Summary, 26-August

Service Encounters Triads
• Most services are characterized by an encounter between a service provider and customer
• This interaction, which defines the quality of the services in the minds of the customer, has been called a “moment of truth”.

The Service Triangle

• Situational Vignette: Discussion on Case study of Washing Machine(Whirlpool)

Satisfaction Mirror

Service Location

• Location plays a crucial role in any service, in attracting the customers and achieving service delivery parameters.

1) Catchment Profiling

2) Target group and catchment profiling always has a connotation
3) Infrastructural issues in India
4) Rank the location

BY

Sridhar Reddy Y – 193

Last Episode

"Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!"

 - Tom Peters

Moments of truth - A contact by which the customer will judge the quality of your service.

It may be :

Initial phone contact- How is the interaction, In what manner is the customer greeted, are the concerns solved?

Walking in the office for the door - What do they see? Who do they see? Is the customer attended?

Discussion with the sales staff - Is there a real effort to understand the needs of customer?

Dealing with the problems - Is there a systematic plan of approaching the customers who are having a problem?

Paying bills - Is the billing process accurate, are the staff well versed in the process and do they arrive in time?

All these can have a lasting impression in the minds of customer. 

  Dimensions of service quality: ( RATER )

  

RESPONSIVENESS-Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service 

ASSURANCE-Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence

TANGIBLES-Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials 

EMPATHY-Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers

RELIABILITY-Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately 

Not All Dimensions Are Equal

All dimensions are important to customers, but some more than others.
Service providers need to know which are which to avoid focusing on only one dimension.

GAP Model of Service quality

 
Expected service is a function of word of mouth communication, personal need and past experience, and perceived service is a product of service delivery and external communications to consumers.

Gap 1

• Inadequate market research orientation
• Lack of upward communication
• Insufficient relationship focus

Gap 2

• Absence of customer driven standards
• Inadequate service leadership
• Poor service design

Gap 3

• Deficiencies of human resource policies
• Failure to match supply and demand
• Customers not fulfilling roles

Gap 4

• Ineffective management of customer expectations
• Over promising
• Inadequate horizontal communications

  
The Gap Model of service quality gives insights and propositions regarding customer's perceptions of service quality. It helps to predict, generate and identify key factors that cause the gap to be unfavorable to the service firm in meeting the customer expectation.

 Key concepts : Moments of truth, Dimensions of service quality, validity, Opinion leaders, Gap model

JusT a Lousy Experience......

I would like to share one of my experiences from the recent past (about 6 months ago) regarding the service standards of FloraIndia & how it treats the customers.

FloraIndia

FloraIndia is an online gift delivery site which not only delivers flowers but certain gifts as well as cakes. Since I have already used their services once, I decided to go with them for the delivery of a gift. I placed the order & made the payment through debit card for the next day delivery. I received the confirmation from their side and it was all OK.

The trouble started when I received an email from their customer team at 7.20 in the evening that the address lies beyond their service limit so they can't deliver & asked me to reschedule the order, place & time. I immediately wrote back to them that I had used their services to deliver to the same address in the past also so how come it doesn't lie in their service limit & even if that was the case they should have told me earlier as nobody would be going to accept next day delivery assignment at 8 pm in the evening. So I told them that they had to deliver. I waited for their reply, even tried calling them but all in vain. Finally I asked them to return my payment amount as soon as possible & I didn't want any services from them in the future.

I tried calling their customer care for days but it always seemed to be busy. Then I wrote them a final e-mail asking them to refund my money or else I would have no option but to go to consumer court. I received their call the next day & the guy told me that it takes 15 days for the refunding process. The very next day they send me a screenshot from their software telling me that they have refunded my money. I waited for a few more days & called them back to tell that I haven't received any money in my account & that I need a proper bank account statement / proof & not some internal software screenshot.

The real fact was that they initiated the refund process only when I threatened them with the consumer court action because only after all this conversation, I received an e-mail from CC Avenue (payment gateway) that the merchant has initiated a refund process. In fact the company person was all lying for the past few days & they never initiated the process earlier. I was so pissed off that I wanted to go to consumer court. But after searching on the internet, I came to know even that is a hectic process & will take a lot of time & even will require visits from my side to the court. I just really hope that government can come up with some online grievances settlement process & have more severe penalties in the system for such lousy service providers in the future.....

Recap July 15th, 2011

Service Documentation or Service Blueprint

Topics Covered

1. Introduction to services
2. Nature of Services
3. Service strategy
4. New service strategy

Value

• Value = ∑ Total Benefit / ∑ Total Cost
• Preferences of service can lead you to dismay

ARPU

• Average revenue per user

Theories

• Analysis is Paralysis
• Execution
• Theory of Constraint
• Not related to an individual situation
• Work within the constraints
• Dhoni e.g. from world cup having poor bowling attack
• Minimization of Risk
• Business Models - READ
• Javed Habib
• KKR

Service and Operations Management

An introduction to Service and Operations Management.



Regards,
Ravi Gupta

There WAS a Meru and there IS a JustDial

Sitting in the first row of the class has its advantages. Though it makes it a little difficult to doze off, it makes sure that few words bombarded by the professors are well preserved in the cerebrum. Two such words which finds mention in the following lines are:

1. Meru Cabs

2. Just Dial

(Technically speaking, they are four words. But the reader is requested to ignore such errors)

For the benefit for my fellow classmates, who are not very regular to Mr. Anshul Gupta's class , let me enlighten you that our Professor is a huge fan of both these services. Meru because these guys bring him from Navi Mumbai to NITIE ( seriously, braving Mumbai traffic by navigating this distance makes a compelling reason for all of us to acknowledge him by having a class strength of at least 80%) , and Just Dial...well..he hasn't shared any particular reason ,but somehow you don't need to be Archimedes to deduce his love for Just Dial.

So every time these two names came out, I used to wonder why at all both these fellows are so dear to our Professor. And finally, the JUDGEMENT day arrived. Presenting to all of you the chat transcript of yours truly and "executives" from Just Dial and Meru Cabs:

Players in the play:

A: Yours truly

JD: Executive of Just Dial

MC: Executive of Meru Cab

---------------------Dialing 08888888888-------------------------------------------------------

JD: Hello, Just Dial Mumbai, this is Shivani speaking. How may I help you sir?

A: Hello Shivani, I am Abhinav ,speaking from Powai.

JD: Good evening Mr. Abhinav, how can i help you?

A: Well, I want some contact numbers of good florists in Powai area.

JD: Sure sir, do you want us to email you the results apart from the SMS which we are going to send you right now?

A: (pretty impressed) Oh..that would be wonderful. Please note down my email address

(The girl had few problems understanding my name. Only after i played my masterstroke by saying "ABHINAV" as in "ABHINAV BINDRA" did she understand the name)

JD: Thank you sir. You will send you the details shortly.

(Meanwhile, there was a call coming on my phone. It was an unknown number. I hurriedly wanted to put the phone down)

A : Ohh.. thanks Shivani. Bye

JD: Have a nice day sir

Hurriedly, i connected to the incoming call.

Caller ( a pleasant feminine voice) : Am i speaking to Mr. Abhinav??

A: Speaking, who is this??

Caller: Sir, we are calling from *** florists. You wanted to have flowers delivered.

And so on....

It did not stop to this. Withing next 10 minutes, my poor phone rang at least 6-7 times. All of them were florists and were eager to offer their services. ( In fact, one lady advised me to go directly and choose flowers of my choice from local vendors. It would save quite a bucks !! )

Wowww!!!! 50 % of Prof. Anshul's service measuring parameter was validated. There was absolutely a sense of Awesomeness with this kind of service. And unlike our Kung fu Panda's free awesomeness, this awesomeness came at a price of Re.0.77 - the cost of 1 local call to Just Dial. Yet , i can't complain, can I??

So after arranging for the flowers, i decided to solve the logistic issues. And the very first name which struck me was MERU CABS. Following is the chat transcript of our conversation:

--------------------------call to 022 44224422-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Within 1 ring an automated voice greeted me

Welcome to MERU CABS. Dear customer, now you can book our cabs blah blah blah.........

"To hell with this gyan, just get me to the operator Madam You know who " ,i muttered

After giving my fingers ample exercise by making me dial 1s and 2s for various option, i finally managed to reach the "human" customer care executive

MC: Good evening , this is Akshay speaking. Can i have your name please

(do i feel a pinch of arrogance in the voice??? Anyways)

A: Yeah, this is Abhinav speaking from Powai

MC: Mr. Abhinav, Can i have your full name.

(what the hell!! have i dialed a taxi service or police station??)

A: No you can't. I prefer calling me Abhinav.

MC: Okay, Mr. Abhinav, can i have your mobile number please.

(Good Lord, when are we coming to the point)

A: Yeah,.its 970*******.

MC: Thanks Mr. Abhinav, So how can i assist you with??

A: Well i need to book a cab for 11.30PM from Powai.

MC: Sure sir, May i know your pickup point and drop point?

A: The pickup point would be NITIE, Powai and the drop point would be Ghatkopar.

( Silence follows)

MC: So sorry to inform you Mr. Abhinav , but all our cabs are booked till 3:15AM.

( An increased temper follows)

A: Sheh, then why at all did you take all my details in the first place. You would have straight away told me about your "booked" cabs.

MC: I am sorry sir, but...................................................

I never heard rest of the story, as i banged my phone down. To hell with his cock and bull stories.

So what happened next?? Well, for few minutes I was cursing MERU CABS. I hurled some nasty words aloud in my room, which , even in this post- Delhi Belly era, are not suitable to be posted on a public forum like this.

The remaining 50% of Prof Anshul's service measuring parameter was validated. Dismay was the feeling which I was experiencing. Though, if i may add, the feeling is not exactly dismay. Its a mixture of Dismay+ anger.

I did not stop at that. My cerebrum reminded the example of use of social network in the context of services which was discussed by Prof. Anshul in the class. Taking cue from it, i posted a one line comment on my Facebok wall. I got 2 comments in a matter of few minutes. Now considering that neither i am a girl nor i am popular among the girls, 2 comments in a matter of minutes is not that bad.

The purpose of sharing this experiences is not to wage a crusade against any xyz CABS or eulogize any abc DIAL. MERU may be a fantastic service for someone, and JUSTDIAL may invite abuses from someone. But sometimes, its feels good when the things taught in the classrooms are actually validated in the real world.Perhaps studying "Services" as a course is one such rare occasion where we experience the things taught in the classroom the fastest.

Some more points...

Some of the main elements of service are :

1 Timeliness
2 Flexibility
3 Interdependence


Interdependence - In most of cases the primary service provider is held accountable for any problems encountered.
Example - In case of booking a ticket through irctc if ur transaction fails, or ur money gets stuck u blame on bad service by irctc although there is multiple frames invloved in this service.
Frames :
internet service provider
Irctc website mail page
interlink to Bank for payment
Back to irctc website.

Threshold point of Services

A service provider cannot be blamed for everything.
Every service provider has a limited scope. It cannot guarantee service outside its scope.
For eg - Just dial is a information service provider. Its scope is to have extensive list of businesses but it does not include guarantee for adequacy of work of every business listed on it.

Extended 3P's of marketing.

People :

Anyone who is directly or indirectly involved in providing and consumption of services. The company has to select the staff with good interpersonal skills and train them because they are the one who have to interact with the consumer and deliver services to them if the staff who delivers services are well trained and have complete knowledge of services which they are delivering consumers will have positive perception and happily pay for the services.

Process :

The mechanism by which the consumer consume the services. It can also be called “customer management process”.Example if customer entered in restaurant and ordered meal and they delivered it in 5 minutes so what is it? Its basically efficient customer management process/service delivery process.

Physical Evidence :

The third or last additional “P” of marketing mix is physical evidence. The environment of the place where the service is delivered.
Example : if customer enters in restaurant what is the first thing which he/she will notice? That is environment of the restaurant, the cleanness of restaurant and the staff appearance that are the factors from which the consumer make the judgment about the organization.