Services Marketing : Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm.

Intro -- Table of Contents and Preface -- Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- About the Authors -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Connect -- Brief Contents -- Detailed Contents -- List of Boxes -- Chapter One: Introduction to Services -- Part One: Foundations for Service Marketing -- Chapter One: Introduction -- What are Services? -- Service Industries, Service as a Product, Customer Service, and Derived Service -- Tangibility Spectrum -- Trends in the Service Sector -- Why Service Marketing? -- Service-Based Economies -- Service as a Business Imperative in Goods-Focused Businesses -- Deregulated Industries and Professional Service Needs -- Service Marketing Is Different -- Service Equals Profits -- But "Service Stinks" -- Service and Technology -- Technology-Based Service Offerings -- New Ways to Deliver Service -- Enabling Both Customers and Employees -- Extending the Global Reach of Services -- The Internet Is a Service -- The Paradoxes and Dark Side of Technology and Service -- Characteristics of Services -- Intangibility -- Heterogeneity -- Simultaneous Production and Consumption -- Perishability -- Search, Experience, and Credence Qualities -- Challenges for Service Marketers -- Service Marketing Mix -- Traditional Marketing Mix - the 4 Ps -- Expanded Marketing Mix for Services - the 7 Ps -- Staying Focused on the Customer -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Two: Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality -- Chapter Two: Introduction -- The Customer Gap -- The Provider Gaps -- Provider Gap 1: the Listening Gap -- Provider Gap 2: the Service Design and Standards Gap -- Provider Gap 3: the Service Performance Gap -- Provider Gap 4: the Communication Gap -- Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes.

Chapter Three: Customer Expectations of Service -- Part Two: Focus on the Customer -- Chapter Three: Introduction -- Service Expectations -- Types of Expectations -- The Zone of Tolerance -- Factors that Influence Customer Expectations of Service -- Sources of Desired Service Expectations -- Sources of Adequate Service Expectations -- Sources of Both Desired and Predicted Service Expectations -- Issues Involving Customers' Service Expectations -- What Does a Service Marketer Do if Customer Expectations Are "Unrealistic"? -- Should a Company Try to Delight the Customer? -- How Does a Company Exceed Customer Service Expectations? -- Do Customers' Service Expectations Continually Escalate? -- How Does a Service Company Stay Ahead of Competition in Meeting Customer Expectations? -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Four: Customer Perceptions of Service -- Chapter Four: Introduction -- Customer Perceptions -- Satisfaction versus Service Quality -- Transaction-specific versus Cumulative Customer Perceptions -- Customer Satisfaction -- What Is Customer Satisfaction? -- What Determines Customer Satisfaction? -- National Customer Satisfaction Indexes -- The American Customer Satisfaction Index -- Outcomes of Customer Satisfaction -- Service Quality -- Service Quality Dimensions -- E-Service Quality -- Service Encounters: The Building Blocks for Customer Perceptions -- Service Encounters or Moments of Truth -- The Importance of Service Encounters -- Types of Service Encounters -- Sources of Pleasure and Displeasure in Service Encounters -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Five: Listening to Customers through Research -- Part Three: Understanding Customer Requirements -- Chapter Five: Introduction -- Using Customer Research to Understand Customer Expectations -- Research Objectives for Services.

Criteria for an Effective Service Research Program -- Elements in an Effective Service Marketing Research Program -- Complaint Solicitation -- Critical Incident Studies -- Requirements Research -- Relationship and SERVQUAL Surveys -- Trailer Calls or Posttransaction Surveys -- Service Expectation Meetings and Reviews -- Process Checkpoint Evaluations -- Market-Oriented Ethnography -- Mystery Shopping -- Customer Panels -- Lost Customer Research -- Future Expectations Research -- Analyzing and Interpreting Customer Research Findings -- Customer Journey and Experience Maps to Depict Research Insights -- Importance/Performance Matrices -- Using Marketing Research Information -- Upward Communication -- Objectives for Upward Communication -- Research for Upward Communication -- Benefits of Upward Communication -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Six: Managing Customer Relationships -- Chapter Six: Introduction -- Relationship Marketing -- The Evolution of Customer Relationships -- The Goal of Relationship Marketing -- Benefits for Customers and Firms -- Relationship Value of Customers -- Customer Profitability Segments -- Profitability Tiers-the Customer Pyramid -- The Customer's View of Profitability Tiers -- Making Business Decisions Using Profitability Tiers -- Relationship Development Strategies -- Overall Evaluation of the Core Service -- Switching Barriers as Drivers of Customer Loyalty -- Relationship Bonds as Drivers of Customer Loyalty -- Relationship Challenges -- The Customer Is Not Always Right -- Ending Business Relationships -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Seven: Service Recovery -- Chapter Seven: Introduction -- The Impact of Service Failure and Recovery -- Service Recovery Effects -- How Customers Respond to Service Failures -- Why People Do (and Do Not) Complain.

Types of Customer Complaint Actions -- Service Recovery Strategies: (1) Fix the Customer -- Respond Quickly -- Provide Appropriate Communication -- Treat Customers Fairly -- Cultivate Relationships with Customers -- Service Recovery Strategies: (2) Fix the (Underlying) Problem(s) -- Encourage and Track Complaints -- Learn from Recovery Experiences -- Learn from Lost Customers -- Make the Service Fail-Safe-Do It Right the First Time! -- Service Recovery Strategies: (3) Offer A Service Guarantee -- Characteristics of Effective Guarantees -- Types of Service Guarantees -- Benefits of Service Guarantees -- When to Use (or Not Use) a Guarantee -- Switching versus Staying Following Service Recovery -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Eight: Service Innovation and Design -- Part Four: Aligning Service Design and Standards -- Chapter Eight: Introduction -- Challenges of Service Innovation and Design -- Important Considerations for Service Innovation -- Involve Customers and Employees -- Employ Service Design Thinking and Techniques -- Types of Service Innovation -- Service Offering Innovation -- Innovating around Customer Roles -- Innovation through Service Solutions -- Service Innovation through Interconnected Products -- Stages in Service Innovation and Development -- Phase 1: Front-End Planning -- Phase 2: Implementation -- Service Blueprinting: A Technique for Service Innovation and Design -- What Is a Service Blueprint? -- Blueprint Components -- Service Blueprint Examples -- Blueprints for Technology-Delivered Self-Service -- Reading and Using Service Blueprints -- Building a Blueprint -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Nine: Customer-Defined Service Standards -- Chapter Nine: Introduction -- Factors Necessary for Appropriate Service Standards.

Standardization of Service Behaviors and Actions -- Formal Service Targets and Goals -- Customer-, Not Company-, Defined Standards -- Types of Customer-Defined Service Standards -- Hard Customer-Defined Standards -- Soft Customer-Defined Standards -- One-Time Fixes -- Development of Customer-Defined Service Standards -- Turning Customer Requirements into Specific Behaviors and Actions -- Developing Service Performance Indexes -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Ten: Physical Evidence and the Servicescape -- Chapter Ten: Introduction -- Physical Evidence -- What Is Physical Evidence? -- How Does Physical Evidence Affect the Customer Experience? -- Types of Servicescapes -- Dimension 1: Servicescape Usage -- Dimension 2: Servicescape Complexity -- Strategic Roles of the Servicescape -- Package -- Facilitator -- Socializer -- Differentiator -- Framework for Understanding Servicescape Effects on Behavior -- The Underlying Framework -- Behaviors in the Servicescape -- Internal Responses to the Servicescape -- Environmental Dimensions of the Servicescape -- 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 -- Update and Modernize the Evidence -- Work Cross-Functionally -- Consider Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic -- Summary -- Discussion Questions -- Exercises -- Notes -- Chapter Eleven: Employees' Roles in Service -- Part Five: Delivering and Performing Service -- Chapter Eleven: Introduction -- Service Culture -- Exhibiting Service Leadership -- Developing a Service Culture -- Transporting a Service Culture -- The Critical role of Service Employees -- Service Employees and the Service Marketing Triangle.

Employee Satisfaction Is Linked to Customer Satisfaction and Profits.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.