Service Marketing Introduction

We all talk and hear about service every day. We hear about good service, and more often we hear about bad service. However, service is a vague term that is different for each and every person. What are the expectations of each customer has? The customer expectations truly define their opinion of the quality of service that they are receiving in any given situation. For years, we have heard about service initiatives, service goals, customer service standards and so much more. But most of these initiatives are actually just systems that have been created to approximate true service. In listening to Horst Schulze (former CEO of Ritz Carlton speak last year), he repeatedly hammered home the point that if our staff is giving poor service, then we are the ones to blame….

Northern Illinois University has just approved a new degree program called Service Marketing. The basic concept behind Service Marketing is that in order to have fully capable leadership (as opposed to management) they must be able to balance the needs of operations, human resources, and marketing. Many of the different aspects of service marketing are focused on coordinating and improving the performance of all three areas.

Traditional marketing encompasses the four P’s (product, promotion, price, and place). The internet, improvements in shipping and much more has leveled the playing field in each of these four areas, bringing a much more competitive market for all of us. Looking into the evolution of the marketplace has become one of the focuses of Service Marketing. Three additional P’s of marketing are people, physical evidence and process. The most important of these in my opinion is People.

The People aspect of Service Marketing focuses on both the customer and the internal staff member. In other words the service that differentiates us and how that service is perceived by the customer. One of the basic tools is the Service Profit Chain which investigates the relationship from the employee to the customer and back to the employee. Think of it in the following aspects, if we hire the right employee’s and train them properly, while treating them well, they will be happy. As a happy employee, they will be more apt to provide good service. Because they provide good service, the customer will enjoy their experience at your establishment. Not only will they return more frequently, but they will share their experience with others who in turn will visit your establishment. This will increase your revenues and in turn yield more profit to you the owner.

As you approach the coming year, ask yourself; how well does the Service Profit Chain work in my establishment? How does my staff perceive their position on the Service Profit Chain? How are they in front of the customers? Does this represent your goals? What do you customers experience in your establishment? And the final question you then should ask yourself is; what am I doing to make it better?