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DESIGNING AND MANAGING SERVICES | CHAPTER 13 359

Because there is no physical product, the service provider’s facilities—its primary and secondary
signage, environmental design and reception area, employee apparel, collateral material, and so
on—are especially important. All aspects of the service delivery process can be branded, which is
why Allied Van Lines is concerned about the appearance of its drivers and laborers, why UPS has
developed such strong equity with its brown trucks, and why Hilton’s Doubletree Hotels offers
fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to symbolize care and friendliness. 14
Service providers often choose brand elements—logos, symbols, characters, and slogans—to
make the service and its key benefits more tangible—for example, the “friendly skies”of United, the
“good hands” of Allstate, and the “bullish” nature of Merrill Lynch.

INSEPARABILITY Whereas physical goods are manufactured, then inventoried, then distributed,
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and later consumed, services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. A haircut can’t
be stored—or produced without the barber. The provider is part of the service. Because the client is
also often present, provider–client interaction is a special feature of services marketing. Buyers of
entertainment and professional services are very interested in the specific provider. It’s not the same
concert if Taylor Swift is indisposed and replaced by Beyoncé, or if a corporate legal defense is
supplied by an intern because antitrust expert David Boies is unavailable. When clients have strong
provider preferences, the provider can raise its price to ration its limited time.
Several strategies exist for getting around the limitations of inseparability. The service provider
can work with larger groups. Some psychotherapists have moved from one-on-one therapy to
small-group therapy to groups of over 300 people in a large hotel ballroom. The service provider
can work faster—the psychotherapist can spend 30 more efficient minutes with each patient in-
stead of 50 less-structured minutes and thus see more patients. The service organization can train
more service providers and build up client confidence, as H&R Block has done with its national
network of trained tax consultants.
VARIABILITY Because the quality of services depends on who provides them, when and where,
and to whom, services are highly variable. Some doctors have an excellent bedside manner; others
are less empathic.

A different entertainer creates a different concert experience—a Beyoncé concert is not the same
as a Taylor Swift concert.