MKT 412 INDIVIDUAL ASSINGMENT April 12th, 2013

Prepared For
Zarjina Tarana Khalil

(ZTK)

Section 6 Lecturer School of Business

The Best Service Encounter

Over the course of this semester I have had an array of service encounters. While the majority of my experiences have been middle-of-the-road in terms of quality, there were a few I was delighted with and a few that were not so pleasant. Although I consider myself a voicer complainer, the material I have garnered from this course has allowed me to make better judgments in assessing the quality of those encounters and the areas in which management was either lacking or excelling. Out of all seven of my service encounters, I have chosen the encounter with my tailor, to be the best encounter. The main reason behind this is that this incident had left me the most satisfied compared to the others.

Background
Monica tailor is situated in PRIYANGON market which is Mirpur road near new market. There are several other tailors who provide tailoring services in the market; therefore I would say competition is quite stiff for this tailoring service providers. I had been his customer since 2009, and despite occasional disappointments, the tailor always seemed to come up with surprises and discounts to keep me loyal since because of me he got lot of customers. All of my friends and other family members also make clothes from him. Surprisingly, the master always calls once a month to check if I had any complaints regarding their services. And yes these little things seem to make big impression over a long time.

The Encounter
Two months back, on the 12th of February, I went to collect my clothes which I gave to sew for my cousin brothers wedding. I was checking the clothes to see if it was made properly or not and saw that he ruined two of my clothes out of five which I gave him to sew. I was so furious because the clothes were made for the occasion and only one week left. The tailor master apologized for his mistake and promised to redo it for me. I left the place giving two more

clothes to sew. After five days, the tailor master calls saying he would drop the clothes at my place before going home. While I was checking my clothes, I found two extra kameezs which was not mine; so I called Babul Bhai (Tailor Master) right away to inform him that probably he left someone else clothes. Surprisingly, he tells me that he has gifted me those kameezs because in spite of all his mistakes I still make clothes from him and also send him new customers. What amazes me about this tailor is that, usually, other tailors like this dont ever realize that they have to keep the customers happy. Its a common perception that tailors will ruin the clothes but still behave rude with you asking to switch which I heard from my friends. On the other hand, Monica Tailor gave me a different perception. Three reasons why I consider Monica Tailor as a good service provider are as follows. 1. Recognition of Loyalty Monica Tailor over time, including this encounter, has shown the ability to recognize loyal customers and the value of their loyalty. From time to time, the tailor has come up with different ways to show their appreciation of the existing and loyal customers like me. This encounter was no different. For a tailor service provider, these little things probably help them to stand out from the rest of the tailors available in Priyangon. Whenever any firm shows symbols of gratitude towards their customers for their loyalty, it just gives the customers a reason to stick to them for an even longer time.

2. Responsiveness The tailor master whos also the owner of the shop shows a significant amount of responsiveness while handling his customers, or at least while handling the situation. If we take the encounter into consideration, I complained 5days before; he did not only fix my clothes without arguing with me but also delivered my clothes home before I called him up again. This is least expected from tailors of now on. He completed the clothes and delivered before my cousins wedding. And eventually, everything was done without any hassle. The willingness of the tailor master and his employee to help me out of this situation was really overwhelming.

3. Reliability Finally, the reliability of the tailor in handling customers is amazing. It is proved by the fact that I actually expected him to only fix my clothes but he also delivered them in my home taking consideration that I must be busy with the wedding. And it happened. Moreover, the two clothes he gifted to appreciate my loyalty was a cherry on top of the ice-cream. Therefore, I wouldnt hesitate to go on and suggest more of my friends to visit his tailor as he is reliable and gives value to his customers.

The Worst Service Encounter

Background
Brac Bank Ltd is a well reputed commercial bank in Bangladesh. Though it a well known back still they have lot more to learn. Their customer service department needs to train how to deal with their customers. I have been their customer since 2007, and they disappoint me since then. The account was made by my father to buy shares, he maintains the account, I only need to go through a hassle when required; but ever since the account has been opened I always had issues with the extra charges they take.

Encounter
On the 31st of January, I had to visit the Dhanmondi branch of Brac Bank to renew my ATM card. Usually I directly go to the manager uncles room, as my father is a banker he knows people from other banks too, so I do not have to wait for long. But that they the manager was not available and God knows where was the second man; so I waited in a queue with a token in my hand like every other customers in the customer service department. I waited for an hour yet my turn was way to come and there was lack of information for how long I have to wait. Finally when my turn came I went inside the room where I saw only one cranky woman was working and rest of the desks were empty. When I said I came to renew my ATM card without asking me for any other information she gave me a form to fill it up. Since I was not prepared for it, there were lot of informations which I was not sure of and had to call my father for assistance. Instead

of helping me the employee was giving me an attitude saying she does not have all day for me. She should have my previous data and I was suppose to only give my signature of the formed filled up digitally but her being lack of trained was doing everything manually. Since that day, because of her behavior, I complained against her to her manager and at end of March instead of collecting the ATM card I closed my account.

Problems

Lack of standard of quality: At the first place, their quality standard isnt anywhere near their competitors. Other banks provide better waiting areas with facilities such as good sitting areas, magazines, newspapers and television; whereas Brac banks Dhanmondi branch does not even have a sitting place and the place gets crowed as time passes by. The employees are not at all helpful and they lack of information. The behavior of the employees deteriorates their quality standard. The bottom-line is that they operated way below the expected level of quality standard. I believe this is what marketers call the Provider GAP 3 of service marketing.

Lack of Communication skills: Every bank service provider should gain communication skills if they are especially in customer service department. Here the employees did not communicate with their clients rather just dealt with problems thinking overall situations. If to renew an ATM card I have to fulfill a new form then it is better to apply for a new ATM card. Here I believe Provider GAP 1 was missing because the employees did not know what the customers were expecting. Not listening to my problem rather giving me a form to fill up is what made the encounter so disappointing.

 Employees poor behavior: When their services go wrong, the customers expect the acting employee of any firm to behave in a rather decent, calm and apologizing manner. However, this didnt happen with the employee of the bank. When I asked for assistance to help me fill up the form she behaved in a rude way saying she was not my secretary. As there was lot of information to be filled it took me quite some time, she end up saying she does not have much time I need to hurry up. Her charging tone was enough to give me a reason to never visit this bank again.

Recommendation

1. Brac Bank should first arrange better waiting areas in all their branches. This is a very important issue and Brac bank should acknowledge since in Dhanmondi branch there are no waiting areas and it becomes a hassle for all the customers since there is barely a place left to even stand by afternoon. This will not only enhance the quality standard of their services but also help the customers to control their temper because of long waits. They can decorate the waiting area with mild colors and have facilities like reading news papers and magazines or may have television.

2. Brac Bank should focus on developing their employees communication skills because I was not the only one to complain, the manager agreed with me because lot of clients had

the same complain. They should develop the listening skill and have patience to listen to their client because this is why they are hired for. .

3. Another area of service they should look to improve is their employees behavior with the customers. The best way to do this is by giving the managers, especially the front line employees such as customer service department, short trainings and lectures on behavior and attitude management. Other than the core service, the customers remember a service provider by the interactions with its employees. Or in other words, a service provider is judged and evaluated heavily on the way its employees behaved with the customers. Therefore, improving this area is very important issue for Brac Bank.