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Chapter 11

DELIVERING AND PERFORMING SERVICE

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CUSTOMER

COMPANYService Delivery

GAP 3

Customer-Driven Service Designs and

Standards

Part 4 Opener

Provider GAP 3

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Employees’ Roles in Service Delivery

• The critical importance of service employees in creating customer satisfaction and service quality

• Demonstrating the challenges inherent in boundary-spanning roles

• Examples of strategies for creating customer-oriented service delivery

• How the strategies can support a service culture where providing excellent service is a way of life

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Figure 11.2

The Services Marketing Triangle

Internal Marketing

Interactive Marketing

External Marketing

Company(Management)

CustomersEmployees

enablingpromises

keeping promises

settingpromises

Source: Adapted from Mary Jo Bitner, Christian Gronroos, and Philip Kotler

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Services Marketing Triangle Applications Exercise

• Focus on Jack’s Bar. Who occupies each of the three points of the triangle?

• How is each type of marketing being carried out currently?

• Are the three sides of the triangle well aligned?

• Are there specific challenges or barriers in any of the three areas?

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Ways to Use the Services Marketing Triangle

• Overall Strategic Assessment– How is the service

organization doing on all three sides of the triangle?

– Where are the weaknesses?

– What are the strengths?

• Specific Service Implementation– What is being promoted

and by whom?

– How will it be delivered and by whom?

– Are the supporting systems in place to deliver the promised service?

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The Service Profit Chain

Source: An exhibit from J. L. Heskett, T. O. Jones, W. E. Sasser, Jr., and L. A. Schlesinger, “Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 1994, p. 166.

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Service Employees

• They are the service.

• They are the organization in the customer’s eyes.

• They are the brand.

• They are marketers.

• Their importance is evident in:– The Services Marketing Mix (People)– The Service-Profit Chain– The Services Triangle

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Service Employees

• Who are they?– “boundary spanners”

• What are these jobs like?– emotional labor– many sources of potential conflict

• person/role

• organization/client

• interclient

• quality/productivity

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Boundary Spanners Interact with Both Internal and External Constituents

Internal Environment

External Environment

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Sources of Conflict for Boundary-Spanning Workers

• Person vs. Role

• Organization vs. Client

• Client vs. Client

• Quality vs. Productivity

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Customer-Oriented Service Delivery

Hire theRight People

ProvideNeeded Support

Systems

Retain theBest

People

DevelopPeople to

DeliverServiceQuality

Compete

for

the B

est

People

Hire for Service

Competencies and Service Inclination

Provide Supportive Technology

and Equipment

Tre

at

Em

plo

ye

es

a

s

Cu

sto

me

rs

Em

po

we

r E

mp

loy

ee

s

Be the Preferred

Employer Train for

Technical and

Interactive

Skills

Prom

ote

Team

wor

k

Measure

Internal

Service

Quality

Develop Service-

oriented Internal

Processes

Mea

sure

and

R

ewar

d S

tron

g S

ervi

ce

Per

form

ers

Include

Em

ployees in

the

Com

pany’s

Vision

Human Resource Strategies for Closing GAP 3

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Empowerment

• Benefits:– quicker responses

– employees feel more responsible

– employees tend to interact with warmth/enthusiasm

– empowered employees are a great source of ideas

– positive word-of-mouth from customers

• Drawbacks:– greater investments in

selection and training

– higher labor costs

– slower and/or inconsistent delivery

– may violate customer perceptions of fair play

– “giving away the store” (making bad decisions)

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Service Culture

“A culture where an appreciation for good service exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate, external customers, is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone in the organization.”