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Unit 9: The Service Encounter

based on trust, as customers have to purchase a service even before experiencing it. A popular Notes
method of managing trust is through the money back guarantee. Under this scheme, the firm
promises to refund the customer’s money if he is not satisfied with the service delivery. For
example, BlueDart promises to refund money, if customer’s parcel is not delivered at the right
destination in stipulated time. In addition to increasing customer involvement in the service
delivery, this also enhances the trust of the customer in the service quality. Many restaurants set
up a glass pane separating the kitchen area from the service area. This allows customers to view
how their food is being prepared in the kitchen. A common practice in several 5-star hotels is
that when a customer orders for delicacies like crabs, the chef displays a live crab to the customer
to obtain his approval before cooking it.
Facilitating quality service: A customer’s perceptions of service quality are shaped by a firm’s
ability to manage the tangible clues of its service. Often, customers form opinions about the
quality of service by the way the service is delivered or the processes involved in the service
delivery. Firms can enhance the value of their service by trying to attain perfection in the basic
aspects of the service like orderliness, customer-friendliness, and cleanliness. In addition, firms
should create evidence that appeals to the target market. For example, while marketing the
movie ‘Harry Potter’, the distributors of the film also sold spectacles and toys of the kind used
by the hero in the film to attract kids to the movie. Thus, the distributors were selling not just the
movie, but the entire experience associated with it.
Providing a sensory stimulation to customers: Marketing of services is made easier by attaching
an entertainment or fun factor to it. By doing so, a service provider stimulates the senses of
customers and makes them realise the difference from other service providers. For example, a
tourist destination that has an amusement park, bungee jumping, skiing, movie theatre, and
trekking facilities will highlight the fun factor of the place and will be more attractive to most
tourists than a tourist destination that is located on a hill with no such facilities.
Changing the image of service organisations: An organisation that aims to change its image
should give importance to managing the evidence. Changing the current image in the minds of
customers and superimposing it with a new image is a difficult and challenging task for the
service organisation. For example, when McDonald’s entered the Indian market, it easily
succeeded in capturing the kids’ and teens’ market. However, to give itself an image that it
serves the entire family and not just kids and teens, it launched a series of advertisements
showing elderly couples eating at the restaurant and sharing tender moments along with delicious
food, families celebrating birthdays at the restaurant, and so on. This strategy by the food chain
helped change its image from that catering to the kids’ and teens’ market to being a complete
family destination.
Instilling the service philosophy in the employees of the service provider: A service provider,
while training his employees, should clearly communicate his organisation’s service philosophy
to them. The management can also instill the service culture in its employees through tangible
evidence, which help reinforce the company’s service philosophy in the minds of the employees
as well as communicate the same to customers.

Example: Theme parks and several toy stores have service personnel dressed up as
cartoon characters to convey the fun element and create a lively and buoyant mood in the other
service personnel who will in turn be able to replicate the same while serving customers.
Tangible clues of the service also convey the care and concern of a service organisation towards
its employees.

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