Service Marketing Analysis Essay Example

providing two 5-seat cars as a solution. Thirdly, they showed empathy towards us and understood our need for a 7-seat car. Fourthly, they gave a symbolic discount as atonement and assisted with renting formalities in advance. Additionally, we were promised immediate notification when the desired car arrived. Despite the initial service failure, effectively handling it can positively impact customers' attitudes and I felt content with this interaction.

Furthermore, satisfaction can also be influenced by interactions with employees. The frontline personnel play a crucial role in customer service by establishing personalized relationships (Write, Lovelace & Chew, 2012). Appendix 2 illustrates my satisfaction with the frontline staff at Ambient Hotel Colonial in Munich.
The hotel's employees were friendly and helpful, surpassing their regular responsibilities by offering travel information. Their high-quality service and evident job satisfaction were reflected in the success cycle of managing employees. A standout example was a front desk employee who consistently greeted me with a smile and willingly assisted me even with non-hotel-related matters. The hotel excelled in communication through valuable content like travel information and used tangible cues to overcome the intangibility issue, making me feel informed and valued. Among all my experiences, East Coast Car Rentals provided the most satisfactory encounter. As a hotel, it is crucial to provide tangible services as part of hospitality. Conversely, I was impressed with how East Coast addressed heterogeneity; their exceptional service recovery made any previous failures inconsequential. My experience with their services was positive, increasing the likelihood of returning and recommending them to others. However, my least satisfactory experience was with Ray White Elderly (as noted in Appendix 3). According to the Flower of Service model, billing

issues are common across many services, disappointing customers due to inaccurate or incomplete bills that are difficult to read. This resulted in wasted time for customers who had to make corrections and request refunds. Unfortunately, when I faced a billing problem with Ray White Elderly, it took them three days to resolve a simple issue.
The inefficient service recovery of the company failed to promptly address and resolve the issue. Instead of simply explaining that their system indicated I owed money for the second expansion, I would have preferred if they had taken the time to understand the situation by communicating with their colleagues. Furthermore, there was another problem that added to my dissatisfaction. Despite being a large rental agency with various cooperating organizations, there was a lack of communication both between these organizations and among employees within the same organization. This further widened the gap in delivery and communication between customers and the service encounter. The delivery gap refers to not meeting service designs and standards; in this case, Ray White agency's human resource policies proved lacking and unforgiving towards customers. The communication gap resulted in unfulfilled promises and an overall negative experience. The issue with bill payment was particularly serious as I was asked to pay three times. The front desk employee prioritized following rules over providing good service, focusing solely on rent payment procedures instead of understanding the situation at hand. This lack of effective problem-solving and low-quality service strained our relationship. Similarly, my experience at Meyer when purchasing a TV was unsatisfactory due to a slow and poorly designed process that took over an hour to complete. Additionally, there were insufficient staff

members at Meyer who were not proactive in assisting customers.
Ray White Elderly provided a highly unsatisfactory experience, as their processes were poorly designed and resulted in slow and low-quality service delivery. There was no attempt to rectify the situation, which only worsened the communication gap between Ray White Elderly and myself. This emphasizes the importance of effective communication both within agencies and firms.

The text highlights a negative experience where it took three days to resolve a simple rent question. This lack of understanding led to the sender receiving a dishonorable letter. The impatience of the staff influenced decision-making and left the sender disappointed.

To improve, Ray White Elderly should prioritize service recovery by promptly addressing issues and thoroughly investigating them instead of solely relying on system data. Additionally, employees should gather all necessary facts without engaging in arguments with customers.

A suggestion for Ray White is to provide additional evidence regarding account statements and analyze bills together with customers to identify any issues. It is crucial to clarify problem-solving steps so that customers are informed about progress and next steps. This fosters loyalty, improves service quality, increases customer satisfaction, promotes positive word-of-mouth behaviors, informs service process and design decisions, ultimately enhancing long-term quality at Ray White Elderly.Lastly, Recommendation 2 for the company's improvement efforts is to implement better employee management. The frontline is a crucial aspect of customer loyalty as it can anticipate needs and cultivate personalized relationships. Frontline employees should possess qualities such as cheerfulness, friendliness, compassion, sincerity, and humility. However, the nature of frontline work can be challenging and stressful, especially in situations involving misunderstandings with customers or within the company itself.

Ray White Elderly must

acknowledge the ongoing emotional strain experienced by its employees and ensure they receive proper training to handle such stress and manage pressure from customers. It is essential for employees to remain patient when faced with customer inquiries and avoid displaying signs of impatience. Effective training plays a vital role in addressing this issue. Service personnel should acquire knowledge about the organization's culture, purpose, strategy, interpersonal skills, technical competencies, and service expertise.

In the case of Ray White Elderly, employees should possess appropriate knowledge to find optimal solutions for rental problems. To effectively deal with these issues, it benefits both the company and its staff members to have an internal marketing approach incorporated into their services marketing triangle framework.Furthermore, staff members should gather additional information from various sources when customers express concerns or confusion arises in order to proficiently resolve the issue at hand. The role of marketing communications is crucial in the process as it helps with positioning and differentiating services, promoting personnel contributions and backstage operations. It also adds value through communication content and facilitates customer involvement in production. Additionally, marketing communications can influence demand to align with capacity. By fostering effective communication among customers and within the company, as well as providing better employee training, serious issues are less likely to occur.

A recommendation for Ray White Elderly is to improve service quality by considering the characteristics of services and focusing on quality and productivity together. The GAP model can be used as a tool to identify problems in service design and delivery. It is essential for Ray White Elderly to bridge the gaps between customers and the company for maintaining good quality, especially regarding

perception gap. For instance, making their service quality tangible and effectively communicating it would benefit Ray White Elderly. Providing physical evidence is crucial, particularly when addressing billing problems. Instead of just informing tenants about owed rent payments, presenting detailed bills as proof is necessary.According to Write et al. (2012), it is important for Ray White Elderly to prioritize creating a sense of reliability, assurance, tangibles, and empathy among customers. The information regarding these aspects can be found in "Essentials of Services Marketing" (Singapore: Prentice Hall) and "The Service Edge: 101 Companies that Profit through Customer Care" (Kemp & Chaff, 1989).

Appendix 1:
Service Encounter Journal Entry 1
Name of Firm: East Coast
Date of Encounter: 2nd October 2014
Service Industry: Car Rentals
Time of Encounter: 11:30 a.M.

What specific circumstances led to this encounter?
During the midterm break, six of us (including myself) planned a five-day road trip in Melbourne. We had booked the desired car prior to our trip. However, just thirty minutes before the scheduled pick-up time at 11:30 a.M., we received a phone call informing us that the car would not be available until one and a half hours later. Therefore, we could expect to receive the car at least by 1 p.M.

After receiving the phone call, we immediately went to the car pick-up location to address the situation and find a resolution. Our travel plans for the day were already set and time was limited.

Upon arriving at East Coast, an enthusiastic employee greeted us at the front desk. They made sure to smile at every customer who walked in. Once we explained our situation, they apologized and provided an explanation for the delay attributing it to a traffic jam.They

apologized for the inconvenience and proposed an alternative solution - instead of providing us with a seven-seat car as originally booked, they suggested two five-seat cars that we could pick up immediately. We declined their offer of a discounted rental car as we preferred to wait for our original booking, although we appreciated their effort to make it right. However, during the car rental process, one of their employees asked about our destination and gave us helpful suggestions and directions using a map to take a faster route. Since we still had an hour before our planned departure time, he recommended that we go shopping in the area and assured us that we could leave our luggage there. On a satisfaction scale from extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied, my initial dissatisfaction with the late notification was mitigated by this service encounter. Despite receiving the car 1.5 hours late, I found it forgivable due to how they remedied the situation. Overall, I was content with this encounter. To further enhance my satisfaction in similar situations, I recommend that they inform me at least one or two hours prior to the scheduled pick-up time so I can adjust my travel plans accordingly.How likely are you to return to this service firm? Extremely unlikely Extremely likely

Appendix 2: Service Encounter Journal Entry 2

Ambient Hotel Colonial
26th July, 2014
Hotel - 5.00 p.M.

After participating in an exchange program in Austria, I traveled to Munich. As a result, I had made an online reservation for a hotel; this encounter took place in that hotel. Please describe the service encounter (e.g., what did the firm/employee say or do?).

It was

my first time traveling in Munich. I arrived at the hotel late due to my unfamiliarity with the transportation system. However, the front desk staff was aware of my problem and proactively offered assistance. They provided me with a map and showed me the fastest way to the transport station without me even asking.

During the check-in process, they recommended various tourist attractions and planned a route for me, taking into consideration my limited time in Munich. The route was based on their experiences living here and aimed to visit as many famous attractions as possible within the time constraints.

The next day, they reminded me of several significant tips before I left for my trip and then inquired about how it went when I returned. We had a pleasant conversation where they shared interesting cultural insights.

Throughout all their interactions, they always had a smile on their face. This experience made me feel not only satisfied with the hotel's basic services but also impressed by the excellent service provided by the staff.

It felt more like a friendship rather than a customer and employee relationship.
In addition to being significant for helping a stranger in a new place, this experience also revealed something interesting that was not available on the website. The trip felt like an extensive tour and staying at the hotel was thoroughly enjoyable. Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the service received, particularly from the staff.

Appendix 3: Service Encounter Journal Entry 3
Ray White Elderly
10th -13th September, 2014
1.0 p.M.
We were unaware of why our real estate agency had switched from Ray White Towing to Ray White Elderly, which also resulted in our rent payment account changing. This

lack of communication caused us to accidentally pay rent to the old account. When we brought this issue to their attention, we had to sign documents with the new agent for future payment methods. We also arranged for Ray White Towing to return the mistakenly paid money directly to Ray White Elderly. A month later, we received a letter stating that our rent payment had been dishonored and nearly two months' worth of rent was owed.

We went back to Ray White Elderly to address this issue; however, it led to misunderstandings and unnecessary hassle for us as customers. Initially acknowledging our situation, the front desk employee checked their computer system and confirmed that money was indeed owed. However, due to a language barrier, there were still some misunderstandings about how to handle the situationThe employee reiterated that the money was owed but did not provide any further clarification. Eventually, a consultant responsible for agency switching explained that they were working on resolving the issue. However, despite this explanation, the customer was still asked to pay the remaining money even though it had already been received from Towing. The front desk employee seemed impatient and claimed there were no more mistakes when numerous curiosity-driven questions were asked. Subsequently, the customer was requested to return a third time to pay the rent for the rest of the week since automated payment had already been scheduled before resolving the previous situation. Overall, this encounter left the customer extremely dissatisfied as they believed that effective communication between Ray White entities could have easily resolved their problem instead of needlessly complicating it