Service quality is an attitude formed by long-term overall evaluation of a firm’s performance. According to Zeithaml and Berry (1990), service quality is an extrinsically perceived attribution based on the customers experience about the service that the customer perceived through the service encounter. Service quality assessments are formed on judgments of outcome quality, interaction quality and physical environment quality. Service quality is one of the key dimensions, which are factored into the consumer’s satisfaction judgments. Services are produced and consumed at the same time, which makes it difficult to measure, test and as such specific uniform quality can rarely be set. As a result, it is hard to determine how consumers evaluate …show more content…
That is also because the consistency of personnel behavior is hard to ensure since what the consumer receives may differ from what the firm intended to deliver, Boom and Bitner (as cited in Parasuraman et al, 1985). There are inherent difficulties in implementing and evaluating what constitutes service quality. For one, quality perceptions often depend on a repeated comparison of the customer’s expectation about a particular service. Therefore, if a service repeatedly fails to live up to the customer’s expectations it will be perceived as poor service. Secondly, in services, customers evaluate the service process as well as the final outcome (Hoffman & Bateson, 2006). In the case of train travel, that will be whether the train departs on a timely manner, how smooth the journey was, how pleasant the encounter with the train conductor was and if they arrived to their final destination on …show more content…
Service companies must therefore back standards with the right employees, and employee performance must also be measured and compensated. Customer expectations are not met when the service delivery does not meet the set service standards. There are a number of barriers to closing gap 3. One of such barriers is the deficiency, which exists in human resources such as employees who do not understand their roles, poor employee recruitment as well as employees who are not empowered to render services in the best way possible. Furthermore, it may be difficult to close gap 3 if the company has customers who do not know their role in the service delivery process, or if the customers negatively impact the quality of service received by other customers. Also, gap 3 may persist if the delivery of services through intermediaries, franchisees or agents is not properly managed to make sure that they maintain the customer-driven standards, which have been set by the company. (Zeithaml, Bitner & Grembler
Saha, G. C., & Theingi. (2009). Service quality, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions: A study of low-cost airline carriers in Thailand. Managing Service Quality , 19 (3), 350-372.
According to Business Studies ‘’Customer service is one of the most important ingredients of the marketing mix for products and services. High quality customer service helps to create customer loyalty. Customers today are not only interested in the product they are being offered but all the additional elements of service that they receive from the greeting they receive when they enter a retail outlet, to the refund and help that they receive when they have a complaint about a faulty product that they have paid for’’ (Business Studies, n.d).
Measuring this satisfaction is an important element of providing better, more effective and efficient services. When customers are not satisfied with a service as provided, the service is neither effective nor efficient and can result in a loss of business. Why do we measure customer satisfaction? The level of customer satisfaction with services is an important factor in developing a system of service provisions such as the 7P's: § Product § People § Price § Physical Evidence § Place § Processes § Promotion Theses areas of any business are responsive to the customers needs while minimising costs and time requirements and maximising the impact of the services on target populations.
Without good customer service and keeping your promises, your company would have loyal customers. According to 5 Focusing Steps, “If you’re not yet sold on the idea, consider that a 2 percent increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10 percent. Not only that, but it costs over six times more to get a new customer than it does to keep one.” Customer satisfaction should be a golden rule of all companies.
This strategy outlines our customer service vision and initiatives. It provides an overview of key customer segments, their current and future needs which we expect to deliver improved customer satisfaction. Good service standards are based on a thorough understanding of the market. There have two types of customers which are internal and external customer.
Knowledge and confidence about a product from an employee will give the customer approval of the purchase they will soon be making. There are numerous reasons that would conclude a customer’s retail experience with a positive or negative outcome. The best way to witness different forms of customer service within companies is to make your own observation by actually going into a retail store. I personally enter a retail store with a positive mind and expectations of a friendly and welcoming environment. I chose to observe Sally’s Beauty Store which is a store I frequently purchase items from.
The Gaps Model of Service Quality was originally developed for application in the financial service sector. The model was designed to measure components of customer satisfaction by using five dimensions of real or potential gaps in service quality of a hotel (Saleh & Ryan, 1991). The model has been applied to hotels, as well as a number of service agencies, including banking, hotels, restaurants, and healthcare. Even though the services differ greatly, the model is easily adapted to any service industry (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985).
We recommend Vikram to use service quality framework (SERVQUAL) as a scale to measure and manage hotel guest’s perception of service quality in terms of five dimensions (session2 slide#45), which are (i) Reliability – OV employee’s ability to dependably and accurately perform the promised service to consistently delight its guests (ii) Assurance – Knowledge and courtesy of OV employees, and their ability to convey trust and confidence. (iii) Empathy – OV’s individualized attention and customized care it offers to its guests and understanding the customer to anticipate guest needs, wants and desires to enlighten the service. (iv)Tangibles – Refers to OV’s lavish tents and other physical facilities, equipment, pleasant appearance of OV personal, etc. (v) Responsiveness – OV’s willingness to help customers and provide prompt
Customer service is valued as a competitive tool by many organisations. It gives you the ability to gain customer loyalty while meeting the customer’s expectations. Staff will have many skills and knowledge that will provide a competitive edge. Most organisations are known for the quality of their customer service. This means that they are known for good customer service or poor customer service. However, being known for good customer service will attract customers. It will also attract customers who are usually hard to reach.
Whereas in the retail industry, businesses like Mark and Spencer, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, provide similar products and charge similar prices. Improving the quality of customer service can help their businesses to gain and retain customers. For instant, if Tesco’s opens for 24 hours and prices are low then Tesco’s will gain customers from other competitors and retain their own customers.
We are livening in the competitive world, doing business is tough this time. We consumer or customers demand the most satisfactory service. Time is precious, we can’t fix the time we lost. Spending unnecessary time and money for service we wouldn’t get will have a consequence the hurt the service giver who are unable to deliver the excellent services.
Zeithaml, V.A. Berry, L.L and Parasuraman, A. 1988. Communications and Control Processes in the Delivery of Service Quality, Journal of Marketing, 52, April, pp. 35-48.
Providing great customer service and having the ability to retain customers require consistency in delivering the anticipated services. Customer service encompasses having the ability to provide a service or product to customers by means in which it was promised. However, there are times when unforeseen circumstances may occur, resulting in customer service breakdowns. Understanding the effectiveness of customer service relations provides the assurance needed to handle complicated service related issues. A well qualified customer service representative has the acquired skill to effectively defuse a potentially damaging service related matter. Service recovery influences customer retention and improves customer satisfaction.
a) Good customer service is a critical component of a quality product. Collier (2011) states that service needs to be consistent, continuous, thoughtful and available. These are crucial in meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Collier also continues on to state that staff providing customer service must have appropriate skills, knowledge and personal attributes to execute a high standard of service. These skills have been identified by Collier as listening skills, punctuality, courtesy, integrity and grooming. The skills and qualities identified are reflected by the five key components of customer service tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The five components have been provided by the SERVQUAL service measuring
For a business to grow into a more profitable one, the manager should emplace measures to insure that customer service is made number one priority. After implementing a structure, it is recommended that the customer service representatives, along with other employees in the business, undergo continuous training in order to maintain the standards set out by the customer service model. Having the right structure in important in any business entity and will have positive implications on its profits.