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Unit 4: Customer Expectations and Perceptions of Services through Marketing Research
2. Phone Encounters: Over the years, the use of telecommunications has increased Notes
significantly. Companies have started offering telephonic services like customer inquiry,
registration of complaints, taking orders, and reserving tickets.
Example: Service companies like utilities, insurance, telecommunications, and banking
are using telecommunication facilities to provide service to customers.
The service quality in such encounters can be estimated on the basis of variables like
employee knowledge, tone of voice, and his efficiency or effectiveness in providing the
service.
3. Face-to-face Encounters: Face-to-face encounters involve direct human contact between a
service provider and a customer. These types of encounters occur in places like restaurants,
banks, and grocery stores. It is quite difficult to evaluate the quality of service in these
encounters as it involves assessment of both verbal and non-verbal behaviour.
Further, in face-to-face encounters, customers play a role in the creation of quality service
for themselves through their interactions with the employees of a service provider. Here
comes in the concept of boundary spanners. Boundary spanners are organisational members
who link their organisation with the external environment. Boundary spanning primarily
concerns the exchange of information [Daft, 1989]. A boundary spanner is further defined
as one who attempts to influence external environmental elements and processes.
Thus, such people should be careful of delivering the right image of their organisation to
the external customers. In service encounters, first impressions matter a lot. The saying-
first impression is the last impression, fits near perfectly on service firms. These firms
should make sure that they give the best service on the first encounter itself to ensure
repeat visits by the customers.
Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction in Service Encounters
Evaluation of the quality of a service encounter will result in either customer satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. Some of the factors that affect customer satisfaction / dissatisfaction and influence
a customers perception about the service are discussed below.
1. Recovery: Recovery is a situation when a service failure has occurred and includes how
well the employees of the service provider respond to the situation.
Example: Service failure may include flight delays, failure to obtain a room in a hotel
despite making the reservation in advance, and improper service in a restaurant.
Customers too know that it is not always possible to get perfect service. However, it depends
on a service provider how he responds and satisfies his customer during service failures.
Service providers should listen to their customers patiently and find out the problem at
hand, clearly without any misunderstandings. Further, a service provider should accept
his failure, apologize for it and assure the customer of his ability to correct the mistake.
Service providers should also explain to customers how they are going to solve the problem
and offer them additional benefits to satisfy them. Such measures reinforce the trust and
confidence of customers in a service provider and make them form a favourable opinion
of the service.
2. Adaptability: Adaptability is a service providers ability to deal with the special requests
or needs of his customers. A flexible service delivery system will help the employees of
the service organisation to manage these types of requests.
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