Service Marketing Exam 1- Pre Quiz Questions

The new owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team had research conducted to learn why game attendance was low. The research revealed several reasons, including shortage of toilet paper and straws, high prices for bad seats, and inadequate parking. Once all the problems were fixed, the team owner did not want to have any future attendance problems. He set up kiosks in the football stadium where attendees could give the team and the arena a "report card". This would be an example of:

A trailer call

The development of strong customer relationships is strongly influenced by:

Barriers the customer faces in leaving a relationship

According to the _______, while advertising, sales and promotions pour profits into your company, there will always be some customer defection, which has the potential to grow larger.

Bucket theory of marketing

Which of the following factors does NOT lead to provider gap 4?

Creating clear standards

In the first stage in the service marketing research process, the researcher:

Defines the problem and research objectives

Product and service features that are unexpected and surprisingly enjoyable are known as ___________.

Delights

After his home was burglarized, Rich became concerned about the safety of his wife and three children since he often traveled out-of-town on business. To prevent further burglaries and ensure his family's safety, Rich decided to purchase a home security system from ADT Security Systems. Rich's expectation that an ADT home security system will protect his family and prevent future burglaries is influenced by his ____________.

Derived service expectations

_____ service is the level of service the customer hopes to receive.

Desired

From the customer's point of view, the most vivid impression of service occurs in the service _____ when the customer interacts with the service firm.

Encounter

If you own a small advertising agency and have limited funding and even less time to spend on service marketing research, which of the following types of research would you be LEAST likely to use?

Futures expectations research

Enterprise Rent-A-Car closely ties customer service to employee success. With a tracking system called the Enterprise Service Quality Index (ESQi), the company routinely follows up with customers by phone to determine their level of satisfaction with the company. Only completely satisfied customers count toward an employee ESQi score, which is used to measure employee's potential for promotion. Enterprise closes provider _____ by using marketing research.

Gap 1

Provider ______ is the difference between company understanding of customer expectations and the development of customer-driven service designs and standards.

Gap 2

Provider _____ is the difference between service delivery and the service provider's external communications.

Gap 4

How would you describe the sustainability of competitive advantage in the acquaintance stage of the customer relationship evolution?

Generally low with some variation on how the competition creates unique value

The first time Barry brought his car to Auto Lube to have the oil changed he was very satisfied with the service. The service manager consulted him several times while his car was being serviced, asked him if there were any problems with the car, recommended when additional services should be performed and answered questions directly and politely. However, when Barry went back to Auto Lube after three months to have his oil changed again, he was not satisfied with the service. The manager spoke to him only when he arrived and when he paid his bill. In addition, the manager was impatient and unfriendly during the interaction. Barry's experience at Auto Lube illustrates the ______________ of services.

Heterogeneity

A company that uses a four-tier scheme to segment its customers by profitability:

Identifies customers who need different sorts of attention

Which of the following statements about predicted service is true?

If the consumer predicts good service, the level of adequate service is likely to be higher than if he or she predicted poor service

Which of the following factors leads to provider gap 2?

Inappropriate physical evidence and servicescape

The most distinguishing characteristic of services is:

Intangibility

A week after Kim cancelled her First USA MasterCard, she received a survey in the mail asking questions about First USA's service quality, its performance versus other credit card companies, her level of satisfaction with different dimensions of First USA's service, and her reasons for canceling her account. Which of the following types of research did First USA conduct?

Lost customer research

Denise said all she expected from the daycare at the gym she belonged to was to get her children back at the end of an hour and learn the police had not been called because of something they did. She uses this particular gym because the daycare will let her unruly children stay even though it provides only nominal supervision. Denise has _____ expectations about the daycare.

Minimum tolerable

Which of the following factors is NOT a factor leading to provider gap 1?

Over-promising

The key to success in the _____ stage of the customer relationship is the firm's ability to use customer knowledge and information systems to deliver highly personalized and customized offerings.

Partnership

In addition to the elements of the traditional marketing mix, the expanded mix for services includes:

People, physical evidence, and process

States or conditions essential to the physical or psychological well-being of a customer that are pivotal factors that shape what customers desire in a service are known as __________.

Personal needs

For technology-based service encounters, which of the following is NOT a form of failure to deliver on the core promise?

Poor website design Process failures in follow-up Errors on the part of the customer Technology system failure

A service encounter that occurs without any direct human contact is a(n) _____ encounter.

Remote

When customers have been surprised by a service outcome that is much better or worse than expected, they tend to look for reasons and their assessments of the reasons can influence their satisfaction. These perceived causes of service success or failure are known as:

Service attributions

In many instances, customers develop loyalty to an organization in part because of costs involved in changing to and purchasing from a different firm. These costs are called:

Switching costs

Which of the following is NOT a source of customer expectations?

Target Market

At the partnership stage of the customer relationship, the firm is most concerned with:

The enhancement of its relationship with the customer

Which of the following is NOT a form of qualitative research?

Trailer calls

Key Energy Co. provides quality oilfield construction, drilling, and other services. The company's top management feels that stakeholders do not have a clear image of the company and are considering changing the name to clarify the organization's position in the market. Senior management is interviewing the company's salespeople to learn how they feel about selling Key Energy's services. As part of examining the corporate image, the company is using:

Upward communication

Which of the following products is LEAST high in experience qualities?

Wedding dress

The extent to which customers recognize and are willing to accept variation in service performance is called the ____________:

Zone of tolerance

Which of the following statements about customer satisfaction and service quality is true?

Customer satisfaction is influenced by perceptions of service quality

The transition from the _____ stage to the _____ stage of the customer relationship requires the development of trust.

Customers as acquaintances; customers as friends

Last week, Francine bought a 6-month membership package at Planet Fitness. She plans to exercise at Planet Fitness four days a week by participating in an aerobics class, using the nautilus equipment and having a personal trainer. By the time her 6-month membership expires, Francine hopes to lose 20 pounds, tone and strengthen her muscles, improve her cardiovascular fitness and look and feel more attractive. Francine's expectations for her health and physical appearance reflect her _________ level of service for Planet Fitness.

Desired

Customers often cannot accurately evaluate the technical qualities of legal work like that provided when a homeowner refinances his or her property. Which of the following cues would the homeowner be likely to use to evaluate the legal services?

Diplomas on wall The lawyer's use of humor and empathy How the lawyer dresses Courtesy of the lawyer and staff

Customer _____ are beliefs about service delivery that function as standards against which performance is judged.

Expectations

FedEx developed a 12-item statistical Service Quality Indicator to measure customer satisfaction and service quality. The index is comprised of customer-defined performance standards such as the number of missed pick-ups, number of lost packages, and the number of late deliveries. Each of the performance standards is weighted based on the relative importance of each standard to customers. By developing a Service Quality Indicator that incorporates customer-defined performance standards, FedEx is closing provider _____ of the gaps model of service quality.

Gap 2

The New York Palace, an upscale hotel in New York City, synchronizes demand and hotel capacity by offering an attractively priced weekend package during the fall when demand for its rooms slows down. In addition to having a luxury-filled weekend at the New York Palace for $219 per night, guests enjoy very select privileges from Saks Fifth Avenue. Its weekend package provides a personal shopping coordinator, complimentary gift wrap and package delivery to the hotel, individual beauty consultation, and a 10 percent Saks discount. The New York Palace's weekend package closes provider ____ of the gaps model of service quality.

Gap 3

The highest customer expectations are referred to as _____ expectations.

Ideal

Which of the following statements about service encounters is true?

If a customer is interacting with a firm for the first time, that initial encounter will create a first impression of the organization

On his way to work today, Terry saw a billboard for a physician's group that specialized in vascular surgery. On his social media feed, there was a display ad for a medical clinic that performed similar surgery. Then in his mail, he got a brochure from yet another medical clinic asking him if he wanted to get rid of ugly varicose veins. Which trend that influenced the development of services marketing concepts and strategies is illustrated here?

Increased competition in medical and professional services

Yesterday, Mike went to the dentist for his 6-month check-up. Two weeks before he went to the dentist, he called the office to make an appointment. The day before his check-up, the office's receptionist called him to confirm his appointment. When Mike arrived at the office, he checked in with the receptionist and then waited in the waiting room for 15 minutes, reading a magazine, before being greeted by the dental hygienist, who escorted him to an examination room. The dentist entered the room, greeted Mike, examined Mike's teeth, took a set of x-rays, and asked the dental hygienist to clean Mike's teeth. When his teeth were cleaned, the hygienist told Mike he should return in 6 months for another check-up. Mike experienced the _____ element of the dental office's services marketing mix.

Process

The Canfields want to landscape their five-acre yard. The couple plans an herb garden in the back that will lead to an English cottage garden. In the west side yard, they are planning on a Japanese garden and a rose garden will be located in the east side yard. They have hired a landscaper to draw the design and to do the actual planning. The Canfields want input on the landscaping. They have asked the landscaper to set up several points where they can give their inputs, correct anything they do not like, and make changes before the plan is finalized. Most landscapers would be bothered with this seeming interference, but the landscaper the Canfields chose has used this method for years as a way to measure his company's customer service performance. The landscaper is using a method of gathering customer information most similar to which of the following methods?

Process checkpoint evaluations

Which of the following is NOT a form of qualitative research?

Process checkpoint evaluations

Hertz Car Rental has a customer loyalty program called Gold Plus Rewards that rewards members with one point per dollar spent on qualifying rentals. Free weekend rentals can be earned for as few as 500 points. By having a customer loyalty program, Hertz is using __________ marketing.

Relationship

Boston Symphony Orchestra realized the classic music market was generally becoming older and needed to learn how to appeal to younger concert-goers. It hired a research agency to identify the positive and negative attributes of going to concerts. In other words, the research agency conducted a:

Requirements research

When consumers have problems with a Web site, they use _____ dimensions to evaluate e-service quality.

Responsiveness, compensation, and contact

Which of the following statements about relationship surveys is true?

SERVQUAL is a type of relationship survey

Which of the following statements describes a marketing implication that results from the intangibility of services?

Services cannot be inventoried

For their wedding anniversary, John and Rick wanted to go skydiving. They enrolled in a skydiving class at the local airport at a cost of $260. After a 30-minute training course in which everything that was going to happen to them was carefully explained, John and Rick were sent up in an airplane with two skydiving experts. Each was placed in a harness arrangement with one of the experts and did what is called a tandem dive. With a tandem dive, John and Rick get to enjoy the experience without having to worry about when to open the parachute. The skydiving expert does that for them. This tandem jump illustrates the _____ characteristic of services.

Simultaneous production and consumption

Every Thursday afternoon for almost twenty years, Jasmine and Tanya have gotten a manicure at the same location. The manicure salon has changed ownership three times and has had two different names during that same period, but Jasmine and Tanya still find it a convenient place to meet and share news about friends and relatives. Jasmine and Tanya's relationship with the manicure salon exemplifies how a service provider uses _____ to support its customer retention strategy.

Social bonds

According to the text, the relationships between businesses and their customers have the ability to evolve. In the first step of this evolution process, customers are identified as:

Strangers

Henry, Brad, and Carlos are all studying to be dog groomers at a local Petsmart training academy. Henry and Brad believe they received inadequate training because they could not get a job when the course concluded. Carlos thinks the academy was a great experience and really enjoys grooming the pets at Pet Heaven Kennels. In this example, satisfaction levels were influenced by:

Their perception of equity

Which of the following are determinants of service quality in a face-to-face service encounter?

Verbal behavior of employees Verbal behavior of customers Appearance of employees Decor of physical environment

Parents everywhere are very busy and often cannot spend time with their children. In the Netherlands, children who want a bedtime story can call the telephone service and request to listen to one of twenty prerecorded fairy tales. The phone company charges $7 per story. Because of the prerecording of the stories, this bedtime service reduces the problems typically associated with the _____ characteristic of services.

heterogeneity

When Alicia and Jordan dined at Formia Ristorante, a contemporary Italian restaurant in New Jersey, they both enjoyed Formia's coy, smart and embracing atmosphere. Formia creates this atmosphere with a single large dining room that measures 20 by 60 feet and contains 14 roomy tables. Ceiling fans slowly swirl as candlelight dances across the tables that are attentively cared for by servers. Vertical pink and white florid patterns emerge from old wainscoting. Finally, Formia's two-page menu offers guests a range of pasta, chicken, veal, and seafood entrees, in addition to nightly specials that are handwritten and presented on large index cards. Alicia and Jordan experienced the _____ element of Formia Ristorante's services marketing mix.

physical evidence