Wirtz • Chew • Lovelock

Essentials of Essentials of
Services Marketing
2nd Edition Services Marketing
2nd Edition

Essentials of Services Marketing

Services is the flavor of the new economy
Nothing stands still. Technology evolves dramatically, customer needs keep changing,
and new industries emerge. To forge ahead in this highly competitive landscape,
businesses increasingly rely on service and service products to create and capture value.
The Essentials of Services Marketing, Second Edition is written in response to this global
transformation of our economies to services.

As the field of services marketing grows rapidly, there is a need to introduce students to
this field with a text that is reader-friendly and easy to understand. This text is underpinned
by a streamlined pedagogical framework that is coherent and progressive. The text’s
strong managerial perspective is grounded in solid academic research and provides
practical management applications reinforced by many vivid examples.
Service
In this textbook, you will discover these terrific features: from the
heart

Full-color visual
learning aids
through the 15
chapters promoting
21 outstanding
international cases that
span the Americas, Teaching tools that
Europe and Asia, helping complement the text
students to relate to to make teaching and
the world of services

I 2nd Edition
comprehension and assessment easier.
recall of salient points. marketing. A number of
new cases is added in this
edition.

Jochen Wirtz
Patricia Chew
ISBN 978-981-06-8618-5
Christopher Lovelock

ESM.indd 1 5/7/12 3:26 PM

 Brief Contents
Dedication v
About the Authors vii
About the Contributors of the Cases xi
Preface xxiii
Acknowledgments xxxv

Part I: Understanding Service Products,

Consumers, and Markets 2
Chapter 1 Introduction to Services Marketing 4
Chapter 2 Consumer Behavior in a Services Context 34
Chapter 3 Positioning Services in Competitive Markets 66

Part II: Applying the 4 Ps of Marketing to Services 94

Chapter 4 Developing Service Products: Core and Supplementary Elements 96
Chapter 5 Distributing Services through Physical and Electronic Channels 122
Chapter 6 Setting Prices and Implementing Revenue Management 150
Chapter 7 Promoting Services and Educating Customers 188

Part III: Designing and Managing the Customer Interface 224

Chapter 8 Designing and Managing Service Processes 226
Chapter 9 Balancing Demand and Capacity 264
Chapter 10 Crafting the Service Environment 296
Chapter 11 Managing People for Service Advantage 322

Part IV: Developing Customer Relationships 356

Chapter 12 Managing Relationships and Building Loyalty 358
Chapter 13 Complaint Handling and Service Recovery 394

Part V: Striving for Service Excellence 428

Chapter 14 Improving Service Quality and Productivity 430
Chapter 15 Organizing for Service Leadership 476

Part VI: Cases 502

Glossary 649
Credits 657
Name Index 661
Subject Index 671

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 PART  I
PART I

Understanding Service Products, Consumers, and Markets

• Introduction to Services Marketing
• Consumer Behavior in a Services Context
• Positioning Services in Competitive Markets

PART II PART III PART IV

Applying the 4 Ps of Designing and Managing Developing Customer

Marketing to Services the Customer Interface Relationships
• Developing Service Products: The 3 Additional Ps of Services • Managing Relationships and
Core and Supplementary Marketing. Building Loyalty
Elements • Complaint Handling and Service
• Designing and Managing
• Distributing Services through Service Processes Recovery
Physical and Electronic
Channels • Balancing Demand and
Capacity
• Setting Prices and
Implementing Revenue • Crafting the Service
Management Environment
• Promoting Services and • Managing People for Service
Educating Customers Advantage

PART V

Striving for Service Excellence

• Improving Service Quality and Productivity
• Organizing for Service Leadership

Figure 1.20  Integrated Model of Services Marketing.

Understanding Service Products, Consumers, and Markets 25

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 The key contents of the five parts of this book are:

PART I
Understanding Service Products, Consumers, and Markets
Part I of this book lays the foundation for studying services and learning how to become an effective services
marketer.
• Chapter 1—We define services and shows how we can create value without transfer of ownership.
• Chapter 2—We discuss consumer behavior in both high- and low-contact services. The three-stage model
of service consumption is used to explore how customers search for and evaluate alternative services, make
purchase decisions, experience and respond to service encounters, and evaluate service performance.
• Chapter 3—We discuss how a service value proposition should be positioned in a way that creates
competitive advantage for the firm. The chapter shows how firms can segment a service market, position
their value proposition, and focus on attracting their target segment.

PART II
Applying the 4 Ps of Marketing to Services
Part II revisits the 4 Ps of the traditional marketing mix taught in your basic marketing course. However, the
4 Ps are expanded to take into consideration the characteristics of services that are different from goods.
• Chapter 4—Product includes both the core and supplementary service elements. The supplementary
elements facilitate and enhance the core service offering.
• Chapter 5—Place and time elements refer to the delivery of the product elements to customers.
• Chapter 6—Prices of services need to be set with reference to costs, competition and value, and revenue
management considerations.
• Chapter 7—Promotion and education explain how firms should inform customers about their services. In
services marketing, much communication is educational in nature to teach customers how to effectively
move through service processes.

PART III
Designing and Managing the Customer Interface
Part III of the book focuses on managing the interface between customers and the service firm. It covers the
additional 3 Ps that are unique to services marketing and not found in goods marketing.
• Chapter 8—Processes create and deliver the product elements. The chapter begins with the design of
effective delivery processes, specifying how the operating and delivery systems link together to create
the value proposition. Very often, customers are involved in these processes as co-producers, and well-
designed processes should account for that.

26  Chapter 1 • Introduction to Services Marketing

01 Ch1 1-32.indd 26 10/5/12 3:35 PM

 PART  I
• Chapter 9—This chapter also relates to process management and focuses on balancing fluctuating
demand and productive capacity for each step of a customer service process. Marketing strategies for
managing demand involve smoothing demand fluctuations, inventorying demand through reservation
systems, and formalized queuing. Managing customer waiting is also explored in this chapter.
• Chapter 10—The physical environment, also known as the servicescape, needs to be designed and
engineered to create the right impression and facilitate effective service process delivery. The servicescape
provides tangible evidence of a firm’s image and service quality.
• Chapter 11—People play a very important role in services marketing. Many services require direct
interaction between customers and service personnel. The nature of these interactions strongly influences
how customers perceive service quality. Hence, service firms devote a significant amount of effort to
recruiting, training, and motivating employees. How to get all this right is explained using the Service
Talent Cycle as an integrative framework.

PART IV
Developing Customer Relationships
Part IV focuses on how to develop customer relationships and build loyalty.
• Chapter 12—Achieving profitability requires creating relationships with customers from the right
segments and then finding ways to build and reinforce their loyalty. This chapter introduces the Wheel
of Loyalty, which shows three systematic steps in building customer loyalty. The chapter closes with a
discussion of customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• Chapter 13—A loyal customer base often is built from effective complaint handling and service recovery,
which are discussed in this chapter. Service guarantees are explored as a powerful way of institutionalizing
effective service recovery and as an effective marketing tool to signal high quality service.

PART V
Striving for Service Excellence
Part V focuses on how to develop and transform a firm to achieve service excellence.
• Chapter 14—Productivity and quality are both necessary and are strongly related to financial success
in services. This chapter focuses on service quality, diagnosing quality shortfalls using the Gaps Model,
and strategies to close quality gaps. Customer feedback systems are discussed as an effective tool for
systematically listening to and learning from customers. Productivity is introduced as being closely
related to quality, and it is emphasized that in today’s competitive markets, firms need to simultaneously
improve both quality and productivity—not one at the expense of the other.
• Chapter 15—The Service Profit Chain is used as an integrative model to demonstrate the strategic
linkages involved in running a successful service organization. Implementing the service profit chain
requires the integration of the three key functions of marketing, operations, and human resources. This
chapter discusses how to move a service organization to higher levels of performance in each functional
area, and closes with a discussion about the role of leadership in creating and maintaining a climate for
service.

Understanding Service Products, Consumers, and Markets 27

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 11
CHAPTER

managing people for

SERVICE
ADVANTAGE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, the reader should be able to:

LO 1 Explain why service employees are
so important to the success of a
firm.
LO 2 Understand the factors that make
the work of frontline staff so
demanding and often difficult.
LO 3 Describe the cycles of failure,
mediocrity, and success in HR for
service firms.
LO 4 Understand the key elements of
the Service Talent Cycle and know
how to get HR right in service firms.
LO 10 Understand the role of service
LO 5 Know how to attract, select and
hire the right people for service
jobs.
LO 6 Explain the key areas in which
service employees need training.
LO 7 Understand why empowerment is
so important in many frontline jobs.
LO 8 Explain how to build high-perfor-
mance service delivery teams.
LO 9 Know how to motivate and
energize service employees so that
they will deliver service excellence
and productivity.
leadership and culture in developing
people for service advantage.

Figure 11.1  A waitress’ pride in her professionalism

earns her admiration and respect from customers and
co-workers.

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 OPENING VIGNETTE
Cora Griffith—The Outstanding
Waitress1
Cora Griffith is a waitress for the Orchard Café at the Paper
Valley Hotel in Appleton, Wisconsin. She is excellent in her
role, appreciated by first-time customers, famous with her
regular customers, and admired and respected by her co-
workers. Cora loves her work and it shows. She implements
the following nine rules of success:
1. Treat Customers Like Family. First-time customers are
not allowed to feel like strangers. Cora smiles, chats,
and includes everyone at the table in the conversation.
She is as respectful to children as she is to adults and
makes it a point to learn and use everyone’s name.
“I want people to feel like they’re sitting down to
dinner right at my house. I want them to feel they’re
welcome, that they can get comfortable, that they can
relax. I don’t just serve people, I pamper them.”
2. Listen First. Cora has developed her listening skills
to the point that she rarely writes down customers’
orders. She listens carefully and provides a customized
service: “Are they in a hurry? Or do they have a special
diet or like their selection cooked in a certain way?”
3. Anticipate Customers’ Wants. She refills beverages
and brings extra bread and butter in a timely manner.
One regular customer, for example, who likes honey
with her coffee gets it without having to ask. “I don’t
want my customers to have to ask for anything, so I
always try to anticipate what they might need.”
4. Simple Things Make the Difference. She manages the
details of her service, keeps track of the cleanliness of
the utensils and their correct placement. The fold for
napkins must be just right. She inspects each plate in
the kitchen before taking it to the table. She provides
crayons for small children to draw pictures while
waiting for the meal. “It’s the little things that please
the customer.”
5. Work Smart. Cora scans all her tables at once, looking
for opportunities to combine tasks. “Never do just one
thing at a time. And never go from the kitchen to the
dining room empty-handed. Take coffee or iced tea
or water with you.” When she refills one water glass,
she refills others. When clearing one plate, she clears
others. “You have to be organized, and you have to
keep in touch with the big picture.”
11 Ch11 322-354.indd 323
6. Keep Learning.
Cora makes it an
ongoing effort
to improve
existing skills
and learn new
ones.
7. Success Is Where You Find It. Cora is satisfied with
her work. She finds satisfaction in pleasing her
customers, and she enjoys helping other people
enjoy. Her positive attitude is a positive force in the
restaurant. “If customers come to the restaurant in a
bad mood, I’ll try to cheer them up before they leave.”
Her definition of success: “To be happy in life.”
8. All for One, One for All. She has been working with
many of the same co-workers for more than eight
years. The team supports one another on the crazy
days when 300 conventioneers come to the restaurant
for breakfast at the same time. Everyone helps out.
PART  III
The wait staff cover for one another, the managers
bus the tables, and the chefs garnish the plates. “We
are like a little family. We know each other very well
and we help each other out. If we have a crazy day,
I’ll go in the kitchen towards the end of the shift and
say, ‘Man, I’m just proud of us. We really worked hard
today.’”
9. Take Pride in Your Work. Cora believes in the
importance of her work and in the need to do it well. “I
don’t think of myself as ‘just a waitress’… I’ve chosen
to be a waitress. I’m doing this to my full potential, and
I give it my best. I tell anyone who’s starting out: take
pride in what you do. You’re never just an anything, no
matter what you do. You give it your all … and you do
it with pride.”
Cora Griffith is a success story. She is
loyal to her employer and dedicated
to her customers and co-workers.
She is proud of being a waitress,
proud of “touching lives.” Says Cora,
“I have always wanted to do my best.
However, the owners really are the
ones who taught me how important
it is to take care of the customer and
who gave me the freedom to do it.
The company always has listened to
my concerns and followed up. Had I
not worked for the Orchard Café, I
would have been a good waitress,
but I would not have been the same
waitress.”
Designing and Managing the Customer Interface 323
9/5/12 11:00 AM
 LO 1
Explain why service employees
are so important to the success
of a firm.
Figure 11.2  Service personnel
represent the firm and often
build personal relationships
with their customers.
324  Chapter 11 • Managing People for Service Advantage
11 Ch11 322-354.indd 324
SERVICE EMPLOYEES ARE
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
H
ighly capable and motivated people are at the center of service excellence and
productivity. Cora Griffin in our Opening Vignette is a powerful demonstration
of a frontline employee delivering service excellence and productivity and, at the
same time, having high job satisfaction. Many of the topics in Cora Griffin’s nine
rules of success are the result of good HR strategies for service firms. After reading
this chapter, you will know how to get HR right in service firms, and how to get
satisfied, loyal, motivated, and productive service employees.
From a customer’s perspective, the encounter with service staff is probably the most
important aspect of a service. From the firm’s perspective, the service levels, and
the way service is delivered by frontline personnel can be an important source of
differentiation as well as competitive advantage. But why are service employees so
important to customers and the firm’s competitive positioning? This is because the
frontline:
u Is a core part of the product. Often, service employees are the most visible
element of the service. They deliver the service and affect service quality greatly.
u Is the service firm. Frontline employees represent the service firm, and, from a
customer’s perspective, they are the firm.
u Is the brand. Frontline employees and the service they provide are often a core
part of the brand. It is the employees who determine whether the brand promise
is delivered.
u Affects sales. Service personnel are often extremely important for generating
sales, cross-sales, and up-sales.
u Determines productivity. Frontline employees have heavy influence on the
productivity of frontline operations.
Furthermore, frontline employees play a key role in anticipating customers’ needs,
customizing the service delivery (Figure 11.2), and building personalized relationships
with customers.2 When these activities are performed effectively, it should lead to
customer loyalty. The story of Cora Griffith and many other success stories of how
employees putting in the extra effort have made a difference and strengthen the belief
that highly motivated people are at the core of service excellence.3 Increasingly, they
are a key factor in creating and maintaining competitive positioning and advantage.
The Frontline in Low-Contact Services
Much research in service management relates to high-contact services. However,
many services are moving toward using low-contact delivery channels such as call
centers, where contact is voice-to-voice rather than face-to-face. A growing number
of transactions no longer even involve frontline staff. As a result, a large and increasing
number of customer-contact employees work by telephone or e-mail, never meeting
customers face-to-face. So, are frontline employees really that important for such
services?
9/5/12 11:00 AM
 The Cycle of Success
Some firms take a longer-term view of financial performance, seeking to prosper by
investing in their people in order to create a “Cycle of Success” (Figure 11.11).

As with failure or mediocrity, success applies to both employees and customers. Better
pay and benefits attract good-quality staff. Broadened job scopes are accompanied by
training and empowerment practices that allow frontline staff to control quality. With
more focused recruitment, intensive training, and better wages, employees are likely
to be happier in their work and provide higher-quality service. The lower turnover
means that regular customers appreciate the continuity in service relationships and
are more likely to remain loyal. With greater customer loyalty, profit margins tend
to be higher. The organization is free to focus its marketing efforts on strengthening
customer loyalty through customer retention strategies.

A powerful demonstration of a frontline employee working in the Cycle of Success is

waitress Cora Griffin (featured in the Opening Vignette of this chapter). Even public
service organizations in many countries are increasingly working toward creating

Low
Customer
Turnover Repeat Emphasis on
Customer Loyalty and
Retention

Customer
Loyalty
Higher
Profit
Margins
Broadened
Lowered Turnover, Job Designs
High Service Quality

Continuity in
Relationship with Training and Empowerment of
Customer Employee Satisfaction, Frontline Personnel to Control Quality
Positive Service Attitude

cl Above-Average
e

Extensive Cy Wages
Training Employee
High Customer
Satisfaction Intensified
Selection Effort

Figure 11.11  The Cycle of Success.

Source

From MIT Sloan Management Review. Copyright 1991 by Massachusettes Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
Distributed by Tribune Media Services.

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 their own cycles of success, and offering their users good-quality service at a lower
cost to the public.13

When we look at the three cycles, it is, of course, ideal for firms to be operating
under the conditions in the Cycle of Success. However, firms operating under the
other two cycles can still survive if some element of their offering meets customer
expectations. For example, in a restaurant context, customers may be dissatisfied
with the service provided by the staff, but if they are willing to accept it because they
like the restaurant’s quality of food, then that element has met their expectations.
Nevertheless, for long-run profitability and success, firms should ideally move toward
the Cycle of Success.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT—HOW TO LO 4

GET IT RIGHT? Understand the key elements
of the Service Talent Cycle and

A ny manager who thinks logically would like to operate in the Cycle of know how to get HR right in
service firms.
Success. But what strategies will help service firms to move in that direction?
Figure 11.12 shows the Service Talent Cycle, which is our guiding framework for

PART  III
successful HR practices in service firms. We will discuss the recommended practices
one by one in this section.

3. Motivate and Energize 1. Hire the Right

Your People People
Leadership that
u Focuses u Be the Preferred Employer and
u Use the Full Range of Rewards:
the Entire • Pay Compete for Talent Market Share
Organization on • Bonus
Supporting the • Job Comfort
Frontline • Feedback and Recognition u Intensify Selection Process
u Fosters a Strong • Goal Accomplishment to Hire the Right People for
Service Excellence the Organization and the
Service Culture and Productivity Given Job
with Passion
for Service and
Productivity 2. Enable Your People
u Drives Values
that Inspire, u Build High-Performance u Extensive Training on:
Energize, and Service Delivery Teams: • Organizational Culture,
Guide Service • Ideally Cross-Functional, u Empower Purpose, and Strategy
Providers Customer-centric the • Interpersonal and
Structure Frontline Technical Skills
• Develop Team Structures • Product/Service
and Skills That Work Knowledge

Figure 11.12  The Service Talent Cycle.

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 CHAPTER SUMMARY
LO 1 u Service employees are extremely important to
the success of a service firm because they:
o Are a core part of the service product.
o Represent the service firm in the eyes of
the customer.
o Are a core part of the brand as they deliver
the brand promise.
o Generate sales, cross-sales and up-sales.
o Are a key driver of the productivity of the
frontline operations.
o Are a source of customer loyalty.
o Are the ones who leave an impression
on the customer in those few but critical
‘moments of truth’ encounters, even in
low-contact services.
LO 2 u The work of frontline employees is difficult
and stressful because they are in boundary
spanning positions which often have:
o Organization/client conflicts.
o Person/role conflict.
o Inter-client conflicts.
o Emotional labor and emotional stress.
LO 3 u We used three types of cycles involving
frontline employees and customers to describe
how firms can be set up for failure, mediocrity,
and success:
o The Cycle of Failure involves a low pay and
high employee turnover strategy, and as
a consequence results in high customer
dissatisfaction and defections, which
decrease profit margins.
o The Cycle of Mediocrity is typically found
in large bureaucracies, offering job security
but not much scope in the job itself. There
is no incentive to serve customers well.
o Successful service firms operate in the
Cycle of Success, where employees are
satisfied with their jobs and are productive,
and as a consequence, customers are
satisfied and loyal. High profit margins
allow investment in the recruitment,
development and motivation of the right
frontline employees.
348  Chapter 11 • Managing People for Service Advantage
11 Ch11 322-354.indd 348
LO 4 u The Service Talent Cycle is a guiding framework
for successful HR strategies in service firms,
helping them to move their firms into the cycle
of success. Implementing the service talent
cycle correctly will give firms highly motivated
employees who are willing and able to deliver
service excellence and go the extra mile for
their customers, and are highly productive at
the same time. It has four key prescriptions:
o Hire the right people.
o Enable frontline employees.
o Motivate and energize them.
o Have a leadership team that emphasizes
and supports the frontline.
LO 5 u To hire the right people, firms need to attract,
select, and hire the right people for their
firm and any given service job. Best-practice
HR strategies start with recognition that, in
many industries, the labor market is highly
competitive. Competing for talent by being the
preferred employer requires:
o That the company be seen as a preferred
employer, and as a result, receive a large
number of applications from the best
potential candidates in the labor market.
o That careful selection ensures new
employees fit both job requirements
and the organization’s culture. Select the
best suited candidates using screening
methods such as observation, personality
tests, structured interviews, and providing
realistic job previews.
LO 6 u To enable their frontline employees, firms need
to:
o Conduct painstaking extensive training on:
(1) the organizational culture, purpose, and
strategy, (2) interpersonal and technical
skills, and (3) product/service knowledge.
LO 7 u Empower the frontline so that they can
respond with flexibility to customer needs and
nonroutine encounters and service failures.
Empowerment and training will give employees
the authority, skills, and self-confidence to
use their own initiative in delivering service
excellence.
9/5/12 11:00 AM
 LO 8 u Organize frontline employees into effective
service delivery teams (often cross-functional)
that can serve their customers from end to
end.
LO 9 u Finally, energize and motivate employees with a
full set of rewards, ranging from pay, satisfying
job content, recognition and feedback, to goal
accomplishment.
11 Ch11 322-354.indd 349
LO 10 u Top and middle managers, including frontline
supervisors, need to continuously reinforce
a strong culture that emphasizes service
excellence. Effective service leadership
involves:
o Focusing the entire organization on
supporting the front line.
o Having a strong communications effort to
shape the culture and get the message to
everyone in the company.
PART  III
Designing and Managing the Customer Interface 349
9/5/12 11:00 AM
 UNLOCK YOUR LEARNING

These keywords are found within the sections of each Learning Objective (LO). They are integral to understanding the services
marketing concepts taught in each section. Having a firm grasp of these keywords and how they are used is essential to helping
you do well on your course, and in the real and very competitive marketing scene out there.

LO 1 1 Brand LO 4 20 Human resource LO 9 45 Energize

2 Low-contact services
3 “Moments of truth”
4 Personalized
relationships
5 Productivity
6 Service employees
7 Service firm
LO 2 8 Boundary spanning
9 Emotional labor
10 Inter-client conflict
11 Organization/Client
conflict
12 Person/Role conflict
13 Role conflict
LO 3 14 Customer cycle of
failure
15 Cycle of Failure
16 Cycle of Mediocrity
17 Cycle of Success
18 Employee cycle of
failure
19 Service sabotage
management 46 Feedback
21 Service Talent Cycle 47 Goal achievement
48 Job content
LO 5 22 Hire 49 Motivate
23 Multiple, structured 50 Recognition
interviews
24 Observe behavior LO 10 51 Charismatic leadership
25 Personality tests 52 Culture
26 Preferred employer 53 Inverted organizational
27 Preview of the job pyramid
28 Select 54 Ritz-Carlton’s Gold
Standards
LO 6 29 Interpersonal skills 55 Service culture
30 Organizational culture 56 Service leadership
31 Product knowledge 57 Transformational
32 Service knowledge leadership
33 Technical skills
34 Training
LO 7 35 Employee involvement
36 Employee self-
direction
37 Empowerment
38 High involvement
How well do
39 Job involvement
40 Suggestion you know
involvement the language
of services
LO 8 41 Cross-functional teams marketing? Quiz
42 Effective teamwork yourself!
43 Self-managed teams
44 Service-delivery team

Not for the academically faint-of-heart

For each keyword you are able to recall without referring to earlier pages, give yourself a
point (and a pat on the back). Tally your score at the end and see if you earned the right to be
called—a services marketeer.

SCORE
  0 – 12 Services Marketing is done a great disservice.
13 – 23 The midnight oil needs to be lit, pronto.
24 – 33 I know what you didn’t do all semester.
34 – 43 By George! You’re getting there.
44 – 53 Now, go forth and market.
54 – 57 There should be a marketing concept named after you.

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 KNOW YOUR ESM
Review Questions

1. Why are service personnel so important for
service firms?
2. There is a trend of service delivery moving
from high contact to low contact. Are service
employees still important in low-contact
services? Explain your answer.
3. What is emotional labor? Explain the ways
in which it may cause stress for employees
in specific jobs. Illustrate your answer with
suitable examples.
4. What are the key barriers for firms to break
the Cycle of Failure and move into the Cycle
of Success? And how should an organization
trapped in the Cycle of Mediocrity proceed?
5. List five ways in which investment in hiring
and selection, training, and ongoing motivation
of employees will have a positive impact on
customer satisfaction for organizations like
6. Describe the key components of the Service
Talent Cycle.
7. What can a service firm do to become a
preferred employer, and as a result, receive
a large number of applications from the best
potential candidates in the labor market?
8. How can a firm select the best-suited
candidates from a large number of applicants?
9. What are the key types of training service
firms should conduct?
10. What are the factors that favor a strategy of
employee empowerment?
11. How can frontline employees be effectively
motivated to deliver service excellence?
12. How can a service firm build a strong service
culture that emphasizes service excellence?

PART  III
(a) a restaurant, (b) an airline, (c) a hospital, and
(d) a consulting firm.

WORK YOUR ESM

Application Exercises

1. An airline runs a recruiting advertisement for service firm you are familiar with. What
cabin crew that shows a picture of a small boy recommendations would you prescribe to each
sitting in an airline seat and clutching a teddy of these two firms?
bear. The headline reads: “His mom told him
4. Think of two organizations you are familiar
not to talk to strangers. So what’s he having
with, one that has a very good service culture,
for lunch?” Describe the types of personalities
and one that has a very poor service culture.
that you think would be (a) attracted to apply
Describe the factors that contributed to
for the job by that ad, and (b) discouraged from
shaping those organizational cultures. What
applying.
factors do you think contributed most? Why?
2. Consider the following jobs: emergency
5. Which issues do you see as most likely to
department nurse, bill collector, computer
create boundary spanning problems for
repair technician, supermarket cashier, dentist,
employees in a customer contact center at a
kindergarten teacher, prosecuting attorney,
major Internet service provider? Select four
server in a family restaurant, server in an
issues and indicate how you would mediate
expensive French restaurant, stockbroker, and
between operations and marketing to create a
undertaker. What type of emotions would you
satisfactory outcome for all three groups.
expect each of them to display to customers in
the course of doing their job? What drives your 6. Identify the factors needed to make service
expectations? teams successful in (a) an airline, (b) a
restaurant, and (c) a customer contact centre.
3. Use the Service Talent Cycle as a diagnostic
tool on a successful and an unsuccessful

Designing and Managing the Customer Interface 351

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 Services Marketing is available for various audiences:

Essentials of Services Marketing: Winning in Service Markets:

Services Marketing People, Technology, Strategy Success Through People,
Published by Pearson Education Technology Strategy

Suitable for: Suitable for: Suitable for:

• Polytechnic Students • Advanced Undergraduate Students • Executive Program/EMBA Participants
• Undergraduate Students • Master’s-Level/MBA Students • Practitioners/Senior Management

Available in the following formats: Available in the following formats: Available in the following formats:
• Paperback • Hardcover • Hardcover
• E-book • Paperback • Paperback
• E-book • E-book
• Bundle of Paperback & E-book • Bundle of Paperback & E-book
• Rental 6 months

Services Marketing Series Winning in Service Markets Series

• The content in terms of core theory, models and frameworks is largely the same Key chapters of Winning in Service
across these publications. However, they are presented and designed to fit their Markets are available as stand-alone
particular target audiences. publications in e-book and paperback:
• Services Marketing is available in some 26 languages and adaptations for key • Vol. 1: Understanding Service
markets around the world. Consumers
• Vol. 2: Positioning Services in
Competitive Markets
Click book covers for links to Amazon: • Vol. 3: Developing Service Products
& Brands
• Vol. 4: Pricing Services & Revenue
Management
• Vol. 5: Service Marketing
Communications
• Vol. 6: Designing Customer Service
Processes
• Vol. 7: Balancing Demand & Capacity
in Service Operations
• Vol. 8: Crafting the Service
Environment
• Vol. 9: Managing People for Service
Advantage
• Vol. 10: Managing Customer
Relationships & Building
Loyalty
• Vol. 11: Designing Complaint Handling
& Service Recovery
Contact Strategies
• For orders of individual copies, course adoptions, bulk purchases: sales@wspc.com • Vol. 12: Service Quality & Productivity
• For orders for individual chapters, customized course packs: sales@wspc.com Management
• For adaptions or translation rights, permissions to reprint: rights@wspc.com • Vol. 13: Building a World Class
• For further information see: www.JochenWirtz.com Service Organization
• For questions regarding contents: Jochen Wirtz, jochen@nus.edu.sg. (Assessment Tool)

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