Services Marketing
Unit 4:
Service
Processes
Services Marketing
Flowcharting Customer
Service Processes
Flowcharting Service Delivery
Helps to Clarify Product
Elements Services Marketing
Technique for displaying the nature &
sequence of the different steps in delivery
service to customers
Offers way to understand total customer
service experience
Shows how nature of customer involvement
with service organizations varies by type of
service:
People processing
Possession processing
Mental Stimulus processing
Information processing
Flowcharts for People and
Possession Processing
Services Services Marketing
Flowcharts for Mental Stimulus
and Information Processing
Services Services Marketing
Blueprinting Services to Create
Valued Experiences & Productive
Operations Services Marketing
A key tool we use to design new services
or redesign existing services is known as
Blueprinting.
It’s a more sophisticated version of
Flowcharting
A blueprint specifies in detail how a
service process should be constructed and
Includes details as to what is visible to
the customer and where there are
potential fail points in the service process.
Developing a
Blueprint Services Marketing
Developing a Blueprint
Identify key activities in creating and delivering
service
Define “big picture” before “drilling down” to
obtain a higher level of detail
Advantages of Blueprinting
Distinguish between “front stage” and “back stage”
Clarify interactions and support by backstage activities
and systems
Identify potential fail points; take preventive measures;
prepare contingency
Pinpoint stages where customers commonly have to wait
Key Components of a
Service Blueprint Services Marketing
Define standards
Specify physical Identify principal
for frontstage
evidence customer actions
activities
Objectives:
Identify fail
points &
risks of Frontstage
actions by Line of
excessive Line of visibility
frontline interaction
waits personnel
Set service
standards
Fail-proof
process Backstage Support
Support
actions by processes
processes
customer contact involving other
involving IT
personnel personnel
Blueprinting the Restaurant
Experience: Act 1
Services Marketing
Blueprinting the
Restaurant Experience: A
Three-Act Performance Services Marketing
Act 1: Prologue and Introductory Scenes
Act 2: Delivery of Core Product
Cocktails, seating, order food and wine, wine service
Potential fail points: Menu information complete? Menu
intelligible? Everything on the menu actually available?
Mistakes in transmitting information a common cause of
quality failure
Customers may not only evaluate quality of food and
drink, but how promptly it is served or serving staff
attitudes
Act 3: The Drama Concludes
Remaining actions should move quickly and smoothly,
with no surprises at the end
Customer expectations: accurate, intelligible and prompt
bill, payment handled politely, guest are thanked for their
Improving Reliability of
Processes Through Fail-
Proofing Services Marketing
Identify fail points
Analysis of reasons for failure reveals opportunities
for failure-proofing to reduce/eliminate future errors
Need fail-safe methods for both employees and
customers
Setting Service
Standards and Targets Services Marketing
Service providers set standards for each
step sufficiently high to satisfy and even
delight customers
Include time parameters, script and
prescriptions for appropriate style
Must be expressed in ways that permit
objective measurement
Performance targets – specific process & team
performance targets for which staff are responsible
for
Evaluated based on distinction between
standards and targets
Setting Service Standards and
Targets
Services Marketing
First impression is
important
Affects customer’s
evaluations of quality
during later stages of
service delivery as
customer perceptions of
service experiences tend
to be cumulative
For low-contact service,
a single failure
committed front stage is
relatively more serious
than in a high-contact
Setting Standards and Targets
for Customer Service
Processes Services Marketing
•
Responsivene Processing 80% of all
ss time to 24 hours applications
approve in 24 hours
• Reliability
applications
• Competence
• Accessibility
• Courtesy
• Creates a Base to Define Service Define/Process
Communicati Measure Customer Quality Goals for Departmental
on Satisfaction Staff Service Goals
• Credibility
•
Confidentialit
y
Services Marketing
Redesigning Service
Processes
Why Redesign?
Services Marketing
Revitalizes process that has become outdated
Changes in external environment make existing
practices obsolete and require redesign of
underlying processes
Rusting occurs internally
Natural deterioration of internal processes; creeping
bureaucracy; evolution of spurious, unofficial standards
Symptoms:
- Extensive information exchange
- Data that is not useful
- High ratio of checking control activities to value-adding
activities
Why Redesign?
Services Marketing
“Institutions are like steel beams—they tend to
rust. What was once smooth and shiny and nice
tends to become rusty.”
Mitchell T. Rabkin, MD,
former president of Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital
Why Redesign?
Services Marketing
Redesign aims to achieve these performance
measures:
Reduced number of service failures
Reduced cycle time from customer initiation of a service
process to its completion
Enhanced productivity
Increased customer satisfaction
Process Redesign: Approaches
and Potential Benefits
Services Marketing
• Streamline front-end and back-end processes
Eliminating non- of services
value-adding • Improve productivity and customer
steps satisfaction
• Increase in productivity and service quality
Shifting to self- • Lower costs and perhaps prices
service • Enhance technology reputation
• Differentiates company
• Improve convenience for customers
Delivering direct • Productivity can be improved by eliminating
service expensive retail locations
• Increase customer base
Process Redesign: Approaches
and Potential Benefits
Services Marketing
• Involves grouping multiple services into one
offer, focusing on a well-defined customer
Bundling group
services • A better fit to the needs of target segment
• Increase productivity with customized service
• Increase per capita service use
• Focus on tangible elements of service
Redesigning process (facilities and equipment)
physical • Increase convenience
aspects of • Enhance satisfaction and productivity of
service process frontline staff
• Cultivate interest in customers
Services Marketing
The Customer as Co-
Producer
Levels of Customer
Participation
Services Marketing
High – Customer works actively with provider to co-produce
the service
• Service cannot be created without customer’s active participation
• Customer can jeopardize quality of service outcome
Medium – Customer inputs required to assist provider
• Provide needed information and instructions
• Make some personal effort; share physical possessions
Low – Employees and systems do all the work
• Involves standardized work
Customers as Partial
Employees
Services Marketing
Customers can influence productivity and quality of
service processes and outputs
Customers not only bring expectations and needs
but also need to have relevant service production
competencies
For the relationship to last, both parties need to
cooperate with each other
Managing Customers
Services Marketing
Recruitment and • Recruit customers that possess the competency to
Selection perform the necessary tasks
• Are customers aware of their roles and equipped
Job Analysis with the required skills?
• Information required for them to perform their roles
Education and Training via instructions or video demonstration
• Ensure that they will be rewarded for good
Motivate performance
• For sub-par performances, improve customer
Appraise training or change the role or process
• Last resort: if customer is non compliant consider
Ending termination of the relationship
Services Marketing
Self-Service Technologies
Self-Service Technologies
(SSTs)
Services Marketing
SSTs are the ultimate form of customer involvement
where customers undertake specific activities
using facilities or systems provided by service
supplier
Customer’s time and effort replace those of employees
Information-based services lend selves particularly
well to SSTs
Used in both supplementary services and delivery of core
product
Self-Service Technologies
(SSTs)
Services Marketing
Many companies and government organizations
seek to divert customers from employee contact to
Internet-based self-service
Advantages: Disadvantages:
Time and Cost savings Anxiety and stress
experienced by
Flexibility
customers who are
Convenience of location uncomfortable with
using them
Greater control over
service delivery Some see service
encounters as social
High perceived level of experiences and prefer
customization to deal with people
What Aspects Of SSTs Please
Or Annoy Customers?
Services Marketing
People love SSTs when… People hate SSTs when…
• SST machines are conveniently • SSTs fail – system is down, PIN
located and accessible 24/7– often as numbers not accepted, etc.
close as the nearest computer!
• Customers themselves mess up –
• Obtaining detailed information and forgetting passwords; failing to provide
completing transactions can be done information as requested; simply hitting
faster than through face-to-face or wrong buttons
telephone contact
Key weakness: Few firms incorporate service recovery systems
such that customers are still forced to make telephone calls or
personal visits
Putting SSTs to Test by
Asking a Few Simple Questions
Services Marketing
Does the SST work reliably?
Firms must ensure that SSTs are dependable and user-
friendly
Is the SST better than interpersonal alternatives?
Customers will stick to conventional methods if SST
doesn’t create benefits for them
If it fails, what systems are in place to recover?
Always provide systems, structures, and technologies
that will enable prompt service recovery when things fail
Managing Customer’s
Reluctance to Change
Services Marketing
Increasing customer’s participation level in a
service can be difficult
Marketing communications to be used to:
Prepare customer for change
Explain the rationale and benefits
What customers need to do differently in the future
