This document contains a student's assignment submission for a course on management of services. The assignment discusses various customer service experiences and expectations. It includes exercises analyzing service quality, recovery experiences, and survey design for a new service. The submission demonstrates an understanding of key customer service concepts like desired vs adequate expectations, service intensifiers, and the five dimensions of service quality.

1. Management of
Services
Assignment- 2
Submitted By:
Gagan Pardeep; Call no.102013
Submitted to:
Prof. Mukesh Nauhwar
Indus World School of Business
Greater Noida
Date: 16th Feb. 2012

2. Exercise
Exercise: List down your last 5 service experiences – did the company meet,
exceed your expectations? What better could they have done? Were your
demands unjustified from a company’s perspective? Have you taken a stand
post the experiences? Why or why not?
Customer service, especially in the shape of a call-centre - is to customers
one of the most visible and significant aspects of organizational
performance.
To many organizations however customer service is one of the most
challenging and neglected areas of management, including those with
modern call-centers.
For customers the quality of customer service determines whether to buy,
and particularly whether to remain a customer.
Here are some of my own experiences some of which are very delightful
other satisfactory and some are utter failure:
1) Service Used: Mobile Network
Mobile Operator: Airtel
On the evening of valentine day, I called up my friend as I wanted to
talk to her. We both are using Airtel as network operator. When I
attempted the call first time it couldn‘t connect conveying network is
busy (may be due to high network traffic in evening hours, which was
understood and was somewhat acceptable to me). Then I
disconnected and tried again and this time it connected me with my
friend. As soon she said first world we realized that voice is cracking
and none of us couldn‘t get each other. I disconnected again and
made third attempt, it connected us again but with same irritating
problem, somehow we managed that time by other means (by using
our friend‘s mobiles). As I waited for whole day because she were in
office till evening, I got so irritated that yesterday I switched to
Vodafone (thanks to mobile portability)
In this case minimum expectation was to make a telephonic
conversation, which was not met by service provider. So service
provider didn‘t meet even the minimum level of expectation which led
to dissatisfaction and ultimately customer loss.
My demand was very genuine as company claims to provide a very
good voice and non-voice tele-services on 3G (which I was using) and
they were not meeting the minimum requirement.
They can do it better by analyzing the Signal Level & Signal Strength
parameter recorded during the network optimization process if the call
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3. quality is consistently bad in areas from where we were located and
thus doing re-optimization for these locations.
I‘ve taken my stand by leaving the network provided because I knew
that by calling customer care will not solve this problem. They are
charging their customers for their valuable feedbacks and complaints
(Rs. 0.50 for 3 minutes), which no customer will like. So I preferred to
switch to other operator.
2) Service used: Technical Support
Service Provider: Dell Inc.
On last Monday I, with one of my friend visited Dell service center for
diagnosis of her laptop as it was not getting charged. The laptop was
not in guaranty cover so one of company executive explained various
available options we had in order to make it working again. He
explained various warranty schemes that we could opt for.
The overall experience was good if we evaluate executive on various
parameters like knowledge of what he was selling, product knowledge
(technicalities), willingness to help (he, himself approached us as soon
as we filled the entry form).
The service was satisfactory.
3) Service used: Watching a Movie
Service Provider: Big Cinemas
On Wednesday I along with some of my friends went to watch a movie
in nearby cinema hall operated under the name Big Cinema. There is
only one shopping mall and only one cinema hall in proximity (so
alternatives are not available). We asked for four tickets from the
person attending the ticket counter. He asked us for Rs 720, but as we
all are used to go for movie especially on Wednesdays due to
economical prices, one of my friends enquired him about ticket prices.
After my friend‘s questioning he explained the pricing, what else was
included in that price which we never asked for (popcorns and cold
drinks were included in that). After that he asked us for Rs. 400 (Rs 100
per ticket). Again my friend enquired him about any other ticket as we
knew that there are tickets available at Rs. 80 also. Then finally he
shared all information about seats available and there prices.
None of us wants such experience but due to lack of alternative we
have to go to him again and again.
The process could be better if that attendant at ticket counter would
have disclosed all the available seats and respective prices and let the
customer choose depending on his preferences.
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4. Exercise: Create a survey (minimum 10 questions) for a new service offering that
you plan to launch in the market.
Service offered: Online retailing.
1. How often do you purchase products online?
Extensive user
Very often
Moderate user
Occasionally
Not at all
2. What types of products do you typically buy online?
______________________________________________________________
_____________________
3. Which online retailers do you typically use?
______________________________________________________________
_____________________
4. What are your biggest concerns about buying products online?
______________________________________________________________
_____________________
5. How confident are you that your personal information is secure
when buying products online?
Extremely Confidant
Very Confidant
Moderately Confidant
Slightly Confidant
Not at all
6. How often do privacy concerns stop you from buying products
online?
Always
Most of the times
Half of the times
Once a while
Never
7. How confident are you that your payment information is kept
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5. secure when purchasing online?
Extremely Confidant
Very Confidant
Moderately Confidant
Slightly Confidant
Not at all
8. How often do security concerns prevent you from purchasing
online?
______________________________________________________________
_____________________
9. How comfortable are you buying products online from an
uknown company?
Extremely Comfortable
Very Comfortable
Moderately Comfortable
Slightly Comfortable
Not at all Comfortable
10. How comfortable are you purchasing online from an individual
you don't know?
Extremely Comfortable
Very Comfortable
Moderately Comfortable
Slightly Comfortable
Not at all Comfortable
Exercise: For each level of customer relationship discussed, identify a firm with
which you have that level of relationship and discuss how its marketing efforts
differ from other firms?
Strangers
Firm: Flipcard.com
Marketing and distinguishing strategies: Cash on delivery (payment
modes)
30 days replacement (providing physical evidence and thus
assuring them for quality)
Acquaintances
Firm: Vodafone - I‘ve just started using its services.
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6. Friends
Firm: Dell
Marketing and distinguishing strategies: Place (channel of
distribution)
Customized products
Partners
Firm: A local Restaurant nearby our hostel (namely - Rubaab)
Marketing and distinguishing strategies: world of mouth and
acknowledging its loyal customers.
Exercise: List down the various switching barriers you would face in switching
banks, mobile phone providers.
In case of switching bank:
 Learning cost
 Search Cost in terms of time and money
 Uncertainty in fining good service from new provider
 Benefit loss: loyalty benefits from old service provider
 Monitory loss: penalties or charges for closing an account
 Hassle
 Personal relationship
 Brand relationship
 Service disruption
In case of mobile services provider:
Due to mobile portability now these barriers are all most blurred. However
some are still in their existence like:
 Uncertainty in fining good service from new provider
 Benefit loss: loyalty benefits from old service provider
 Monitory loss: schemes and tariff provided by
Earlier in addition to these there were barriers like
 Cost of sending new number to all friends and concerned individuals
 Service disruption during transition period
Exercise: Interview 3 people about their service recovery experiences. What
happened and what did they expect the firm to do? Were they treated fairly by
the firm? Will they return to the company in the future?
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7. Interview 1:
Service Used: Air Transportation
Service provide: Jet Airways
Service Failure: Flight got cancelled just before an hour from scheduled
departure time due to technical reasons.
Service recovery: offered one night accommodation at a five star hotel at
a distance of 25 Km from airport (hotel was at CP, New Delhi) and same
flight on next day.
Expectation: Arrange another flight for affected passengers on same day.
Firm has treated all passengers fairly (according to interviewee), they
made staying arrangements in five star hotels, and they might have done
this in any lower profile hotel. For interviewee (as per his requirement) they
arranged cab from airport to his home in Noida.
He is willing to go to firm again (might be due to his wide tolerance zone).
In fact he returned by using services of the same services provider.
Interview 2
Service/Product Used: Hospitality and food
Service provide: 7Days
Service Failure: Offering different cuisine that what was ordered and then
server tried to convince customer that this is what he has ordered (not
accepting the mistake was more sever that offering wrong food).
Service Recovery: after a long argument, when customer asked to call
manger of restaurant. Manger accepted the mistake and asked his staff
to serve as per order. The experience for customer was bitter and he will
not turn back to this service provider again.
Interview 3
Service/Product Used: Mobile Network
Service provide: Airtel
Service Failure: Cracking of voice during call; not Meeting the minimum
level of expectation
It is my own experience as I explained earlier. There was no service
recovery and ultimately I switched to another service provider.
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8. Review Questions
Question: Is “Desired” and “Derived” service expectations the same?
No, they are not same. Some customers are more demanding than
others, having greater sensitivity to, and higher expectations for service.
Some has wider tolerance band, other might have narrower depending
upon various drivers. Service intensives are individual, stable factors that
lead the customer to a heightened sensitivity to service. One of the most
important of these factors can be called derived service expectations,
which occur when customer expectations are driven by another person
or group of people.
For example a parent chooses a vacation for the family, a spouse
selecting a home-cleaning service, an employee choosing an office for
the firm – all these customers‘ individual expectations are intensified
because they represent and must answer to other parties who will receive
the service.
Desired Service on the other hand is the level of service the customer
hopes to receive – the ‗wished for‘ level of performance. Desired service is
a blend of what the customer believes ‗can be‘ and ‗should be‘.
For example, consumers who sign up for a computer dating service
expect to finds compatible, attractive, interesting people to date and
perhaps even someone to marry. The expectation reflects the hopes and
wishes of these consumers; without these hopes and wishes and the belief
that they may be fulfilled, consumers would probably not purchase the
dating service.
Question: What are the sources of Desired Service Expectations?
The two largest influences on desired service level are personal needs and
lasting service intensifiers. Personal needs those states or conditions
essential to the physical or psychological well-being of the customer, are
pivotal factors that shape what customers desire in service. Personal
needs can fall into many categories, including physical, social,
psychological and functional. Some customers are more demanding than
others, having greater sensitivity to, and higher expectations of, service.
Lasting service intensifiers are individual, stable factors that lead the
customer to a heightened sensitivity to service. One of the most important
of these factors can be called derived service expectations, which occur
when customer expectations are driven by another person or group of
people. A niece from a big family who is planning a ninetieth birthday
party for a dearest cousin is representing the entire family in selecting a
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9. restaurant for a successful celebration. Her needs are driven in part by the
derived expectations from the other family members.
As some customers are more demanding than others, having greater
sensitivity to, and higher expectations from services. Lasting service
intensifiers are individual, stable factors that lead the customer to a
heightened sensitivity to service. One of the most important of these
factors can be called derived service expectations, which occur when
customer expectations are driven by another person or group of people.
Another lasting service intensifier is personal service philosophy – the
customer‘s underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service and
the proper conduct of service providers. If you have ever been employed
as a member of waiting staff in a restaurant, you are likely to have
standards for restaurant service that were shaped by your training and
experience in that role.
Question: What is the difference between lasting service intensifier and personal
service philosophy?
Lasting service intensifiers are individual, stable factors that lead the
customer to a heightened sensitivity to service. One of the most important
of these factors can be called derived service expectations, which occur
when customer expectations are driven by another person or group of
people, whereas, personal service philosophy is the customer‘s underlying
generic attitude about the meaning of service and the proper conduct of
service providers. Though it is a part of lasting service intensifier but to the
extent that customers have personal philosophies about service provision,
their expectations of service providers will be intensified.
Question: Should service marketers work to delight their customers?
Service marketers should work their best for delighting the customer
because it ―raises the bar‖ of customer expectations, making it more
difficult to satisfy the customer in the next purchase cycle and heighten
repurchases expectations. Service provider has to do a cost benefit
analysis to what extant he should please customer and at point in time it is
beneficial to say sorry.
Three tried and true ways to learn more about your customers:
 Give them an incentive to share information about themselves, (try
to make them partners)
 Talk to your customers in a meaningful way (even if their demands
are unrealistic say no very carefully), and
 Use technology to extend your reach (it helps in consistency in
services).
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10. Question: Why is it important to understand both desired and adequate service
expectations?
It is important to understand both desired and adequate service
expectations because it defines the tolerance band of customer.
Tolerance band of customer is the difference between desired and
adequate level of service. So as the desired and adequate level of service
varies depending on various physical and mental vibrations in customer‘s
stimulating environment, accordingly the zone of tolerance varies, and thus
same customer can have different level of satisfaction even if offered same
services at different times. For example as I described earlier (in exercise
question) when I was attempting to make a call to my friend after waiting
for a whole day, I wanted to talk to her immediately and my zone of
tolerance was very narrow. However if I have been attempting to call may
be some other person it might be possible that I haven‘t switched to
another service provider.
So in various scenarios adequate service expectation may vary and same is
the case with desired service level. Thus it is very important to understand
both desired and adequate service expectations.
Question: List and define the five dimensions of service quality.
The five dimensions of service, or the criteria used by customers to assess the
quality of services according to SERVQUAL model:
1. Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and
communication materials.
2. Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately.
3. Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt
service.
4. Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to
convey trust and confidence.
5. Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.
Question: Give five reasons why research objectives must be established before
marketing research is conducted?
 To discover customer requirements or expectations
 Monitor & track service performance
 Determine customer expectations for a new service
 To forecast future expectations of customers
 To monitor changing customer expectations
The culmination of the problem definition process is a statement of the
research objectives. These objectives are stated in terms of the precise
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11. information necessary to address the marketing research
problem/opportunity. Well-formulated objectives serve as a road map in
pursuing the research project. They also serve as a standard that later will
enable managers to evaluate the quality and value of the work by asking
―Were the objectives met?‖
Question: What steps would you take to evolve your firm’s relationships with
customers over time?
 At initial stage customers are like strangers. Business is needed to be
acquired by them by tempting them with providing the service
which they would surely like to try once.
 At second stage treat them as acquaintances, try to satisfy and
exceed customers‘ wants.
 At third stage make customers your friends in order to retain them in
business.
 Fourth stage is to make customers your partners to enhance
relationship with them.
Question: Should organizations have the concept of “Customer Segmentation”.
Why or why not?
Yes, organizations should follow the concept of ―Customer
Segmentation‖. It is the subdivision of a market into discrete customer
groups that share similar characteristics.
Firms can use various parameters to segment its customers e.g. according
to life time value (LTV) of customer, purchasing power of customer etc.
Customer Segmentation can be a powerful means to identify unmet
customer needs. Companies that identify underserved segments can then
outperform the competition by developing uniquely appealing products
and services.
Customer Segmentation is most effective when a company tailors
offerings to segments that are the most profitable and serves them with
distinct competitive advantages. This prioritisation can help companies
develop marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to extract maximum
value from both high- and low profit customers. A company can use
Customer Segmentation as the principal basis for allocating resources to
product development, marketing, service and delivery programs.
It also helps companies to stratify customer for various purposes like –
which customer has higher preference for retention (as generally only 20%
of the customers contribute to 80% of the firm‘s revenue). So there are
always customers who are more profitable for firms than others.
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12. Question: Describe the four levels of retention strategies and give example for
each type.
Question: Describe the benefits to a company of having an effective service
recovery strategy.
The goal of service recovery is to identify customers with issues and then to
address those issues to the customers' satisfaction to promote customer
retention. However, service recovery doesn't just happen. It is a
systematic business process that must be designed properly and
implemented in an organization. Moreover, the organizational culture
must be supportive of idea that customers are important and their voice
has value.
In case of service failure customer wants a quick acknowledgement of
the problem, speedy resolution of the problem, and -- perhaps --
compensation for his troubles. More important he wants a truly sincere
apology and not some phony empathy. That's the key value to effective
service recovery and complaint handling: customer retention.
One way to think about service recovery is that it is a positive approach to
complaint handling. Complaint handling has serious negative
connotations; whereas, service recovery has positive connotations.
Service recovery has a secondary value. It creates positive word-of-
mouth about your company and minimizes the bad spin that lack of
service recovery practices can create.
High customer retention can be attained if service recovery is as per
customer requirements.
Question: Should companies choose to monitor and respond to complaints
made on Social media? Why or why not?
Saying nothing when it comes to complaints or negative feedback about
your business is not a good thing.
Some of the complaints I saw went back a few months. Here this
company is, a huge name, and there is no one monitoring their Facebook
page or responding to what is being written on their wall. Why has a social
media presence if you plan on not responding to customers?
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13. There are companies who would rather delete these comments and
consider it ―under rug swept‖, but that is even worse. Erasing comments
after they have been placed on your social media pages looks as if
company has something to hide. And it doesn‘t solve the problem at
hand.
If a business has social media pages, it should have someone monitoring
that pages, as well as responding to comments or complaints—whether
they are good or bad.
Here are some ways how to respond to negative comments:
 Acknowledge- the first step you must take is to acknowledge the
complaint. And not defensively. Get down to the problem at hand.
 Apologize- Apologizing doesn‘t mean that you admit guilt. It means that
you truly do apologize for what they feel has been poor customer service,
etc.
 Restate- Make sure you know exactly what the problem is by restating it
and making sure you are on the same page
 Research- Track down the parties involved in the complaint. If the party is
within your company, do your best to handle it with the employee.
 Fix- Offer to discount or give a free service or item to the customer.
 Make it public- Make it public so that people know that you are doing
whatever it takes to satisfy the customer.
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