Characteristics of Services

13. Which of the following characteristics makes it EASIER to measure the quality of a service, relative to that of a product or facilitating good?

• The customer (or whatever other client) can't see or modify the substance of the

Nowadays, services dominate economy and generate most new jobs. This service encounter report aims to compare and contrast my own real-world service experiences using services marketing theories. Firstly, it will compare my two satisfactory encounters journals in East Coast Car Rentals and Ambient Hotel Colina to get the most satisfactory one. Secondly, two dissatisfactory encounters in Ray White Alderley and Myer will be compared to gain the least satisfactory one. Finally, I will give 3 recommendations for the least satisfactory encounter. Theories of level of tangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, and perishability; level of customer service;

It can become competitive as we will want more recommendations and more continuous business than any of our competitors in the trade, so as a business we will want to go that extra mile to impress customers. Customers like to have regular interaction with us as it makes them feel secure and confident.

The service experience includes four different aspects that must be understood before analyzing the experience: services setting, the service workers, the service customers, and the service process. The service setting is where the action or service performance unfolds (Fisk et al, 2014, p. 26). The setting can also be what the customer is unable to see (backstage). The service workers are those who work together to create the service for the customers including the seen and unseen. The service customers are the person, group, or organization receiving the service. Finally, the service process is the series of events during the service received (Fisk et al, 2014, p. 26).

Firstly, it is important to gain understanding as to what the service concept is. Johnston et al. (2012) defines a service concept as “a shared and articulated understanding of the nature of the service provided and received, which should capture information about the organising idea, the service provided and the service received – the experience and outcomes”.

There has to be an understanding of the complexity of services before one can begin to determine what challenges face the service industry and the most efficient means of facing those challenges to maintain success. A service organization provides intangible services for a monetary value as perceived by the consumer (Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011). A simple definition is that there are no physical items exchanged in a service transaction as opposed to retail where an item is given in exchange for a predetermined price point. This paper will provide

After examining the videos from this week, both women made some very valid points on key characteristics of human service professionals. I think one of the main prominent characteristics that a human service professional should exhibit is the commitment to making a change in individuals’ lives. When a human service professional is focused on making change they will do everything in their power to add to their professionalism. For example, when this is a component that they possess, they will be committed to training to help the clients better; they will make themselves flexible to broaden their abilities to helping in different areas no matter of their title (Duncan, Video). For the Bible declares, “The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped” (Proverbs 11:25, MSG).

Tangible goods, or rather manufactured goods, have been the dominant medium of exchange for centuries. However, recent decades have proved that it is no longer the case as there has been a prevalence of being service oriented (Vargo and Lusch, 2004:1-2). Services, as defined by Vargo and Lusch (2004), are  “the application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills) through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself (p.2).” Utilizing services gives businesses an edge, a competitive advantage, particularly in an evolving competitive market, something which Metalfrio is definitely part of (Vargo and Lusch, 2004:9).  Those businesses that learn to adapt tend to do well. In addition, Vargo and Lusch (2004) write this shift to services is also a shift from producer perspective to a customer perspective (p.2). Thus, it leads to more of a collaborative effort where co-creation leads to adding value to the service rather than a product having value (Vargo and Lusch, 2004:6). Also, customers rather develop relationships with those that can provide a range of related services over an extended period of time, thus allowing businesses retain their clients for the long term (Vargo and Lusch, 2004:13). Overall, service oriented marketing is a direction that businesses should be headed towards to ensure that they can remain relevant and competitive in the

Traditionally, Service quality can be portrayed as the result from client comparison between their assumptions about the service they will use and their insight about the service company. That implies that if the insight recognitions would be higher than the desired the service will be considered as fabulous, if the desires rise to the insight observations the service is viewed as great and if the desires are not met the service will be viewed as awful. For a service to be considered as good the organisation is required for making customers satisfied and service quality should be associated with customer perceptions and expectations. (Carlsson, 2010)

“Services are acts, deeds, performances, or relationships that produce time, place, form, or psychological utilities for customers” (Roberta S. Russell, 2014, p.194). Besides, there are some other explanation of service design: Service design is all about making the service you deliver useful, usable, efficient, effective and desirable (UK Design Council, 2010); Service design aims to ensure service interfaces are useful, usable and desirable for the client’s point of view and effective, efficient and distinctive from the supplier’s point of view (Birgit Mager, 2009); When you have two coffee shops right next to each other, and each sells

A service encounter is simply defined as a customer’s actual interaction with a service company. Shostack (1985) defined service encounter as the period of time that a customer interacts with a service. Merritt (1977:198), a linguistic scholar, views a service encounter as an instance of face to face interaction between a server who is ‘officially posted’ in some service area, that interaction being oriented to the satisfaction of the customer’s presumed desire for some service and the server’s obligation to provide that service. The service encounter is also known as the ‘moment of truth’ in which the customer often develops a perception about the business and often creates a differentiation from other competitors. Solomon et al (1985)

A product can be a product or a service. If your product provides sufficient value to customers, they will buy - no matter how good or bad the economic situation is, if they perceive value they will pay the price (Wood, 2010).

Qns: Discuss the 4 major characteristics of services and the marketing strategies available for the service organization.

Sureshchandra, Rajendran and Anantharaman (2002) identified five critical aspects of service quality from the customers point of view namely core service/service product, human element of service delivery, systematisation of service delivery, tangibles of service and lastly social responsibility in order to conceptualise service quality. Table 1 will further provide an explanation to the five critical aspects of service quality as outlined by Sureshchandra et al (2002).