Answer to Question #208040 in Management for Prabhdeep

Question

SUBJECT : SERVICE MARKETING

Explain any 8 types of failures with elaboration that may happen during the course of the service delivery. How do successful firm's plug such failures , give 7 points with elaboration for this ?

Answer 1

Part One

Not Sticking to the Time Frame

This happens when the customer is given a time window such as an hour and the service agent takes longer time such as four hours to attend to the customer.

High Service Costs

This happens when customers are faced with huge service bills that they feel was not worth the service.

Repeated Repairs

When customers need service they require it once and for all, constant visits for services makes customers irritated.

Brand Supremacy Not Working

If a customer buys a product such as a phone from a reputable company and one quality of such phone is a high battery life only for the customer to realize that the battery lasts only four hours such a customer will feel cheated and duped.

Poorly Trained Customer Service Staff

If the customer service personnel are not properly trained, they should not answer a customer service call or even head out as for sure they will not get the job done.

  

Wrong Attitude of Customer Service Personnel

Good customer service starts with hiring staff of the right caliber who understands that the customer is always right and always comes first.

Inconsistency

Customers should not experience inconsistency in terms of service such as good customer service in one day and bad customer service in another. Customer service should be consistent.

Overpromising

Never overpromise when offering customer service because in case you are not able to deliver the customer will walk away from your brand.

 

Part Two

Being Consistent

Customer service should always be offered consistently be it even when accessed from a different branch or location.

Talking the Truth Always

If a service is not going to be done or cannot be handled it is better to always tell the customer the truth rather than make the customer to wait,

Sticking to the Time Frame

If the time frame for responding to a customer complaint is one hour then within an hour the customer service tea should respond. Customer service should be timely.

Training

Big firms spend a considerable amount of money in training their staff on customer service to avoid incompetent customer service personnel.

Considerable Costs

The cost of servicing should be considerable and not too exorbitant to the customer.

Avoiding Repetitive Repairs

Customer service should only be done once and for all and not severally as this creates an impression of incompetent staff.

Positive Attitude from Customer Service Staff

Proper training will mean that the staff will have positive attitude when handling the customers (Wild et al, 2012).

 

References

Wild, L., Chambers, V., King, M. and Harris, D., 2012. Common constraints and incentive problems in service delivery. Overseas Development Institute, London.