SERVICE QUALITY

The important of quality assurance in service marketing can never be over-emphasized, k service must be performed right the first time and every time. The damage done on any one occasion leaves a permanent scar and the effect of a badly rendered service cannot be mitigated by any sops.
Ironically, while quality assurance is of utmost important in services, it is utmost difficult to assure quality here. Even measuring quality is difficult in services. In the first place, quality characteristics in respect of a service are more difficult to define. Second, quality here includes many subjective elements.
We can state that service quality is ensured when the service does what the customer expects of it. This means that quality assurance in services calls for : (i) a device for understanding customer expectations of quality in the service, (ii) a mechanism for ensuring that the service is performed matching customer expectations, and (iii) a device for measuring the service quality perceived by the customer as the service goes along and on completion of the service.
Since quality assurance in services becomes difficult mainly because of the difficulty in measuring service quality, the later becomes the crux in managing service quality.

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In India too, the service sector has been emerging as the dominant component of the economy. Agriculture and industry are growing at a slower pace, while services are growing more rapidly. Share of services in the country’ GDP has increased from 36 percent in 1980-81 to 44 per cent in 1997-98. In the latter year, the share of services was in fact, just 25 per cent in 1955-56. It increased to 40 per cent in 1987-88 and 46 per cent 1999-2000.

It seems that the notion that the majority of the people need only roti, kapda and makan has to be given up. Even the poor seem to need and be availing of several services, especially the ones like education, entertainment, information and healthcare. The middle class and the affluent are, of course, availing of a much larger variety of services, including dining out, and travel.

Certain types of services have been growing particularly rapidly. Higher education services is one example. Health care is another. Financial services is yet another. Health care has, in fact, become the fastest growing sector of the economy, growing at a compound rate of 26 per cent annually between 1993-2000. Entertainment too is now among the fastest growing sectors. Spending on hotels and restaurants has grown at a compound rate of 18 per cent. Services backed by technology and equipment, like vending machines, coffee and sandwich dispensing machines, computerized patient history records, etc., have also registered good growth.

COMPONENT TASKS IN SERVICE MARKETING


UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THE SERVICE

As a starting point in understanding the nature of the service, the marketer should figure out what exact need is met by the services. It gives the basic clue to its nature. It gives the basic clue to its nature. Some services are directed at people while others are directed at goods, through in the final analysis both aim at satisfying people. For example, entertainment is directed at people while dry-cleaning is directed at goods (clothes). Again, out of the services directed at people bodies, those directed at people’s minds, and those directed at their bodies as well as minds. An analysis from this angle will give some additional clues on the nature of the services.

UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER AND HIS EXPECTATION OF THE SERVICE

Services marketers must understand the customers well and correctly size up their expectations of the service. For this, they must obviously carry out a thorough customer analysis. The important point is that customer analysis in a service context involves first-hand and not second-hand knowledge about the customers. The sales and service staff must be encouraged to make plenty of personal contacts with the customers and gather relevant first-hand data on their requirements/expectations of the service.