Page 108 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Unit 6: Service Quality

expectations from receipt of external stimuli from many sources - ranging from those that are Notes
company-controlled to social influences. These form the bases of his reference-to-come for the
service experience. The customer’s perceptions indicate the service as actually received, for all
practical purposes, since what we perceive is what is real to us. Perceptions are everything.
Company-controlled external stimuli are: service product/offer, price, advertising,
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promotions, displays, outlets etc.
Social influences as external stimuli are: word of mouth communications and reference
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groups.
Other influencers of expectations are: personal needs and past experience of the customer.
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The customer gap indicates the difference between actual performance and the customer’s
perception of the service. There are a lot of subjective judgments made by customers. Last
experiences may prejudice them and change their estimation of quality.

Example: A customer is satisfied with a certain restaurant; but his last experience there
(it could be because of a new waiter) could leave him embittered, washing away years of happy
experiences at one go.

Lesson: We are only as good as our last ‘Moment of Truth’, and what it signified to the customer.
Service quality is all about the responsiveness of an organisation to meet the customer’s
expectations. The service performance is measured by the perceived service quality. The quality
of a service has two components:
Technical Quality: This is the end result of the service operations process.
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Functional Quality: This is about the process, especially concerning the interaction between
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the customer and service provider.
These two factors inject a heavy dose of subjectivity into the service process.
Any service organisation would be desirous of closing the gap between what is expected and
what the customer has received. To them, this would be absolutely necessary to build a long-
term relationship with the customer, to retain him. But in order to close the Customer Gap,
another type of gap has to be closed: the Provider Gap.

The Provider Gap

There are four provider gaps and these in sum total are the cause of the Customer Gap. They are
the shortfalls within the service firm. To close the customer gap, the provider gap (or, as also
known, Company Gap) has to be bridged. The four provider gaps are:

Gap 1: Customer Expectation – Management Perception Gap

It is the inability of top management to perceive what the customer wants, and is the main
reason why a firm cannot meet a customer’s expectations. The company is blinded by a perceptual
veil of ignorance, arrogance or criminal neglect.
Some of the reasons why Gap-1 can occur are:
Inadequate marketing research;
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Lack of upward communication in the organisation;
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Insufficient focus on relationship building (‘don’t care’ attitude), etc.
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