Page 395 - Marketing Management

372 PART 5 SHAPING THE MARKET OFFERINGS

TABLE 13.4 Dimensions of Service Customers Want Companies
to Deliver

Knowledgeable employees 65%
Address my needs on first contact 64%
Treat me like a valued customer 62%

Demonstrates desire to meet my needs 54%
Can quickly access information 49%
Good value for the money 49%
Courteous employees 45%
Is a company/brand I can trust 43%
Treats me fairly 38%
Provides relevant/personalized service 31%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Source: Convergys 2008 U.S. Customer Scorecard

marketing
Memo Recommendations for Improving Service Quality

Pioneers in conducting academic service research, Berry, Parasuraman, and 6. Surprising customers—Although reliability is the most important
Zeithaml offer 10 lessons they maintain are essential for improving service dimension in meeting customers’ service expectations, process dimen-
quality across service industries. sions such as assurance, responsiveness, and empathy are most impor-
tant in exceeding customer expectations, for example, by surprising them
1. Listening—Service providers should understand what customers re- with uncommon swiftness, grace, courtesy, competence, commitment,
ally want through continuous learning about the expectations and per- and understanding.
ceptions of customers and noncustomers (for instance, by means of a
service-quality information system). 7. Fair play—Service companies must make special efforts to be fair, and
to demonstrate fairness, to customers and employees.
2. Reliability—Reliability is the single most important dimension of service
quality and must be a service priority. 8. Teamwork—Teamwork is what enables large organizations to deliver
service with care and attentiveness by improving employee motivation
3. Basic service—Service companies must deliver the basics and do and capabilities.
what they are supposed to do—keep promises, use common sense,
listen to customers, keep customers informed, and be determined to 9. Employee research—Marketers should conduct research with employ-
deliver value to customers. ees to reveal why service problems occur and what companies must do
to solve problems.
4. Service design—Service providers should take a holistic view of the
service while managing its many details. 10. Servant leadership—Quality service comes from inspired leadership
throughout the organization; from excellent service-system design;
5. Recovery—To satisfy customers who encounter a service problem, from the effective use of information and technology; and from a
service companies should encourage customers to complain (and make slow-to-change, invisible, all-powerful, internal force called corpo-
it easy for them to do so), respond quickly and personally, and develop a rate culture.
problem-resolution system.

Sources: Leonard L. Berry, A. Parasuraman, and Valarie A. Zeithaml, “Ten Lessons for Improving Service Quality,” MSI Reports Working Paper Series, No.03-001 (Cambridge,
MA: Marketing Science Institute, 2003), pp. 61–82. See also, Leonard L. Berry’s books, On Great Service: A Framework for Action (New York: Free Press, 2006) and
Discovering the Soul of Service (New York: Free Press, 1999), as well as his articles; Leonard L. Berry, Venkatesh Shankar, Janet Parish, Susan Cadwallader, and Thomas
Dotzel, “Creating New Markets through Service Innovation,” Sloan Management Review (Winter 2006): 56–63; Leonard L. Berry, Stephan H. Haeckel, and Lewis P. Carbone,
“How to Lead the Customer Experience,” Marketing Management (January–February 2003), pp. 18–23; and Leonard L. Berry, Kathleen Seiders, and Dhruv Grewal,
“Understanding Service Convenience,” Journal of Marketing (July 2002), pp. 1–17.