five categories of service offerings

five categories of service offerings depending

There are five categories of service offerings depending upon whether or not the service component is minor or major. In which of the five categories would you place a restaurant?

102. You have been asked by your firm to evaluate the “service” of one of its competitors (a restaurant). As you understand service, services differ according to form and purpose. Explain how you classify services.

103. Services cannot be stored or inventoried. Attempts to regulate the “services” on the supply side—to increase the service providers when needed—include such strategies as part-time workers. What are some other ways a firm can “shift” supply for its services?

 

Services cannot be seen, tasted, or felt before purchase. The challenge to marketers of services is to “tangibilize the intangible” and “manage the evidence.” What do these statements really mean for a marketer of a service firm?

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104. In developing a service blueprint, your firm has outlined each step in the delivery process of the service it provides. The development of a service blueprint is an attempt to minimize what element or characteristic of a service?

105. Services cannot be stored. Attempts to regulate the “demand” of a service include reservation systems and differential pricing. What are some other ways a firm can shift demand for its services to nonpeak times?

106. Researchers have outlined 10 lessons for improving service quality across services industries. What are the 10 lessons?

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107. E-mail response systems to address customer complaints must be implemented properly to be effective. List the four things companies should do to maximize the efficacy of their e-mail response systems.

 

108. How has the Internet empowered customers with complaints?

109. What are the dangers associated with providing differentiated levels of service to customers in different profit tiers?

110. Interactive marketing describes the employees’ skill in serving the client. After your recent stay in the hospital, the hospital calls and asks you a series of questions about your stay. Here the hospital is trying to collect data about the two aspects of the service that clients use to judge a service. What are they?

111. The creation of service standards, such as a policy of answering the company’s phone on the second ring, is an example of a firm trying to prevent which of the service-quality gaps from ever beginning?

112. As a newly hired marketing associate, you have asked your boss if the firm has service-quality specifications spelled out for ensuring exceptional customer service. His answer is “no, we all know what the consumer expects; after all, we have been doing this for over 30 years.” Recalling your marketing management services marketing chapter, you identify this attitude as a factor leading to the creation of what gap in the service-quality model?

 

113. The SERVQUAL scale includes the five determinants of service quality. Companies schooled in and practitioners of this craft are among the highest rated consumer friendly firms doing business today. What are the five determinants that firms such as Southwest, Disney, and Marriott honor so highly?

114. The last time you were in this restaurant, as you remember it, your dinner was excellent. Tonight is your anniversary and, as such, you are looking forward to an enjoyable evening. At the end of the meal, your perception is that the service was not up to par and the evening was not as successful as you had hoped. In the service-quality model, which gap prevailed?

115. In your service firm, you are always choosing between fully answering the consumer’s questions and waiting on the next customer. The firm’s standards are not clear on how they want you to perform. When asked, your boss answers, “You make the decision.” This is an example of which service-quality gap?

116. In the pool advertisement, it reads “a pool for $3,000 total cost.” Upon contracting with the firm for the pool, the sale representative tells you that the total cost will be $6,000. When you ask why the extra $3,000, the sales rep says that is for the removal of the dirt. This is an example of which one of the service-quality gaps?

117. The brown trucks of UPS are a strong moniker for the firm. Explain why such physical facilities are especially important.

 

118. When a consumer buys a piece of equipment, such as a lawn tractor, they consider the life-cycle cost of the equipment. Explain what is meant by “life-cycle” cost.

119. Manufacturers can offer and charge for product support services in different ways. One firm charges for extended warranties. What are some other ways that manufacturers charge for services?