 370

empathy Empathy entails the caring, individualized attention provided to customers, requiring the provider recognize and understand consumer needs.

Inwood Hospital uses patient questionnaires to determine that the bedside manner of each of its doctors on staff meets patient needs, thus monitoring the ________ dimension of service quality.

intangible

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

tangibles Tangibles refer to the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials, including all the elements that go along with the service, such as the magazines in a dentist's waiting room.

Dr. Malin's dental office staff makes sure the waiting room is clean, and that the magazines are current and accessible to patients, thus addressing the ________ dimension of service quality.

Reliability Reliability is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service, relating to whether the provider consistently provides an expected level of service.

Sandhurst Hotels invests heavily in employee training and supports this with a structure for rewarding its workers for their dependability and accuracy. This corresponds to which of the following building blocks of service quality?

perishability

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 ______.

intangible Services are intangible, so service providers must provide tangible cues, reinforcing the benefit or value the service provides and to communicate information about various characteristics of their offering.

Service providers must offer cues to help their customers experience and perceive their service more positively because the service is

customers' perceptions of how well a service meets or exceeds their expectations

Service quality is defined as ______.

Service gaps

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.

respond to the customer and resolve the problem quickly

One of the most important factors for adequate service recovery is for the provider to ______.

managers often are more concerned with resolving the complaint than analyzing the essence of the problem

One of the problems in using customer complaint behavior to assess buyers' service expectations is that ______.

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

Which statements about dealing with service failures are true? (Choose every correct answer.)

Intangible

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

measurable goals that are based on customer expectations

For the marketing manager to be able to deliver consistent quality service, it is imperative to set ______.

QUIZ BELOW

QUIZ BELOW

emotional

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.

True

True or False: To assess service quality, it is necessary to understand both customers' perceptions and their expectations.

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

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

Expectations

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.

the longer it takes to get an answer from the firm

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 ______.

complaint

An effective method to assess customer service expectations is to analyze customer ______ behavior in which management is told by buyers what dissatisfies them.

adds to marketing efforts by helping to meet the customers' needs and wants

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

procedural fairness With regard to complaints, procedural fairness refers to the perceived fairness of the process used to resolve them. Customers tend to believe they have been treated fairly if the service providers follow specific company guidelines.

Customers tend to believe they have been treated fairly if the service providers follow specific company guidelines. This pertains to

knowledge

Customers' expectations are based on their experiences. If a customer expects his hotel room to be ready when he arrives, but encounters a wait because it is not prepared, this reflects a(n) ________ gap on the part of the hotel because it did not understand the customer's expectations.

research

Firms are able to gain a better understanding of customers' service expectations by using quantitative and qualitative market ______, which can be extensive and expensive.

distributive fairness INCORRECT: tangible restitution Reason: Tangible restitution means receiving real compensation, such as a voucher or refund, rather than something immaterial, such as an apology. It does not necessarily mean the customer will feel the compensation offsets his or her loss. INCORRECT procedural fairness Reason: Procedural fairness refers to the perceived fairness of the process used to resolve a complaint.

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 ______.

Communication The communication gap refers to the difference between the actual service provided to customers and the service that the firm's promotion program promises. If firms are more realistic about the services they can provide and at the same time manage customer expectations effectively, they generally can close this gap.

If firms are more realistic about the services they can provide and, at the same time, manage customer expectations effectively, they generally can close the ________ gap.

Communication

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 _______ gap

The support that managers provide must be consistent and coherent throughout the organization.

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?

heterogeneity

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.

Joe needs to engage in structured market research on his industry and brand.

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?

Mary had to wait a long time in the checkout line because the clerk kept making errors using the cash register.

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?

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.

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.

Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

Sandhurst Hotels has a customer relationship management system whereby the preferences of regular customers are tracked and used to anticipate customer desires and special requests, which helps to facilitate the registration process. This corresponds to which of the following building blocks of service quality?

Assurance

The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, maintains its five-star rating by focusing on five service characteristics: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. The Broadmoor conveys trust by empowering its employees. Which service characteristic is the hotel focusing on?

Empathy

The five distinct service dimensions that customers use to evaluate how well a service meets or exceeds their expectations include reliability, responsiveness, assurance, tangibles, and

True

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

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.

The technology will be too challenging for some customers.

What problem might occur if a grocery store decides to install self-checkout devices?

tangibility As the title of this chapter implies, the most fundamental difference between a product and a service is that services are intangible—they cannot be touched, tasted, or seen like a pure product can.

Which of the following represents the most fundamental difference between a product and a service?

At a copy center, part-time employees are encouraged to turn over any unhappy customer to the supervisor immediately.

Which of the following situations best illustrates how a firm can offer employees emotional support and stand behind the employees' actions?

The company works with the customers to find a solution.

Which of the following usually leads to the best outcome for a service failure?

The company doesn't understand what the customer wants.

Which of the following would most likely cause the delivery gap to negatively impact service quality?

standards

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.

Fairness

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 deelays in getting all customers served

Loyalty When a customer undertakes a postpurchase evaluation, three outcomes can occur: satisfaction, dissonance, and loyalty. Loyalty is often the result of a consumer being satisfied.

According to your text, when a customer undertakes a postpurchase evaluation and decides he or she is satisfied, this often leads to

heterogeneous The more humans are needed to provide a service, the more likely there is to be variability (heterogeneity) in the service's quality, so in some cases mechanical means are used instead.

Bank tellers have been replaced by ATMs, which provide consistent levels of service and are never late, sick, or in a bad mood, thus overcoming the ________ nature of services.

distributive fairness Distributive fairness pertains to a customer's perception of the benefits he or she received compared with the costs (inconvenience or loss). In a service recovery situation, the extent to which a customer perceives the benefits of the "solution" compared to the costs of the inconvenience associated with the service failure will determine the

Customers want to be compensated a fair amount for a perceived loss that resulted from a service failure. This is the idea behind

be consistent and predictable in their support INCORRECT: support the customer publicly and the service provider privately Reason: Inconsistencies in support can be a detriment to customer service.

In addition to empowering and rewarding service providers, as well as offering instrumental support, service managers are advised to ______.

consumer expectations

In delivery of a service, one of the most important early steps is addressing the knowledge gap, or the ability to understand ______.

Reliability

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?

Emotional

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?

Reliability- Ability to perform the service dependably and accurately Responsiveness- Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service Assurance- Knowledge and courtesy by employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence Empathy- Caring, individualized attention provided to customers Tangibles- Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials

Match each of the five dimensions of service quality (on the left) with its definition (on the right).

assurance Assurance refers to the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence, reflecting the service provider's own confidence in its abilities.

Medical professionals often hang framed copies of their educational accomplishments in order to convey their competence in their field, thus addressing the ________ dimension of service quality.

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 ______.

listening carefully to the customer. The key to distributive fairness is listening carefully to the customer. If providing tangible restitution isn't possible, the next best thing is to assure the customer that steps are being taken to prevent the failure from recurring.

The key to distributive fairness is

Knowledge

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. Multiple choice question. communi

human inputs generate differences

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

The technology does not perform adequately. Customers do not understand how to use the technology. Customers dislike replacing humans with machines.

What are some common problems caused by the use of technology in a service setting? (Choose every correct answer.)

empowerment

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 __________

Volatility

Which of the following characteristics is NOT one that distinguishes services from products?

empowered

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.

avoid punishing them

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

voice-of-customer Voice-of-customer (VOC) programs collect customer inputs that can be integrated into managerial decisions.

An ongoing marketing research system that collects customer inputs and integrates them into managerial decisions is called a(n) ________ program.

service

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

perishable

Demand for movie tickets is high on weekends and holidays. To compensate for low ticket sales during the week, some movie theaters offer discounted tickets to stimulate weekday demand. This is an example of the ________ nature of services.

provides support and incentives to motivate quality service

Despite having to deal with difficult guests, the service provider can be motivated to provide "service with a smile" when the firm ______.

emotional support Service providers require emotional support. This is demonstrated when managers show concern for their employee's well-being and stand behind their decisions. Emotional support can extend to empowering employees to rectify situations on their own.

Managers provide ________ to service providers when they demonstrate a concern for their well-being and stand behind their decisions.

distributive

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.

inseparable

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.

Recovery

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.

Intangibility Heterogeneity Perishability

Which of the following are characteristics that make marketing services different from product marketing? (Choose every correct answer.)

perishable Services are perishable in that they cannot be stored for use in the future. You can't stockpile your membership at Gold's Gym like you could a six-pack of V-8 juice, for instance. Services are _____ in that they cannot be stored for use in the future. perishable

Services are ________ in that they cannot be stored for use in the future.

Threaten to terminate employees

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

High customer satisfaction ratings

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

A dental exam

Which of the following products or services is considered perishable in the sense that it cannot be stockpiled? A box of candles A package of gum A pair of shoes A dental exam

Knowledge- Diners at a restaurant think the portions are too small, but the manager is unaware of this complaint. Standards- Management believes that customers in a restaurant think the service is very slow, however, management allows servers to stand around and chat. Delivery- A restaurant usually serves fresh bread made on the premises, but at the end of the day the ovens are shut down early and only cold loaves are available. Communication- A restaurant advertises they are open for breakfast, but when guests arrive on Sunday morning, there is a sign on the door indicating they only open for brunch at 11:00.

The Service Gaps Model can be very useful to improve the delivery of services. Match each of the following gaps with an example of that gap. Instructions

inseparable Inseparability implies that an individual getting a haircut is not only present but also may participate in the service process. The interaction with the service provider may in fact have an important impact on the customer's perception of the service outcome.

The concept of services being ________ is highlighted in the fact that a manicurist can positively impact the overall customer experience by having a friendly, attentive attitude.

The firm has exceeded customer expectations on that dimension. The lower boundary for each dimension of the zone of tolerance is the desired level of service, from low to high, and the upper boundary is the expected level of service. Therefore, anything higher than the expected level of service indicates the service has exceeded expectations.

What does it mean when a firm's performance on one of the dimensions of service quality is above the highest point in the zone of tolerance?

communication The communication gap refers to the difference between the actual service provided to customers and the service that the firm's promotion program promises. If firms are more realistic about the services they can provide and at the same time manage customer expectations effectively, they generally can close this gap.

When Vivica and her husband planned their anniversary weekend at a beach resort, they discovered that the price advertised was not available during the weekend, and a three-day minimum stay was required. This scenario reflects a(n) ________ gap between Vivica and her husband, and the beach resort.

find a solution that seems fair to all customers

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 ______.

Increased purchase intention Improved word of mouth

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

Service quality Service quality is a customers' perception of how well a service meets or exceeds his or her expectations.

________ is a customer's perception of how well a service meets or exceeds his or her expectations.

Empowermen tIn the service context, empowerment means allowing employees to make decisions about how service gets provided to customers.

________ means allowing employees to make decisions about how service gets provided to customers.