Service Delivery and Servicescape Strategies

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Service Delivery and Servicescape Strategies
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Objectives

• The nature of service delivery (distribution/Plac
  e)
• (How?, Where?, When?)
• Methods of service delivery
• The role of physical environment
• The process and manner of service delivery
• The role of customer service personnel (People)
• The role of customers
• The role of intermediaries
• The role of emerging technologies
• Devising means of productivity enhancement

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Method of Service Delivery
Nature of interaction between customer and
service organisation
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Service delivery options

• Customers visit the service site
• Convenience to customers
• Location
• Customer preferences
• Likely demand and traffic flows
• What form the site should take
• Operating schedules

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Delivery options

• Providers come to customer
• Costs and returns need to be analysed thoroughly
• Service hours are still important
• Arms length transactions
• Process can be facilitated technologically
• Email, websites, e-commerce

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Managerial Implications Key Questions

• Is our service offered at times and in locations
  convenient for customers?
• Customer travel and waiting time?
• Physical and mental effort required?
• Appeal of facilities?
• Appeal of personnel?
• Mechanics of service delivery?

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Servicescape and its physical evidence

• Environment in which the service is delivered and
  where the firm and customer interact
• Includes any tangible commodities that facilitate
  performance or communication of the service
• Can be critical to the ultimate success or
  failure of the service

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Elements of Physical Evidence
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Role of servicescape

• Functionally
• facilitate or hamper service delivery
• Helps to frame expectations
• Plays a communication and promotions role
• Strategically
• Fosters approach rather than avoidance behaviour
• Provides a means of competitive differentiation
• Represents the quality and value of the service
  offering
• Can also establish particular ambient mood for
  customers and employees

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A framework for understanding the impact of the
physical environment
Environmental stimuli
Thoughts and feelings
Behavioural responses
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Environmental Stimuli in Service Delivery

• Ambience temperature, air quality, noise,
  colour, music, odour
• Space design, layout, furnishings
• Signs, symbols and artefacts style of décor,
  signage, personal objects
• Cognition beliefs and thoughts
• Emotions mood, feelings, likes/dislikes
• Physiology discomfort, ease of movement

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Other Behavioural Responses to Servicescape

• Approach propensity to stay, explore, engage in
  interactions, make purchases, and return
• Avoid disinclination to make purchases or stay,
  desire to leave, little incentive to return

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Degree of Customer Involvement in the Servicescape

• Service organisations may be classified as
• Self-service ATMs, dispensing and vending
  machines
• Interpersonal Services high contact, the service
  provider and customer must be together
• Remote services mail order shopping, radio,
  telecommunications

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When? - Extending the Times of Service
Availability

• Service providers are extending their times of
  service availability
• Technology is often used to provide 24/7 access
• Access is often through toll-free or local
  charges call centres
• Extended hours may be particularly necessary in
  countries with different time zones or
  international connections

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How? - The Process and Manner ofService Delivery

• Planning and configuring
• The Role of Blueprinting Flowcharting
• Important HRM issues
• The role of IT
• Marketspace vs Marketplace

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Planning and Configuring Service Delivery

• What should be the sequence of the various steps
  in the service delivery process?
• Should service elements be bundled for delivery
  purposes?
• What should be the nature of the contact between
  the service provider and its customers
• What should be the nature of the service process
  at each step?
• What should be the serving protocol?
• What imagery and atmosphere should the
  servicescape strive to create?

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Blueprint for Overnight Hotel Stay Service
Hotel Exterior Parking
Cart for Bags
Desk Registration Papers Lobby Key
Elevators Hallways Room
Cart for Bags
Room Amenities Bath
Menu
Delivery Tray Food Appearance
Food
Bill Desk Lobby Hotel Exterior Parking
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Call Room Service
Arrive at Hotel
Give Bags to Bellperson
Check out and Leave
Receive Bags
Sleep Shower
Go to Room
Receive Food
Eat
CUSTOMER
Check in
Line of Interaction
Greet and Take Bags
Deliver Bags
Deliver Food
(On Stage)
Process Registration
Process Check Out
CONTACT PERSON
Line of Visibility
Take Food Order
(Back Stage)
Take Bags to Room
Line of Internal Interaction
Prepare Food
Registration System
SUPPORT PROCESS
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Requirements for Blueprinting

• Blueprinting must show time dimensions in
  diagrammatic form The blueprint must identify and
  handle errors, bottlenecks, reiterations and so
  forth
• The blueprint, based on research and experience
  must precisely define how much variation from
  standards can be allowed
• Source G. Lynn Shostack, 1984. (See page 246)

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Developing a Blueprint

• Identify all the key activities involved in the
  service
• Specify the linkage between the activities
• Define the big picture
• Drill down to obtain greater detail
• Distinguish between front-stage and
  back-stage activities
• Clarify the interactions between customers and
  employees and how these are supported by
  back-stage processes

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Building a Service Blueprint
Step 4 Map contact employee actions, onstage and
back-stage, and/or technology actions
Step 6 Add evidence of service at each customer
action step
Step 3 Map the process from the customers point
of view
Step 1 Identify the process to be blue-printed
Step 2 Identify the customer or customer segment
Step 5 Link contact activities to needed support
functions
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Blueprint for Express Mail Delivery Service
Truck Packaging Forms Hand-held Computer Uniform
Truck Packaging Forms Hand-held Computer Uniform
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Customer Gives Package
CUSTOMER
Line of interaction
Driver Picks Up Package
(On Stage)
Deliver Package
CONTACT PERSON
Line of visibility
(Back Stage)
Customer Service Order
Line of internal interaction
Airport Receives Loads
Fly to Sort Center
Load On Truck
Dispatch Driver
Unload Sort
Fly to Destination
Load on Airplane
SUPPORT PROCESS
Sort Packages
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Application of Service Blueprints

• New Service Development
• concept development
• market testing
• Supporting a Zero Defects Culture
• managing reliability
• identifying empowerment issues
• Service Recovery Strategies
• identifying service problems
• conducting root cause analysis
• modifying processes

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Blueprints Can Be Used By

• Human Resources Management
• empowering the human element
• job descriptions
• selection criteria
• appraisal systems
• System Technology
• providing necessary tools
• system specifications
• personal preference databases

• Service Marketers
• creating realistic customer expectations
• service system design
• promotion
• Operations Management
• rendering the service as promised
• managing fail points
• training systems
• quality control

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Customer defined service standards
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Customer-Defined Service Standards

• Distinguish between company-defined and
  customer-defined service standards
• Hard and soft customer standards
• Process for developing customer standards

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Factors necessary for appropriate service
standards

• Standardisation of service behaviours and actions
• Formal service targets and goals
• Customer not company- defined standards

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Examples of Hard Customer-Defined Standards
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Examples of Soft Customer-Defined Standards
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Process for Setting Customer-Defined Standards
2. Translate customer expectations into
behaviors/actions
3. Select behaviors/actions for standards
Measure by audits or operating data
Measure by transaction- based surveys
5. Develop feedback mechanisms
Hard
Soft
6. Establish measures and target levels
7. Track measures against standards
8. Provide feedback about performance to employees
9. Update target levels and measures
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What Customers ExpectGetting to Actionable Steps
Diagnosticity Low
Requirements Abstract
Satisfaction Relationship
Value Solution Provider
General concepts
Dig deeper
Reliability Empathy Assurance Tangibles Responsive
ness Price
Dimensions
Delivers on time Returns calls quickly Knows my
industry
Dig deeper
Attributes
Delivers by Wednesday Returns calls in two
hours Knows strengths of my competitors
Dig deeper
Behaviors and actions
Concrete
High
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Importance/Performance Matrix
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Physical Evidence and the Servicescape

• Impact of physical evidence, particularly the
  servicescape, on customer perceptions and
  experiences.
• Differences in types of servicescapes, the roles
  played by the servicescape, and the implications
  for strategy.
• Effect of servicescape on customer and employee
  behavior, using a framework based in marketing,
  organizational behavior, and environmental
  psychology.
• Elements of an effective physical evidence
  strategy.

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Elements of Physical Evidence
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Examples of Physical Evidence fromthe Customers
Point of View
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Typology of Service Organizations Based on
Variations in Form and Use of the Servicescape
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Roles of the Servicescape

• Package
• conveys expectations
• influences perceptions
• Facilitator
• facilitates the flow of the service delivery
  process
• provides information (how am I to act?)
• facilitates the ordering process (how does this
  work?)
• facilitates service delivery
• Socializer
• facilitates interaction between
• customers and employees
• customers and fellow customers
• Differentiator
• sets provider apart from competition in the mind
  of the consumer

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A Framework for Understanding Environment-User
Relationships
Source M. J. Bitner, Servicescapes The Impact
of Physical Surroundings on Customers and
Employees, Journal of Marketing 56 (April 1992),
5771.
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Guidelines for Physical Evidence Strategy

• Recognize the strategic impact of physical
  evidence.
• Blueprint the physical evidence of service.
• Clarify strategic roles of the servicescape.
• Assess and identify physical evidence
  opportunities.
• Be prepared to update and modernize the evidence.
• Work cross-functionally.

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Important HRM issues

• Service standards need to be clearly communicated
  to the staff
• Selective recruitment is essential to ensure that
  the organisation has suitable staff
• Management should provide on-going training
• Manage the internal culture
• Empower the service personnel