Service Marketing:

Concept of service marketing:

• What do service means?

• Point out few examples of service
sectors.
• Definition of service: A service is
any act or performance one party
can offer to another that is
essentially intangible and does not
result in the ownership of
anything.
• Service Culture: It focus on serving
and satisfying the customer.
Service marketers should be able to
transform intangible services into
concrete benefits and a well-defined
experience.

Features of service marketing:

• Intangible:
• Inseparable:
• Perishable:
• Variability:
Please explain about each
features.....
Intangible: Service can be only
experienced, we cannot see, taste,
hear it.
◆ Place
◆ People
◆ Equipment
◆ Communication material
◆ Symbols
◆ Price

Inseparable: Services cannot be

separated from the individual.
Services are created and consumed
simultaneously.
Example: Dancers, Dentist, Customer
service personnel etc...
Perishability: Services have a high
degree of perishability. It cannot be
stored for further use. As services
are activities performed for
simultaneous consumption, they
perish unless consumed.
Example: Spare seats in an airplane
cannot be transferred to next flight.
Demand/Yield management should
be verified.
With regards to demand (customer
side)
Differential pricing: It will shift some
demand from peak to off-peak hours.
Example: Discounted matinee
movie tickets, special offers for car
rentals during weekends.
Nonpeak demand: Nonpeak demands
should be introduced. Example:
hotels Minivacation weekends,
McDonalds breakfast.
Complementary services: Alternative
services can be provided to waiting
customers, like CDM, Check-in Kiosk.
Reservations systems: They manage
the demand level. Like busy
restaurants, hotels etc.

With regards to supply:

Part-time employees: Part-time
employees should be there to serve
for peak demand time. Example:
Employing people during festivals.
Peak time efficiency routines: During
peak time, allow the employees to
perform only essential tasks.
Example: Carrying out only check-in,
check-out process, rather than
concentrating on welcoming , ATG
etc..
Increased consumer participation:
Participating customers in the
process. Example: Customers filling
the reg cards by themselves, self
service restaurants.
Facilities for future expansion: They
should planned about the future
expansion manage the demand level.
Example: Occupying the surrounding
land near to the hotel/amusement
park.
Shared services: It is good to share
some of the services to supply the
demands. Example: Having a mutual
understanding/contract with Car park
nearby.
Variability(Heterogeneity): Services
involve people and all the people are
different. It is important to minimize
the differences in the service
through proper training, QA, SOP etc.
Example: Check-in, checkout,
welcoming etc..
• External Marketing: It is the
normal work of preparing, pricing,
distributing and promoting the
service to customers.
• Internal Marketing: Training and
motivating employees to serve
customers well.
Interactive Marketing: It describes
the “skill in serving the client”.
Teamwork is the key for the
interactive marketing. Empowering
the frontline employees will help
greater service flexibility and
adaptability which promotes better
problem solving, closer employee
cooperation and more efficient
knowledge transfer.

Best practices in top service

companies:

• Strategic concept
• Top-management commitment
• High standards
• Profit Tiers
• Monitoring systems
Satisfying customer complaints