1. Services Marketing
Management
Chapter 6
Service Marketing Process
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2. Importance of Contact Employees in Services
-- In most of service organisations, the contact employees
provide total personal or professional service e.g. legal,
medical, advisory, car-maintenance, haircut etc.
-- In customers‟ eyes the contact employee providing service
is the company. By their performance, contact employees
may provide satisfaction to customers to organisation‟s
advantage or deliver service poorly to its detriment.
-- Contact employees perform the role of marketers in service
industry and also act as marketing tool promoting service
organisations.
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3. 1. Service Marketing Triangle
Service marketing is all about promises :
“Promises made and promises kept to satisfaction of
customers”.
-- So framework of service may be split into three arms viz.
* making the promise
* enabling the promise &
* delivering the promise
Management
Internal Marketing External Marketing
(enabling the promise) ( making the promise)
Contact employee Customers
Interactive Marketing
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(delivering the promise) 3
4. -- Three arms of ‘Service Marketing Triangle’ represent
acts of promoting, developing and delivering service.
Service Marketing Process
-- Is represented by a triangle, comprising of three arms,
depicting different activities viz.
* External Marketing -- i.e. Communication
[making promises to customers] represented by
„Management–Customer‟ arm on right.
* Internal Marketing – i.e. Training and Developing
contact employees represented by „Management–
Contact Employee‟ arm on left to fulfill promises.
* Interactive Marketing – Actual service-encounter of
delivering service i.e., satisfaction at base of triangle.
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5. External Marketing of Services
It comprises of activities through which company makes
promises to customers about „service‟ like Advertising, Sales
Promotion, Pricing, Availability, Franchisees etc.
In addition, promises are made by
• Contact employees during interactions
• Proper design and décor of service area (ambience)
• Development of service process ( blueprint)
Effective external marketing involves consistent and
realistic promises which the company can keep.
And not overpromises that raise customers‟ expectation
unduly, thereby leads to dissatisfaction and poor customer
relationship.
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6. Internal Marketing
Service providing companies develop a „Service
Blueprint‟ depicting step by step progress of service
process. Contact employees are trained and developed to
impart service on- and off-the-job as per blueprint.
In addition, company should equip contact employees with
suitable tools, requisite knowledge and skills to provide
service satisfactorily.
Company should ensure proper motivation and control of
contact employees so that they remain in ship-shape to
provide satisfactory service.
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7. Interactive Marketing
-- In Service Marketing, customer interacts with „contact
employee‟(i.e. service provider) in the process of service
delivery, unlike products where customers only consume
or use the product without interacting with operator
during its manufacture.
-- Hence it is essential that contact employee is equipped
with skills, knowledge, tools and also motivated to do his
best in service delivery to impress customer.
-- For same reasons, the „Ambience‟ i.e. arena where
service is delivered should be congenial both for customers
and service-providers.
Technology is fast emerging as the fourth apex of „Service
Triangle‟ for customer satisfaction, giving it the shape of a
„Pyramid’ in preference of a Triangle.
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8. Strategy for Customer Satisfaction through
Quality Service Delivery
-- Key aspects of this strategy is that the contact employees
should be willing and also be able to deliver quality service.
-- So successful service-providing companies build teams of
customer-oriented, service-minded contact employees in the
„Internal Marketing‟ process through :
* hiring right persons
* developing them properly to deliver quality service
* provide them with needed tangibles including motivation &
* retaining the best efficient people.
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9. 2. Services Marketing Mix
Marketing mix are elements that marketer uses to satisfy
or communicate with customers.
-- Traditionally, marketing mix composes of 4 P‟s viz.
product, price, place (distribution) and promotion.
-- These elements are interrelated and collectively help
in delivering satisfaction to customers in selected
segments at profit to organisation.
Expanded Marketing Mix for Services
Because services are marginally different from products
that services are to be produced and consumed
simultaneously, so in most cases service customer should
be present in close physical proximity of service provider
when service is produced.
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10. Secondly, services are intangible, quite often customers use
the ambience i.e. building, lawns or accompanying tangibles
like equipments in operation theatre of hospitals to gauge the
level of service.
Realising importance of these additional variables in service-
marketing , marketers use three additional elements as mix-
elements viz.:
1. People – Human actors who play role in service delivery
to influence customers‟ service experience and
perception like employees, customers etc.
2. Physical Evidence – Environment where service is
delivered or service-provider and customer interact, the
ambience, facility design, equipments, employee-dress,
logo, business card and other tangibles.
3. Process -- Actual procedure, flow of activities etc. that
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deliver services.
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11. Gronroos 7P’s of Service Marketing
It was concluded by Gronroos that because of unique
characteristics of services, service marketing mix
elements are :
* Product (service)
* Price
* Place (distribution)
* Promotion
* People
* Physical Evidence and
* Process.
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