MARK3470 – L1 Self Reection Lee Yi Xuan Jeremy (01!"#"$ %ntro&uction to 'erice' mar)etin* mar)etin*
Through the introduction of services marketing, I found it interesting to have have realis realised ed that that servic services es can be sub-di sub-divid vided ed into into so many many dier dierent ent types, such as by the degree of tangibili ility, degree of contact, customization or standardization, and so on. It can even be described by the nature of the service act (tangible/intangible actions and the direct recipient of the service (people/possessions. !ut after re"ection, I have realised that it #as my misconception to consider $service% as one single concept& concept& there are an in'nite in'nite number and variety variety of services services that can be produced and it #ould be impractical to consider all services to be the same or very similar. ierent services only have the similarity that they are essentially intangible and does not involve physical o#nership, #hile they #ould re)uire dierent techni)ues to deliver a high-)uality service. It is also interesting to note that #e can use models such as the *+T* model to udge )uality of services. hen #e use such models to evaluate a serv servic ice, e, #e can can re"e re"ect ct on #het #hethe herr that that serv servic ice e prov provid ider er deliv deliver ers s a holi holist stic ic serv servic ice e that that cate caters rs to all all face facets ts of a high high-) -)ua uali lity ty serv servic ice e (responsiveness, assurance, tangibility, empathy, reliability, and #e can use these facets to make comparisons bet#een several similar services to udge #hether one service is superior to another. another. In that sense *+T* *+T* model, as #ell as other models to evaluate service )uality, serves as a basis basis for compar compariso isons ns and furthe furtherr impro improvem vement ent to gain gain a compet competiti itive ve edge. astly I found it interesting that there #as an e0tended marketing mi0 for services, services, #hich included process, process, physical physical evidence, evidence, and people. people. Indeed, Indeed,
these three e0tended 1s are much more important in delivering a service than a product, because services are essentially intangible and it re)uires more dimensions than a product to oer value to customers and dierentiate itself #ith competitors. +on'umer ,e-aiour in 'erice conte.t
This lesson #as basically about the three-stage model of service consumption, starting #ith a pre-purchase stage triggered by need arousal, then advancing into a service encounter stage, and lastly the post-encounter stage. I found it interesting because it #as like consumer psychology, in that #e could use this model to understand #hat is going on through consumers2 brain (and my brain #hen I consume a service as #ell #hen they decide to use a service. 3o#ever, I have also found similarities bet#een this model and the model of product consumption. hen a consumer #ants to purchase a product, that consumer #ill also go through a pre-purchase stage, a purchase stage, and a post-purchase stage. hile at 'rst I found it intriguing that there #ere so many similarities bet#een product and service consumption, I )uickly realised that it #as similar because services are also a type of product. +u'tomer 'ati'faction an& 'erice /uality
This lecture #as about the gaps model of service )uality, in #hich the customer gap #as the most critical, and ho# to close the various gaps. It #as particularly intriguing to me because I have e0perienced several service encounters in #hich my e0pectations have been either surpassed by my actual e0perience, or #as #ay belo# #hat I had e0pected, such as a hotel #hich I booked in a fe# years ago that looked spacious and grand in the photos, but #as very dull and dilapidated #hen I got there, #hich e0empli'ed a huge communication gap. !esides, I never realised that there #ere so many dierent gaps in a service that had to be closed.
Mana*in* eole for 'erice a&anta*e
In many instances, services involve people, and managing the service sta is an e0tremely important and yet tricky thing to do, because people, being human, have emotions and are bound to fail. I also realised ho# di4cult it is for front-line employees to serve as boundary-spanners bet#een the company and customers, and ho# con"icting it may be #hen role stress occurs. In this regard, I #ill say that I no# have much greater respect and empathy for these front-line sta because of the di4culty of being a front-line sta5 I don2t think I #ould personally be capable to take up such a daunting task. In these service-oriented companies, I have also realised that instilling a service-oriented company culture, in #hich the front-line sta is completely supported by the management, is essential for a company to e0cel in the service it provides. eeloin* 'erice ro&uct'2 +ore an& 'ulementary element'
I have been #ondering up until this lesson #hy some budget airlines can aord to charge as little as a fe# hundred for a ticket to Taipei, #hile other premium airlines should charge up#ards of a thousand for that same ourney. +fter this lesson, I realised that the entire dierence bet#een a budget and a premium airline lies not in the dierence of their core service (#hich is the ourney to Taipei, but in the dierence of their supplementary services. 6ompared to, say, +ir+sia, a 6athay 1aci'c trip to Taipei involves so much more bene'ts, such as higher baggage allo#ance, complimentary food and drink, more comfortable seating, greater "e0ibility in "ight times, and so on. These supplementary services can be categorized in the "o#er model of service, in #hich there are 7 petals (supplementary services in the "o#er that add value to the core service that is provided. I have also realised that the e0istence and comprehensiveness of supplementary elements in a service is critical to service dierentiation
bet#een competitors. In several instances, a #hole sector of an industry could surface ust through supplementary elements, such as budget and premium airlines in the e0ample given above, and in the industries of hotels, phone data plans, travel packages, business consultation, and so on. This has reminded me of the importance of supplementary services, and that ensuring the )uality of the supplementary services is ust as important, if not more important, than ensuring the )uality of the core service. -y'ical ei&ence
hile the )uality of the service itself is of course e0tremely important, I have realised through this lesson that the environment that the service is conducted in is e)ually important and can be considered an integral part of the service encounter. To me, the purpose of physical evidence that I found to be most important and memorable #as the fact that physical evidence could shape customer e0pectations of service )uality. hen #e go to 6af8 de 6oral or 9air#ood, #e e0pect the service and food )uality to be more ordinary because the restaurant storefront is not particularly high-class or attractive, but #hen #e go to a :ichelin-starred restaurant, #e e0pect the service and food )uality to be e0tremely high because of the e0pensive location, scenic vie#s out of the #indo#, high )uality cutlery and ambient lighting and environment. I felt that this #as particularly important because creating and managing the desired e0pectations of customers is helpful in addressing their perceived risks. n&er'tan&in*
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:arketing research is the systematic gathering of consumer data to obtain customer insights. +lthough I am also concomitantly studying :+*;<==> (:arketing *esearch alongside ?ervices :arketing, I have realised the importance of applying #hat I have learnt from :+*;<==> in the conte0t
of services. *eferring back to the gaps model, the listening or kno#ledge gap stems from the problem of a company not kno#ing e0actly #hat customers need, #ant, or e0pect, and marketing research can be used to close this gap. i'tri,utin* 'erice' t-rou*- -y'ical an& electronic c-annel'
Through this part of the lecture, the key thing that I have realised is some services have to be delivered in a dierent #ay to customers than others. hether a customer #ants to come to the service provider or the service provider has to go to the customer largely depends on #hether it is convenient for the customer to do so. I 'nd this similar to private tutoring situation& #hether the student #ants to come to the tutor or the tutor goes to the student is the students2 choice as sometimes it might not be convenient for the student to 'nd the tutor due to time or geographical constraints. Settin* rice' an& imlementin* reenue mana*ement
9or most companies, the key obective is to ma0imise pro't, and #hether the service that they oer can make money is of course a key concern of theirs. hile it is possible, as #ith products, to use the pricing tripod (activity-based pricing, cost-based pricing, and value-based pricing to price a service, one important thing that I have learnt is that cost-based pricing for services is much more di4cult than that of a product since it is hard to calculate the cost incurred for producing a service. In the case of a service, value-based pricing is much more preferred since it prices according to the perceived bene'ts that the customer may enoy. ?imilarly, a company can use competition-based pricing to benchmark their service2s price against competitors and engage in price competition. e'i*nin* an& mana*in* 'erice roce''e'
This lecture mainly talked about the importance of giving a blueprint and "o#chart to the customer service process so as to pinpoint #here e0actly the customer is involved in the co-production process (and therefore implies that the service encounter that is made here is critical, and to identify potential points of service failure so as to develop fail-proof methods to ensure that service failure can be minimized and mitigated should one occur. This lecture reminds me of my previous course of I?@:=>A> (@perations :anagement in #hich lots of techni)ues #ere taught on ho# to plan a "o#chart of a service, ho# to measure and minimize the process and #aiting time, and ho# to develop poka-yokes failsafe mechanisms to achieve si0-sigma )uality. I found it surprising to note that the concepts that I learnt from operations management could be applied and synthesized #ith service process planning. romotin* 'erice' an& e&ucatin* cu'tomer'
+s #ith all products, services re)uire marketing to inform consumers of the e0istence of the service, as #ell as educate customers on ho# to use the service. 3o#ever, I believe that it is more important for marketers to educate customers on ho# to use a service than to use a product because the very nature of service production is co-production bet#een consumers and service providers, and the )uality of a service highly depends on customer involvement. If the customer did not kno# ho# to best use the service, or behave in a #ay that is detrimental to successful service production, the customer may feel dissatis'ed and put the blame on the service provider #ithout realising that the one to blame is actually the customer himself or herself. 3o#ever, the challenges uni)ue to service marketing is that service is intangible, and therefore hard to describe to consumers. Therefore, I agree it is e0tremely important for companies to provide clear and attractive service promotion.
e0perience, I have found that many of the negative #ord of mouth of a service 'rm stems not from the failure of the service itself, because most customers are reasonable and understand that service providers, #ho are humans, are imperfect and have failures, but from the failure to satisfactorily recover a failed service. Through the concept of $service recovery parado0%, I #as surprised to note that customers #ho e0perienced satisfactorily resolved service failure #ould be more likely to make future purchases than customers #ithout problems5 ho#ever, thinking back to my o#n e0perience, it is true that this parado0 also applies to me. I remember one time that I #as eating at a restaurant in ?tanley and the food came more than an hour after my order. ven though I did not e0press my displeasure or complain at the #aiter, the #aiter #as e0tremely proactive5 not only did he take the initiative to address the fact that the food took too long, he oered us free dessert at the end to make up for the service failure. I #as so pleased after the service encounter that I oered him a very large tip (especially since no service charge #as being levied, and told my positive e0perience to my friends and family. Caycustomers are also a maor issue #ith service providers, because they can aect other customers2 e0perience and poses stress and even danger to the service providers. To me it is therefore important that these aycustomers are handled #ell and discouraged from doing something similar. *ecently I read a piece of ne#s of an abusive passenger on elta +irlines #ho hurled insults at a fello# female passenger on her political vie#s, and elta decided to ban the abusive passenger for life. This move #as greeted #armly by the general public, and I #ould probably do the same thing if I #ere in the company2s shoes.
