NEE ROMAN 2006104603

October 27th,2009

Dr. Beckett s Dental Office

1. Which of the eight elements of the service marketing mix are addresed in this case? Give examples of each P you identify.

Product Elements: Becketts core product is to provide superior dentistry in a quality environment. Dental service is a credence service. All facilitating supplementary services increase the value of her core product. She tries to differentiate her core product from her competitors in terms of quaility.

Place And Time: Place is the Dr. Becketts Dental Office. Time can be the working hours of the office.

Process: Patient is the direct recipient of dental service, so it is a people processing service. Patients must be physically present to receive the service.

Productivity and Quality: She wants to differentiate her service in terms of the quality. She moved a new office to provide an efficient environment for employees. One of her main purpose is to give the standardized dental care service. She works very hard with her employees to

balance the capacity. Her employees do not make patients to wait more than 20 minutes. They offer rescheduling and they save the customers time.

People: Dr. Beckett is aware of the service nature. She knows that an unhappy employee can destroy the all work environment. As a result of this awareness, she motivates her staff with training, vacations. She gives importance to her staffs suggestions and staffs motivation increases.

Physical Appearance: Dr. Becketts new office is modern and attractive. Her staff wears uniforms which match with the decoration of office. Dr. Becketts dental degrees are displayed on the wall.

Price and Other Costs: Price is higher than other competitors. Other than financial costs, patients have non financial costs which can be listed as: physical, psychological and time expenditures.

Promotion and Education: There is no advertising. Main tool is word of mouth. They use VCR to show the dental processes. Also a literature is available for the patients about after treatment procedures.

2. Why do people dislike going to dentist? Do you feel Dr. Beckett has addressed this problem effectively?

Because apart from financial costs, patients can have nonfinancial costs in dental service. These are psychological, physical and time cost. Yes, I think Dr. Beckett has addressed this problem effectively. She knows that patient must have a dental treatment and tries to do the best job and make them as comfortable as possible.

3. How do Beckett and her staff educate patients about the service they are receiving? What else could they do? All her new patients were required to have an initial exam so that she could do a need assessment and educate them about her service. Her staffs provide videos about the dental operation to educate patients. They can have before and after treatment photo album for new patients and this may be reduce their fear. Also brochures can be useful to educate patients. Apart from educating the customer, may be she can have a dentist partner to balance the excess demand.

4. What supplementary services are offered? How do they enhance service delivery? . Both facilitating and enhancing supplementary services are offered.

Facilitating supplementary services:

*Becketts patients know dental procedures before the treatment. (Information) *When patients make an appointment for dental care (order taking)

Enhancing supplementary services:

*There was a small conference room with toys for children. They can play with toys when their parents receiving dental service (safekeeping)

*Before and after treatment, Dr. Beckett and her employees consult with patients. They consult them about how to maximize their treatment outcomes. (Consultation) * Dr Becketts office provides an comfortable and modern environment to patients. Patients can listen classical music, drink a cup of coffee, sit on comfortable chairs. Also employees make follow-up calls to patients after treatment which is an competitive advantage in service

5. Contrast your own dental care experiences with those offered by Becketts practice. What differences do you see? Based on your review of this case, what advice would you give (a) to your current or former dentist and (b) to Dr Beckett?

My dental care experience is absolutely different from Becketts practice. My dentist office is poorly designed and there is no rescheduling option. She always makes me wait more than 30 minutes. There is no headphone, classical music or abundant of flowers. She has what she needs. But her dental practice is perfect, I feel no pain when I have operations. a. Although if she redesigns her office and provide more facilitating and enhancing supplementary services, I will be more happy. It is clear that there is a tradeoff between the cheap cost and expensive cost. If you want to be in an comfortable environment, you should pay more money. b. From my point of view, Dr. Beckett provides her service in a quality environment. May be she can offer pet care for patients who have pets. Also a parking place can be a good idea.