The nature and distinctive characteristics of service merit their own marketing and management framework. Discuss.

A service is an intangible product involving a deed of performance, or an effort that cannot be physically possessed. Services are usually provided through the application of human or mechanical effort directed at people or objects. Kotler (2000) defines services as any activities or benefits that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. He goes on to say that its production may or may not be tied to a physical product. Examples of services are education, hotels, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), car repair and many others. It is true that the nature and distinctive characteristics merit their management framework

Services have four distinguishing characteristics which are intangibility, inseparability, perishebility and inconsistency

Intangibility

Services can not be touched, viewed, tasted, smelt or possessed before it is bought by the client. An example is the educational service provided by NUST, it is intangible, or even when a client buys an airline ticket the client is entitled to an experience and it is intangible thus it is subjectively evaluated. Intangibility leads to customers having difficulty in evaluating services that are provided by competing service providers. Customers can only make a comparison after they have already paid for the service and this means that they may not get real value for their money and they would have to look for another service provider and pay again for that service for example women often change hair saloons until they find one that really suite what they need. The service provider has to reduce service complication so that customers can make comparisons of what they want to choose. The service provider can also make sure that all the details of the service that are on offer so that customers can choose before paying anything. For example in car rental waiting room, you will find that there are brochures that will  be written all the details of the services that they provide that is for savings or current accounts so that customers really know what they will be paying for before they make any conclusions.

Intangibility leads customers to relay on personal information sources. Customers will consult friends, family, and variety of opinion leaders or those who would have experienced the service for information. So consumers prefer to use personal sources of information than non personal sources of information like adverts in the newspapers. Personal sources of information are a source of good word of mouth advertising. A service provider should strategies to improve its service so that they will have a good reputation with client’s hence good word of mouth advertising from the clients. The service provider may use reputable people like Nigel Chanakira or Phillip Chiyangwa who are ranked high in the society in their advertising campaigns. This will attract customers to the service provider because of the use of people who are looked up by the community. More so, service providers can use testimonials in their advertising campaigns, for this will help increase positive word of mouth advertising.

More so, the basis or the measurement of assessing quality on intangible services, customers will use price. For example, the in the hotel industry, expensive hotels like the Crown Plaza Hotel or Meikles Hotel, hence they offer high exclusive customer service which is worth the price as compared Cresta Lodge, which is cheap and clients do not expect a lot from them. This means that the quality of the service provided is important because customers use quality to make comparisons of the services that are on offer.

Inseparability

The production of a service cannot be separated from its consumption by customers. This means that services are produced and consumed simultaneously.  This means that the customer must be physically present to get the service. Compared to product manufacturers, service providers are often in constant contact with their customers and must build their service operations with the customer’s existence in mind. Inseparability leads to customers being co-producers of the service.

The problem with inseparability is that the customer has to travel to the location in order to get the service. Management can deal with this by putting emphasis on the improvement of service delivery systems. If the service delivery is system is good, customers would be happy to go the location because they know get value for their money, some customers will even travel long distance to get specific unique service delivery. Management can strategies to make the service available to the clients by travelling to customers preferred locations hence taking the service to the people. Some banks, for example Stanbic Bank Limited has allocated branches at residential areas. Another example, shops like OK and TM which are located near customers like in the residential areas. More so, opening hours for the service must be convenient for the customer for example hotels are open for twenty hours, they do not close.

Customers are co-consumers of services hence showing the inseparability of services. An example is a sports bar which broadcast football matches, the customer will enjoy the match in the company of others while they consume the service at the same time. On this management must enhance the service delivery and manage the consumer-producer interaction in order to satisfy the consumer.

Furthermore, management should train employees who are in contact with the client during the service delivery. The service provider employees should have excellent customer relations skills. The attitudes and emotions of the personnel are apparent to the customer and can affect the service experience. Employees should create a pleasant and homely environment so that the client becomes comfortable. A bad attitude employee may lead to bad customer service experience. So training is necessary to ensure that customers get quality service.

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Ininventotability

Services are perishable, it can not be stored because services are produced and consumed simultaneously. For example, spare seats on one aeroplane cannot be transferred to the next flight, and query-free times at the reference desk cannot be saved up until there is a busy period. Due to ininventotability demand is very sensitive, hence the inability to inventory creates profound difficulties for marketing services which are higher demand than maximum available supply, higher demand than optimal supply level, lower demand than optimal supply level. Management may use creative pricing strategies to help smooth demand fluctuations. One of the strategies is to charge high price during peak hours and low prices during off peak. Through shifting demands the service provider will be able to accommodate more customers and even offer better service.

Inconsistence

Services involve people, and people are all different. There is a strong possibility that the same enquiry would be answered slightly differently by different people or even by the same person at different times. It is important to minimise the differences in performance through training, standard-setting and quality assurance.

Through standardization, service providers may standardize their service through training its employees. This will help reduce the variations in performance provided by the service provider. Another way of eliminating variability is by replacing human labour with machines in providing the service. An example is an automated teller machine (ATM) whose service is standardized to all cater customers.

More so, through customization, the service provider may personalize the service in order to suit a particular customer needs. The service provider will use specific instructions provided by the customer, as a result the customer will be provided with a service that meets their needs. The service provider will get higher profit margins because of the price of customization. This service on the other hand, may take longer to provide and may lead to customers paying high prices, for example, if some wants to buy a customized Mercedes Benz car, they will have to pay a higher price as compared to the standard one.

REFERENCES

Palmer A (1994) Principles of services marketing.