Page 104 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Unit 4: Service Strategies

Notes
Example: A dentist may not be able to provide appropriate services to a patient because
unavailability of modern machines.

Facilities: Some service organisations face capacity constraints due to limited facilities
available with them.

Example: A restaurant may not be able to accommodate extra people due to
unavailability of tables or an airline might to able to provide tickets to passengers because of
unavailability of vacant seats.

Caselet Case: Opening a Hair Salon Business
F or customers, using an appointment-driven service like a hair salon means waiting.

While waiting is the expectation of customers, the nature of the waiting experience
can make a major difference in what they think about your salon and even
overshadow the services you offer.
Start your planning of waiting line management by considering how you would like to
be treated when waiting. Look also at what competitors in your local market, both for
ideas and for mistakes. If you have a location in a mall or shopping centre, it can be easy
for customers to shop or take care of errands elsewhere while they wait their turn. The
downside of this for your business is that you can lose out on further engaging your
customers during that time, whether by having them look at hair style options in
magazines or brochures or consider the products you have for sale. Also, you run the
risk of waiting for the customer if they have wandered too far when you are finally
ready for them.

Having a comfortable and even entertaining waiting room does require investment and
upkeep, but it can be a valuable tool to improve the customer waiting experience. Product
displays, TV screens, magazines, and other items can improve this space, as can a water
dispenser or other refreshment options. If you serve children at your salon, the needs of a
waiting room take on a whole new character. Parents will be extremely appreciative if
you take care to provide activities and entertainment to occupy their kids as they wait, and
may not mind a longer than average wait as it will by more quickly for them.

In any case, it is important to have your staff set clear expectations for customers as to how
long their wait will be and then deliver on those expectations. Customers hate not knowing
how long they will have to wait and being told one wait time and then another. They may
leave feeling your staff either don’t know what they are doing or are deliberately
misleading them. Either possibility is very dangerous to your salon’s reputation.

The service you offer to customers includes every interaction, from the setting of the
appointment to all of the time the customer spends at your salon, including the wait. Your
plan for the waiting experience will influence your operations plan and financial
assumptions and should not be neglected as part of your salon’s business plan.
Source: Article by Eric Powers (ezinearticles.com)

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 99