Question

Service quality differs from product in the quality in that the consumer is actively involved in the service creation process. Service firms therefore face a unique situation whereby each service encounter with a customer is a test of the firms service quality standards.

In light of the above information discuss how a firm can manage service quality to ensure consistent service delivery that meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Answer 1

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As per the given information below is my explanation for a firm to ensure service quality so that they can ensure consistent service delivery that meets or exceeds customer expectations:

Service firms needs to look at two different aspects of service quality

• Actual work done or service provided lead to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction
• Service firms policies and procedures that lead to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction

Actual work done or service provided lead to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction - In this case training the service firms employees on the necessary servicing skills will help improve the overall customer satisfaction. Moreover adding some behavioral training aspects will also help in leading to customer delight

Service firms policy's and procedures that lead to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction - Service firms should also look at some policies such as post service warranty, insurance for the serviced products etc which is expected to improve the overall satisfaction level of the customers

Along with this customer service surveys should be rolled out in a timely manner and should also be closely monitored. Factors such as pricing or value for money, time issues or staff behavior are the few parameters which can be included in these post service surveys. Results from these should be closely monitored and action plan needs to be made accordingly

ALTERNATIVELY:

1) Strengthening of Support Team: In order to maintain service quality, a firm needs to build a strong team who can provide good service to customers. To achieve this, firm needs to hire candidates with right skills and train them to improve their skills. There are different types of customers, some are more aggressive, some ask many questions; so a customer support team should have patience to listen them and handle professionally. Another point to build a strong support team is to hire people who have good communication skills and must know how to make customers happy and satisfied. Also the firm must ensure that its support team should have complete knowledge of its product or service, features and pricing plans. They should not tell a lie or mislead the customers by providing wrong information. A firm can deliver good service only when its support staffs are on the right track.

2) Maintaining quality of the Service at any cost: A firm should always try to maintain its service quality inspite of its low price. While providing service, if the company charges a relatively low price to acquire more number of customers, then it should not compromise with quality of service. It can try to lower its costs but can't compromise with quality. A customer gives more importance to quality than price. So try to manage quality of the service at any cost and ask customers for feedback to improve your service periodically. A customer can better represent how your service is? So allow customers to provide genuine opinion on your service and consider it seriously. This can bring improvements in the service of the firm and encourage them to maintain it to satisfy the customers.

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