Module Code & Module Title

MC6099NI Services Marketing

Year and Semester
2021-2022 Autumn
Assessment Weightage & Type
60% Individual Coursework
Student Name: Prajwal Bikram Basnet
London Met ID: 18030160
College ID: NP01BA4A180081
Assignment Due Date: 13th Jan 2022
Assignment Submission Date:13th Jan 2022

I confirm that I understand my coursework needs to be submitted online via Google Classroom under the
relevant module page before the deadline in order for my assignment to be accepted and marked. I am
fully aware that late submissions will be treated as non-submission and a mark of zero will be awarded.
 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who provided me the
possibility to complete this report. A special gratitude I give to my lecturer, Mr. Suman
Lamichhane sir, whose learning materials, lectures, suggestions and encouragement
helped me to coordinate in writing this coursework. Finally, I'd like to thank Islington
College for providing me with such an incredible opportunity.
Contents
Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................

Introduction ...............................................................................................................1

PART 1.......................................................................................................................1

PART 2.......................................................................................................................3

PART 3.......................................................................................................................4

Conclusion .................................................................................................................6

Bibliography ..............................................................................................................6

Appendix ....................................................................................................................7
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

Introduction

Service delivery is critical for service-oriented businesses to build a loyal customer base.
A positive customer service experience aids the firm in promoting them and increasing
their brand value. The company's brand value is crucial, especially for Dr. Beckett's clinic,
which offers premium price backed by high-quality service. Service administration refers
to the process of distributing services from a supplier to a customer. It also entails
enhanced ability between the two sides during the period when service-based businesses
provide the service and the client pays for it. In essence, a service delivery company
provides something that a customer could not create on their own. The focus of service
delivery is on quality, such as whether customers are receiving the services they paid for
and are satisfied with the service they received. It's one of two parts of the service strategy
that affects the operational side. On the other side, service management is concerned
with how a service provider operates and how it might improve its procedures and
processes.

PART 1

Which of the seven elements of the services marketing mix are addressed in this
case? Give examples of each “P” you identify.

By reading the case carefully, you can find all the seven elements of the Services Marketing Mix
in it. First of all, let’s start with the Product:

PRODUCT: The dentistry service offered by Dr. Beckett is considered to be the main product
for this case. The unique selling preposition of the service is the concentration on their superior
quality rather than initiating their customers with lower costs. In order to do so, she had made sure
to train her employees to its upmost which would result a better-quality procedure for their patients.
One of their main internal mission statements also states to provide superior quality dentistry
service to their customers.

1
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

PRICING: When it comes to their price, it is slightly higher in comparison to the Health
Maintenance Organization (HMO), which has the responsibility to set a ceiling price for different
types of services for the verities of procedures from the doctors. However, the as Dr. Beckett
provides her customers with quality services, a slight rise in the price would be certain. As we
know, price has been an important aspect to attract the potential customers, however, Dr. Beckett
has but quality over price as their USP is to provide better quality service.

PLACE: In the marketing mix, place is defined as the actual geographical location where the
business desires to provide its service/sell their goods. Dr. Beckett’s clinic is situated in Northern
California, where she has good reputation for herself amongst the customers. The design of her
clinic has been designed by a well-renowned architect. The shifting of the clinic has always been
at the back of her mind because the quality service provided by her current staff members were
cramped in her old clinic. Therefore, the new clinic has been designed in an appealing way for
their customers. The space and light were better than her past clinic. Even though, the actual cost
to construct, design the new clinic was high, she invested in these as it would give weight to their
differentiated quality service.

PROMOTION: The government of the United States had been profound in reducing the costs for
the insurance market who are obliged with managing their health care via HMOs. However, Dr.
Beckett did not invest in advertising, rather spent her investment by providing higher quality
service to their loyal customers. Whereby, it shows that Dr. Beckett has been depending their
promotion strategy to be a positive word of mouth amongst their customers.

PEOPLE: The employees working at the clinic are the amin people for Dr. Beckett. Overall, she
has 7 employees in her clinic. Where 2 of them works in the front office, while the other 5 supports
in the dental service provided by Dr. Beckett herself. The behavior of staff tends to be proactive
and had been working as team to achieve their mission statement. Due to the fact that, the patients
were driven by the perception of friendly staff correlated with quality service. Dr. Beckett has
invested in providing her employees with training via workshops where they could not only
improve their technical skills but also their communication skills. Bonuses for her staff members

2
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

also kept them motivated. The internal environment of the clinic had always been very transparent
when it comes the ideas of serving their customers, and also shared the profits earned by the clinic.
This created a sense of belongingness towards her employees and motivated their employees to
work for their mission statement to provide quality service to their customers. Hence, she had more
of a paternalistic leadership style towards her employees.

PROCESS: In order to redesign the services such as the ordering, billing, treating patients, Dr.
Beckett had hired a consultancy. The main focus of this redesign was to abolish the errors in any
kind of services and to provide each customer with the same quality experience. All these
following changes were set to reduce the waiting time for their patients which was lesser than 20
minutes, informing the awaited customers if any delay tends to take place, improvise team
working, informing and educating each patient about their procedures to provide higher quality
service and also to be up-to-date with the advancement in technology.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: In the marketing mix, physical evidence refers to the tangible
environment that their clients get to experience. As said earlier, her new office was infrastructure
by modern comfortable furniture’s, had vibrant color scheme, slow classical music playing at the
background, and provided headphones to their clients with various genres of music. Their office
also provided with the everyday newspapers and magazines with hot beverages where clients were
able to enjoy the view from the window sipping their beverage. The main reason for this ambience
was to distract the customers from the pain after their dentistry service.

(Wang, 28 February 2014)

PART 2

How do Dr. Beckett and her staff educate patients about the service they are?
receiving? What else could they do?

3
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

Dr. Beckett and her colleagues educate patients about the services they provide by showing
educational films in the conference room on various dental procedures and by providing literature
that informs patients about the next steps they should take to optimize the advantages of their
treatments. All new patients were also required to have an initial checkup so that Dr. Beckett could
assess their needs and educate them about the program. This, she reasoned, would signal to patients
that her service was better than others. Aside from that, Dr. Beckett believes that developing a
relationship with patients is essential to the effectiveness of the service provided. Even when she
received bad feedback, she persisted to her philosophy of delivering outstanding service, knowing
that patients would have to get their dental work done anyhow. Dr. Beckett and her colleagues also
displayed messaging to help clients understand the company's goal of providing high-quality
service to cooperative patients (Wright, 2016).
In a modern world maintaining an online portal or having pages built on various social media tools
would assist her educate new and existing clients about the services she and her team provide in
today's society, when the majority of patients have an online presence. Her clientele, who are
appreciative of her service, might verify and warrant the same in the form of evaluations on these
social media pages. They should concentrate their efforts on social media marketing, where they
can interact with people daily. This will assist them in remaining relevant in the industry and
attracting a larger number of customers. The aesthetic aspect of the office, such as the ambiance,
tells a lot about the type of care that the patients will receive. Patients will have a lot of faith in the
doctors if they see a lot of certificates and accreditations in the office. Other aspects of the office,
such as the atmosphere and the quality of the equipment, are always being improved to ensure the
comfort of the patients. Of course, a services delivery manager's most important quality is on-time
performance.

PART 3

Contrast your own dental care experiences with those offered by Dr. Beckett’s practice.
What differences do you see? Based on your review of this case, what advice would you
give to (a) your current or former dentist, and (b) Dr. Beckett?

4
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

Dr. Beckett's clinic offers high-quality treatments and has upgraded equipment and machinery.
They are based in the United States, where the average cost of dental care is substantially greater
than it is in Nepal, where I have had dental care. The staff at Dr. Beckett's clinic appears to be
well-trained and well-managed. Dr Beckett's clinic is far superior in terms of service quality and
delivery, however the service I had was quite inexpensive. I went to the dentist to have my teeth
out. Dr. Beckett's dental services are highly expensive, and most people without dental insurance
would be unable to afford them, but in Kantipur Dental Hospital, where I had my teeth treated, the
cost was much lower. Although the services are inexpensive, the quality of the service is poor.
Kantipur Dental is a well-known Nepalese dental hospital that provides cheap dental care to people
from all walks of life in Nepal, with a special focus on marginalized communities who cannot
afford treatment at other private dental clinics. The distinction that is most important to my
experience and Dr Beckett's service delivery system is pricing and service quality, where her clinic
is better in terms of service but my dental hospital is far better in terms of cost.
Only a few differences stand out in comparison to my personal experiences. First and first, my
dentist's office is not as modern as Dr. Beckett's. There are simply a few modest chairs and
magazines, but there is a television that shows patients various dental operations. You won't get
tea, coffee, or other beverages, and you won't get any special presents as you would in Dr. Beckett's
office. It's also easier to get an appointment; you don't have to wait 3-4 months, and you get it
sooner, although that could be due to the fact that there aren't as many patients. Another change
from Dr. Beckett's office is that my dentist has installed monitors above the dentist's chair on which
he displays Christmas photos of himself. So, you will concentrate more in this monitor than on the
treatment. My advices for my dentist (a) are to take more care of their patients. He should also
include a service like getting coffee or things like that, so that you feel really comfortable there. It
would be also great if the whole office would be more modern and not that old standard. I don’t
nearly have any advice for Dr. Beckett (b) because she’s doing her job very good and provided a
really excellent service. But maybe she could also add some monitors above the dentist’s chair on
which she can show some holiday pictures or pictures from the trips the entire office took.
(Wang and Bitner , 2014)

5
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

Conclusion
For service-oriented businesses to succeed in the market, they must provide higher-quality
services. Client expectations are changing, making it difficult for businesses to meet them. The
health-care sector is shifting from a seller-based to a client-based market, with the client experience
being the most important factor in assessing service quality. As a result, a dental health care
provider's commitment to providing excellent service and guaranteeing patient satisfaction
becomes crucial. Companies must constantly evaluate their service delivery techniques and change
their business models to meet consumer expectations. The dental services provided by developed
and developing countries differ in those developed countries provide better quality services to
clients due to superior dental education and equipment availability. However, there is a significant
price disparity between the two countries, as the cost of dental services in the United States without
insurance coverage is significantly more than in Nepal.

Bibliography
Wang and Bitner , 2014. Chapter 11: Service Encounters in Service Marketing Research.
Handbook of Service Marketing Research, 11((2)), pp. 22-31.
Wang, M. J. B. a. H. S., 28 February 2014. Chapter 11: Service encounters in service marketing
research. Handbook Chapter, Volume 25, pp. 221-243.
Wright, L. K., 2016. CASE 02: Dr. Beckett's Dental Office. Services Marketing, pp. 616-619.

6
 Services Marketing MC6099NI

Appendix
Service Experience First: Kantipur Dental Hospital
I went to the Kantipur dental hospital to get my wisdom tooth out because it was infected and
causing me a lot of agony. My appointment was at 1:15 p.m., but my treatment was delayed since
my turn didn't come until 3 p.m., which was really inconvenient. When I arrived at the hospital, I
approached the receptionist and informed her of my upcoming appointment. She ordered me to
wait in the waiting area where the patients were not following safety rules because the personnel
were not very nice and well-spoken. Because they were uninterested, the employees did not
enforce health and safety protocols in the workplace. I was immediately sent to reception when
my dental repair operations were completed, and the dentist proceeded on to call other patients for
treatment. Although my total experience at the hospital was not pleasant, I was satisfied with the
money I had to pay. Because of poor patient and appointment administration, I had to wait a
lengthy time for my treatment to be completed. I was dissatisfied with the time it took for my order
to arrive.
Service Experience Second: Prime Commercial Bank:
On Monday, I needed to update my ATM card, and I had a recent service transaction with Prime
Commercial Bank. My bank card had been expired for 3 days, and I had made up my mind to go
to the bank that day. It wasn't my first visit to the bank, but it had been a long time since I had been
there. To renew my Card, I had to contact the customer support team, which was incredibly
crowded. The employee handed me the document after dealing with the complaints of another
client. When I finished filling out all of the paperwork, they asked for my identification. The
employees were not well-behaved, and some of the guests were treated rudely by them. A large
number of people were present. I disliked that bank's customer care process since the employees
were wasting customers' time by speaking with one another. They were not concentrating on their
task and were simply wasting time by chitchatting, which was incredibly inconvenient. The bank
employees did not appear to be devoted and were unhappy while dealing with the mass of clients.