Quality Counts in Services, ‘Too Leonard L. Berry, Valarie A. Zeithaml, and A. Parasuraman Leonard L. Berry is professor of market- ing, Valarie A. Zeithaml is assistant pro- festor of marketing, and A. ("Pasa") Parasuraman is an asociate professor of marketing, all at Texas AEM University. ‘The authors wish to express appreciation to the Marketing Science Institute for Binding the research on which this article inbased. Quality is essential when service is what i being sold. he issue of product quality has come to the forefront in American industry. One rea- son for this is the rise of the “get my money's worth” consumer, a value-secking shopper who thinks in terms of total use cost (“What will this product cost me over the total period I will be using it?”) rather than just initial acquisition cost. According to a Whirlpool Corpora tion study, nearly four out of five American consumers claim to be more demanding about quality now than in ptior years. Most. published work on prod- uct quality focuses on manufac- tured goods. The subject of service quality has received less attention. ‘This distinction is important be- cause some of the quality-im- proving strategies available to manufacturers (for example, better vendor management) may be inap- propriate for service firms. Services are performances, not objects. They are often produced in the presence of the customer, as in the case of air travel or a medical exam. Be- cause of the labor intensity of many services, quality can vary considerably from one firm to another and from one situation to the next within the same firm. 1.wAmeric’s Seatch for Quality," Whit pool Corporation, 1983 3, To leam more about the subject of service quality, we recently con- ducted a series of consumer focus group interviews and executive i terviews in four service sectors: retail banking, credit cards, securi- ties brokerage, and product repair and maintenance. Our objectives were to better understand the na- ture and determinants of service quality from both consumer and executive perspectives, to find out more about what causes service quality problems, and to propose strategies for dealing with these causes. Our research was explora- tory and, in this phase, restricted to consumer services. ‘The sectors. we studied vary along key dimensio used to categorize services? For ‘example, retail banking and credit card services provide immediate customer benefits, while securities brokerage and product repair ser- vices provide more enduring bene- fits. A nationally recognized com- pany in each of the four sectors participated in the study. In-depth interviews were held with opera tions, marketing, customer rela tions, and senior executives in the firms. A total of 14 executive inter- four service 2, Christopher Hl. Lovelock, “Classifying Services To Grin Strategie Marketing Insights," Journal of Marketing, Summer 1983: 9:20. Business Horizons / May-June 1985Quality Counts in Service, Too views were conducted, each lasting one to two hours, The interviews were based on a common set of open-ended questions. We also conducted 12 consumer focus group interviews, three for cach of the four services being studied. Eight of the focus groups were held in a metropolitan area in the southwest; the other four were spread actoss the country. All focus group participants were current oF Fecent users of the service being discussed. In the interviews, they discussed their experiences and per- ceptions conceming the service in general, rather than the specific service of the participating firm, the identity of which was not revealed, What Is Service Quality? Ust_what is service quality? Philip Crosby defines quality as conformance to specifica. tions? Christian Gronroos distin. guishes between “technical quality” (ohat is delivered) and “functional quality” (how it is delivered). He believes the “how” of service de- livery—for example, the appearance and behavior of a restaurant waiter—is critical to perceptions of service quality. Jarmo Lehtinen views service quality in terms of “process quality” and “output quality.” Process quality is judged by the customer during the service. Output quality is judged by the customer after the service is per formed. The barber's conversation and apparent skill during the hair- cut involve process quality; the appearance of the hair after the haircut involves output quality. We asked each executive we interviewed to define service quali ty, A banker said that it “is setting standards regarding customer needs $.Philip B Crosby, Quality ts Free (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979): 17. 4, See Christian Gronroos, Stitegic May agement and Marketing in the Serovce Sector (Boston: “Marketing Science Tastitute, May 1985), Chapter 4. Jarmo R Lehtinen, “Customer Oriented Service System," Service Managetent Institute Working Paper, Helsinki, Finland, 1985. “I'm sorry, but she can't speak with you now. She's considering quality improvement suggestions, from a consumer perspective, for a certain technical- process service vendor.” and mecting them.” A securities brokerage execu answered, “Service quality is true representa. tion of the client’s interest first and foremost.” A product repair execu- tive responded, “Service in a rea: sonable amount of time at a rea sonable cost by a competent tech- nician who does it right the first time.” From the focus group inter: views, we identified ten deter- minants of service quality. Virtually all comments consumers made in these interviews about service ex- pectations, priorities, and expe- riences fall into one of these ten categories, Although the relative importance of the categories would vary from one service industry to the next, we believe the deter minants of service quality in most (if not all) consumer service indus- tries are included in the list. * Reliability involves _con- sistency of performance and de- pendability. It means that the firm performs the service right the first time. It also means that the firm honors its promises. Specifically, it involves: accuracy in billings Copyright © 2001 All Rights Reserved keeping records correctly; —performing the service at the designated time. Responsiveness concerns the willingness or readiness of em- ployees to provide service, It in- volves timeliness of service: —mailing @ transaction slip im- mediately; ~calling quickly; ~xiving prompt service. © Competence means possession of the required skills and knowl edge to perform the service. It involves: —knowledge and skill of the ‘contact personnel; —knowledge and skill of opera: tional support personnel; —reseatch capability of the or ganization, * Access involves _approach- ability and ease of contact. It means —the service is easily accessible by telephone (lines are not busy and they don’t put you on hold); waiting time to receive service is not extensive; —-hours of operation are con- venient; the customer back“location of service facility is convenient. * Courtesy involves politeness, respect, consideration, and friendli ness of contact personnel (including receptionists, telephone operators, and so forth), It includes: consideration for sumer’s property; clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel. *Communication means keep- ing customers informed in language they can understand. It also means listening to customers, It may mean that the company has to adjust its language for different consumers— increasing the level of sophistica- tion with a well-educated customer and speaking simply and plainly with a novice. It involves: explaining the service itselfs “explaining how much the ser- vice will cost; assuring the consumer that problem will be handled, redibility involves trust- worthiness, believability, honesty. It involves having the customer's best interests at heart. Contributing to credibility are: company name; —company reputation; personal characteristics of the contact personnels =the degree of hard sell in- volved in interactions with the cus: tomer, Security is the freedom from danger, risk, or doubt. It involves the con “physical safety (will I get mugged at the automatic teller machine?}; “financial security (does the company know where my stock certificate is?) “confidentiality (are my deal- ings with the company private?) ‘* Understanding the customer involves making the effort to under- stand the customer’s needs. It in- volves: learning the customer's specif- ie requirements; “providing individualized atten- tions recognizing the regular cus tomer, Tangibles include the physical evidence of the service: —physical facilities; appearance of personnel; ‘tools or equipment used to provide the services physical representations of the service, such as a plastic credit card ora bank statement; —other customers in the service facility. Four Conclusions nalysis of our data leads us to conclude the following about the concept of service qualit 1, Consumer perceptions of ser- vice quality result from comparing expectations prior to receiving the service and actual experiences with the service. If expectations are met, service quality is perceived to be satisfactory; if unmet, Jess than satisfactory; if exceeded, more than satisfactory. ‘The expectations/ex- periences connection is consistent with Gronroos's conclusions based fon research he performed in Eu- rope.t 2. Quality evaluations derive from the service process as well as the service outcome. ‘The validity of Lehtinen’s process quality/output quality scheme is underscored in our research by the large number of focus group comments relating to the interpersonal behaviors of the service provider, such as politeness, willingness to help, trustworthiness. The manner in which the service is performed can be a crucial com ponent of the service from the consumer's point of view. 3, Service quality is of two types. First, there is the quality level at which the regular service is delivered (such as the bank teller’s typical handling of a transaction). Second, there is the quality level at which “exceptions” or “problems” are handled (when, for example, the monthly credit card statement is incorrect, or the broker bought the sccurities but the instructions 6. Gronroos, Chapter 14. were to sell them). Delivering good service quality requires strength at both levels. 4, When a problem occurs, the low contact service firm becomes a high contact firm. Credit card ser- vice is a good illustration. Usually, the credit card user has no personal contact with the credit card com- pany. There is contact with the merchant at checkout but none with the credit card company un- less there is a problem. The prob- lem may be noticed by the com- pany (the user exceeds the credit limit) or by the user (an error in the statement), but in either case per sonal contact between company and customer may result. We have earned that interactions between customer and company representa: tives can—and do—figure promi- nently in the quality image of so-called low-contact firms, ‘Time and time again, credit card and product repair focus group partick pants emphasized interpersonal fac tors when discussing how service providers responded to an excep- tion, ‘The Figure shows how service quality evaluations are a function of the expectations consumers bring to the service situation and the process and output quality they perceive they receive, These rela- tionships hold whether the service performed is the regular service or in response to an exception. ‘What Causes Service Quality Problems? ur research reinforces the conclusion from a study of manufacturing companies, “that the seeds of quality problems are widely distributed.” However, studies of manufacturing firms and service firms produce some dif ferent “seeds.” ‘The most fre- quently mentioned sources of quali- ty problems in the manufacturer study were workmanship/work force, materials{purchase of parts, 17. Frank S. Leonard and W. Batt Sasser, some’ Incline of Quality," Morcard. Business Review, Septersber-Octaber 1983: 164.Quality Counts in Services, Too control systems, product design, and maintenance of process equij ment. The primary causes of ser vice quality problems surfacing in our research are, in key respects, quite different. Inseparability of Production and Consumption and Labor Intensity Goods are manufactured in a fac- tory, then sold, then consumed. For many services the sequence is reversed. First the service is sold, then it is produced, often in the presence of the customer. Fre quently, production and consump- tion are inseparable. Customers can- not be transported by an airline without being on the airplane. They cannot have their teeth cleaned without going to the dentist's of fice. In effect, for many services the customer is in the factory, The customer experiences firsthand the production of the services. How service personnel conduct them- selves, how they speak, even how they dress, all potentially shape the customer’s perceptions of service quality. The inseparability characteristic would not figure so prominently in matiers of service quality, however, if most services were not so labor intensive. The extensive involve- 8. Leonard and Sasser: 164, Continuum of Perceived Service Quality ment of people in the production of a service introduces a degree of nonstandardization that doesn’t exist when machines dominate the production process. As a securities brokerage executive put it: “Trying to maintain service quality when you have five thousand entre- prencurs (brokers) out there is diffi- cult, Their levels of knowledge vary greatly. Getting five thousand to do it right all the time is hard.” Many factors can interfere with a satisfactory experience when ser- vice producer and service consumer are in direct contact. It is particu- larly troublesome-and yet quite common—when the backgrounds of those delivering the service and those buying it are quite different. The service personnel with whom consumers interact (bank tellers and credit card operations clerks, for example) are frequently among the least educated and lowest paid employees in their companies. Both the bank and the credit card issuer participating in our study voiced concems about personnel who re- spond to customer inquiries but have a poor command of the En- slish Language, ‘The problem of service worker Dackyrounds involves low wages, insufficient talent pools for certain “non-glamorous” service jobs, not enough (or the wrong kind of) training, high turnover rates, and other factors, A bank operations executive enumerated several of these points: “Tumover is high and a lack of experience results, A person who normally would keep a position for 18 months has to move upward before he is ready. And this hhas an impact all the way down the line. You have limited staff because of unfilled openings and inade- quately prepared staff because peo- ple have to get up the Teaming curve when they are new.” If a worker in a manufacturing plant has difficulties with the lan- guage, is poorly dressed, or has Body odor, the customer won't know about it, With most services, however, the worker’s language skills, dress, and odors are part of the ‘customer's experience. The presence of the customer during production of the service—which is frequently labor-intense and hence subject to variability—causes quali- ty problems unique (o services. Inadequate Service to Intermediate Customers In each of the companies we studied, the quality of service the consumer received depended in part on the quality of operational sup- port the service personnel received. Tewcked] [Res reparctse | x [Beceem] [Bee LEaresatone] “ Lasaity_J Laut Expectations Not Met Unacceptable Quality recived Expectations Met Expectations Exceeded Copyright © 2001 All Rights Reserved Satisfactory al Quality — ‘deal Quality 4748 “New services—or enhanced existing services—offer both additional marketing opportunity and additional opportunity for things to go wrong. Too much newness can do more harm than good.” In effect, these customer contact personnel—the branch office bank- ex, the stockbroker, the repair tech the merchant accepting the card—are intermediate cus tomers of various support services that pertain to the services they themselves perform. If the quality of intermediate service is poor, the quality of service rendered the ult mate consumer is likely to suffer. Customer-contact personnel provide the link between company and customer, ‘They sell_and/or perform the service. To the con- sumer, they are the company. When something goes wrong~a lost stock certificate, an ordered appliance part that’ doesn’t arrive—it is the contact person, who may be totally blameless, to whom the customer will likely tum, For service quality to be satis- factory, customer contact person nel must be willing and able to perform the service, The repair technician needs to have the right diagnostic tools, The branch banker needs @ prompt. response from operations to the customer's. in- quiry. The merchant needs fast access to creditcard purchase authorizations, We found evidence that intermediate service quality problems result in problems at the consumer level. The comment made by a securities brokerage executive illustrates the concept of inter- mediate customer service: I wish 1 could take our 2,000+ operations people and let them see the reality of the broker in the office and the problems he faces. For instance, the broker comes to the office on Monday morning when the market is going up, and he thinks it's going to be a great week, The first call he gets is Mrs. Smith, who hasn't received her dividend check, He spends 30 minutes with her and then he can’t get the problem fixed at headquarters. For many service companies, two sets of service quality cus tomers must be satisfied, In addi- tion to the ultimate consumer, the intermediate customer—the contact person who depends upon support services provided elsewhere in the organization—must be served. The consumer's perceptions of service quality depend on it. Communication Gaps Communication gaps were a major factor in service quality problems surfacing in our research, These gaps were of several types. One type is when the firm overpromises. Another is when the firm fails to stay in touch. The comment by a repair customer illustrates both problems: “I was told I would be the first call tomorrow. At 12:30 the next aftemoon I called to ask them when their day started.” ‘Another gap occurs when com pany communications are not un derstood. A brokerage customer said, “When the broker talks to you, you feel like he’s talking to another broker.” A credit card cus. tomer complained of “this mysteri- ous thing called average daily bal- Still another gap is when the company does not listen. One of several recurring themes in com- plaints to the bank in our study is, “My instructions to the bank were not followed.” A second recurring theme: “I get no response.” A disproportionate number of service quality problems seem to arise from failure to stay in touch with customers until a problem is fully resolved, to communicate in nontechnical rather than technical language, to develop employee lis- tening skills in training, and to moderate customer expectations Service Proliferation and Complexity Another source of service quality problems is too much newness in the service line—too many new ser- vices, too much added complexity with existing services. Change, in effect, outstrips organizational capacity to handle it. All of the companies we studied were char- acterized by extensive “net addi- tions” to their service lines during the period in which we conducted our research. In the case of the financial firms, a clear impetus was deregulation. In the case of the repair firm, the impetus was elec~ tronics technology and its new product offspring: videocassette recorders, home computers, touch- sensitive, electronically timed wash- ing machines.Quality Countsin Services Too In discussing the sources of ser- vice quality problems, a product repair executive stated: “We may not have all the specifications needed to train technicians before a new product is marketed, Some technicians may never be capable of being trained to service these new histech’ products. These products are coming too fast.” On the same subject, a securities brokerage ex- ecutive said: “All the new services bring with them new quality prob- lems. When you are no longer broker and not quite a bank, you're ‘in-between’ and there are’no ‘in- between’ people to hire—so you have to make them. We've taken our best brokerage clients and hooked on a credit card, and we don't know enough about mini mizing mistakes. Learning the pro- cess has taken a couple of hairs off my head.” Clearly, new products are vital to a firm’s long-term success. How- ever, our research underscores the importance of service firms being prepared to provide the service be: fore marketing it. New services—or enhanced existing services—offer both additional marketing oppor- tunity and additional opportunity for things to go wrong. Too much newness can do more harm than good. Viewing Customers as Statistics Sewices are performed for indi- Viduals. It can be difficult to keep this perspective in mind when every working day a bank processes over ‘one million checks, a credit card issuer receives thousands of tele- phone calls from customers, a brokerage firm executes 300,000+ transactions, and a repair firm has rooms full of appliances awaiting repair. When a service firm has many customers, there is a tendency to view them as statistics, foregoing the opportunities that are some- times present to individualize the service, However, many consumers desire a personalized and tailored approach to the service. A bank customer says: “Somebody in the bank should know you.” A credit card customer: “They should know you're good for the bucks. They should know that, if I want to exceed my credit limit, I'm good for it.” A securities customer: “The broker has to understand your situation, your objectives. Is the money for play, for risk, or is it for the kids’ education?” Repetitive tasks, more problems to solve than staff to solve them, sheer size and magnitude of opera. tions, improper selection, training, compensation, and supervision of service workers—all contribute to a service insensitivity we found in our research, A product repair execu- tive discussed the problem this way: “We tend to forget to put ourselves in the customer’s shoes. All we see are broken appliances We forget sometimes about how the customer feels, about his concerns, and we don’t take the time to allay these concerns.” A bank operations executive said: “Operations person- nel can be insensitive. They see so many problems that they lose sensi- tivity. For example, one hundred dollars doesn’t seem as important as one thousand dollars, but it’s criti cal to the customer out one hun- dred dollars. Nevertheless, a situa- tion where the bank has short- changed a customer one hundred dollars may be put on the back burner because of other problems involving more money.” While the customer interacts with a small set of firms for a given service, the service firm interacts with a large set of customers. Treat- ing individual customers as. indi- viduals is not automatic. When the fines in the bank lobby are backed up to the door, when the credit card customer telephones to indi- cate the charges on his statement belong to someone else and it’s the forty-third such call received that day, the potential for treating the customer as a statistic~and for the be disappointed—is, customer to high. Copyright © 2001 All Rights Reserved Short-Run View of the Bu: Too much emphasis on short-term profitability in a service firm may be reflected in lower service quality assessments from the customer. A short-run view can affect service quality in several ways. First, it can ead to many cost-redueing moves and their consequences, such as reducing the number of bank tellers (and lengthening the lines at the teller windows) or drawing down the spare parts. inventory {and delaying the completion of 49 certain repair jobs). Second, it can encourage transactions that are not in the best interests of the cus- tomer; for example, account churn ing by the stockbroker. In the focus group inte credibility of the service proved to be a major determinant of service quality perceptions, espe- cially in the securities brokerage and product repair groups. Two themes prevailed: Are they honest? Do they care about my welfare? ‘These remarks from customers are typical: "If a broker is going to make a recommendation to a client, it should be an honest recommenda tion based on facts, not based on commissions to be received, Hon- the basis of the whole views, firm esty is thing.” "If I find a good, honest re- Pairman, J won't even experiment with anyone else, “When you have a problem, they treat you like you have a disease.” # “Everyone has the best prod- ucts and service departments before you buy. Once you buy and sign your check, you the drain, ‘Taking a short-run view to con- ducting business is a well-known problem about which much has been written, The problem can be particularly acute in service busi nesses, however, because service is what is being sold. If you jeop- ardize the service in a service busi- ness, you jeopardize the business. go down,“Avoiding the promotional temptations to overpromise can help a company achieve a good quality image. Raising expectations to unrealistic levels may lead to more initial business, but it invariably fosters customer disappointment and discourages repeat business.” Improving Service Quality aterially improving service quality. isa longterm, multifaceted task. To ap- proach this task on a short-term, unidimensional basis is to invite failure. What ideas might be incor- porated into a service company’s quality improvement planning? Identifying primary quality determinants. Earlier we presented the determinants of service quality found in our research. Improving service quality begins with a com- pany using research to identify the quality determinants most_impor- tant to market segments of interest. It is necessary to find out if the mix of primary quality determinants changes when it is an “exception” rather than « routine service, The next step involves assessing how the company and its competitors are rated by target markets on the key quality determinants, Isolating quality determinants important to the customer and in need of im- provement by the company pi vides a focus for a quality improve: ment program. Because market priorities may change, they need to be tracked over time. Managing customer expecta- tions, The expectations consumers bring to the service situation play a pivotal role in the quality percep- tions they ultimately _ develop. Avoiding the promotional tempt tions to overpromise can help a company achieve a good quality image. Raising expectations to un- realistic levels may lead to more initial business, but_it invariably fosters customer disappointment and discourages repeat business ‘The “on-time” airline, the “no sur prises” hotel chain, and the “it will be ready by five” auto repair shop risk their reputations for quality every time they fall short of these promises. It is better, we believe, to excel in the primary quality deter- minant areas, to exercise prudence and. caution’ in promoting these attributes of performance, and to let repeat patronage and word-of- mouth build the business. It is better to exceed customer expecta: tions than to let the customer down. Managing evidence. Closcly as sociated with the notion of man- aging expectations is the notion of managing evidence, While the for- mer is concerned with assuring real- istic expectations prior to the ser- vice situation, the latter cemed with ‘shaping perceptions during and after the service. Be- cause a serviee is a performance and cannot be sensed as goods can, consumers tend to be especially attentive to tangibles associated with it for clues about its nature and quality.® Managing evidence means making sure that these tangi- ble objects convey the proper clues. The tangibles to be managed could include the physical service facility, the appearance of service providers, 9. Leonard L, Becry, “Services Marketing Is Ditferent," Busines, May-June 1980: 26, devices or equipment used in per forming the service, account state- ments, and the firm’s logo. Consider the case of the prod: uuct repair service. The appearance of the technician is a clue. Is he neat and clean? Does he look “pro- fessional”? Another clue is his att tude. Is he courteous? Is he in- terested? Does he appear to know what to do? Still another clue is the technician’s equipment. Is it im- pressive? Is it modern? All of these tangibles can make an impression about the quality of service ren- dered. If managed properly, they can support the intended quality image; if neglected, they can sug- gest a lower quality than desired. Planning the tangible and intangible elements of the service so they are reinforcing can help a service com- pany improve its quality image Educating customers about the service. A service firm can enhance its credibility for “being on the customer's side” by helping con- sumers through education, More knowledgeable customers are likely to make better decisions, leading to greater satisfaction. Customer education can take several forms. The firm can educate consumers to perform certain ser vices themselves. Whirlpool, for ex- ample, has developed a do-it-your- self kit and a series of pamphlets for buycrs of its appliances.!® The firm can also help customers to 10.*Whirlpoot: A Marketing Minded CO ‘vice ‘To Set Sales Spinning,” Business Week, May 16, 1985: 5031.Quality Counts in Services, Too know when to use the service. For instance, in our product repair focus groups, a number of partici pants expressed the desire for infor- mation that would help them decide whether to fix an appliance or replace it, Finally, the firm can educate consumers on how to use the service. Crocker Bank, for ex- ample, sponsored a “wait reduc~ tion” educational program, suggest- ing various strategies customers could use to minimize delays in banking transactions Although not directly related to customer decision making, some service companies could improve quality perceptions by explaining to customers the underlying ration nale for policies that could frustrate them, A banker in our study said: “Lots of problems arise because people don’t understand bank poli- cies—for example, our policies on funds availability. We don’t teach our customers how to use us well or why we do the things we do.” Developing a quality culture. Superior service quality on a sus- tained basis requires that quality become imbedded in a company’s culture, that quality become valued. Building a culture for quality involves establishing specific quality standards, hiring personnel with the capacity to meet those standards, training them to meet the stan- dards, ‘checking to see that they meet the standards, and rewarding them when they are successful. There is a quality loop, and the loop yuust be closed. ‘At American Airlines, which has had a formal quality program for more than 30 years, the vice presi- dent of passenger services makes a weekly presentation to top manage- ment on the company’s quality performance, Data is collected by a quality consultant who rides the planes to check on service perfor mance and take photographs. Data also comes from customer opinion surveys and from various electronic measurements (for example, the elapsed time before reservation Phones are answered). American has scores of service standards for every facet of the operation. Reser- vation phones should be answered within 20 seconds at least 80 per cent of the time; doors should be opened for deplaning within 70 seconds after the aircraft parks at the gate. Employee compensation, including incentives and merit raises, is tied to achievement of the standards.!* Commitment to quality needs to pervade an organization, It starts at the top but cannot end at the top. Quality happens inthe trenches. In. reviewing published case histories of companies known for service of high quality, we noted one constant: the pervasive- ness of quality consciousness in these companies. At Wachovia Bank, which thoroughly pretests new services and technologies even if it means entering the market later than competitors, quality is part of the culture.’? So is it at Disney, which puts all of its theme park employees through “Traditions 1,” a day-long course on the company’s history and central values; in gen- eral, the enterprise places a pre« mium on fielding well-trained, neat- ly groomed, unfailingly cheerful cast members” (as they are called at Disney).!? ‘Automating quality. Replacing or supplementing human efforts with automated systems can mi mize the chances of error in pro- ducing a service. For instance, the repair firm in our study has de- 11. Based on remarks by William B, Crosby, Nice president of parenger service for American Airlines, in Robert C. Lewis and Berard H, Marketing Aspects of Service jn Leonard “Le Berry, G. Lynn Quai, ‘Shostack, and Gregory D. Lipa, eds. Emerging Porpectives on Seroice Marketing’ (Chicago ‘American’ Marketing Association, 1983) 100-102. -See “Interview: John G. Mes President, ‘The Wachovia Corporation’ States Bonker, October 1983! 22-28, 74 iy Jt nite’ 13, See Norwood W. Pope, “Mickey Mouse Marketing,” Americen Banker, July 25, 1979. 4, Ifsand Pope, "More Mickey’ Mouse hfarket. ing," America Banker, September 12,1979: 4, us Copyright © 2001 All Rights Reserved veloped a computerized system that produces daily printouts of the repair jobs promised for the next working day in each service loca- tion, The securities brokerage in- dustry is developing technology of- fering on-line editing of transac tions entered into remote data in- put devices. In other words, if a broker in Des Moines enters a trans- action containing an error, the or- der is not accepted until the error is corrected. ‘A-key to making the right deci- sions about technology is under- standing the customer's priorities well enough to know which aspects of the service require the human touch and which lend themselves to automation. Finding the optimum mix of “high-touch” and. “high- tech” can pay off in better service quality Following up the service. lowing up on services performed can help isolate aspects of the service that require improvement. Several possibilities exist. The com- pany can take the initiative and contact all customers, or a sample of them, to determine their level of satisfaction with the service. An automobile repair firm that solicits feedback from every fourth cus tomer is using this approach, A second option is to make it easier for customers to communicate with the firm when the need arises. Companies that sponsor tolhfree telephone lines are using this ap- proach. Contacting and making it easier for customers to contact the firm are complemen- tary strategies. Service companies should consider using both. ‘The strength of the first strategy is that it represents a systematic approach for monitoring service quality. ‘The second option affords the oppor- tunity to get back in the good graces of unhappy customers who otherwise may be lost to the firm forever. Soliciting fecdback from con- tact personnel concerning the quali- ty of intermediate customer service customers52 is also recommended. Surveys and small group discussions involving contact personnel can uncover con- ditions preventing them from offer- ing higher quality service. he service quality challenge is mect—or better yet, excced~customer expecta tions, For most firms, this is a complex undertaking, Most service businesses are labor intensive and the service is subject to variability. Customers are frequently present when the service is performed, in effect_witnessing its production. Even if customer contact personnel have the talent, training, and moti- vation to deliver high-quality ser- vice, they may nonetheless be de- pendent on “good service” from the operations part of the firm to be fully effective. ‘There are no formulaic answers to this challenge. Part of the solu- tion is recognition by management that high quality can contribute significantly to bottomline perfor- mance. Part is recognition that de livering high-quality service touches everyone in the organization and is, not limited to a quality assurance department. Part is recognition that ‘many steps can be taken to improve quality and that they need to be melded into a cohesive whole. Im- proving service quality requires formalization, planning, and coordi- nation. Most of all, it requires total commitment. Anything less is not enough.