"Scripting is an important technique for managing service people

and the processes they deliver. Using an organization with which

you are familiar critically discuss how scripting is used, and its
advantages and disadvantages".
Scripting is "the precise specification of actions to be taken by service staff, in particular
situations" (Clark & Johnston, 2008, p. 251) and is an essential technique for managing in
todays globalized service environment. In a constantly changing competitive environment
the use of scripting in mass service organizations ultimately provides consistency, efficiency
and security for customers and employees alike (Clark & Johnston, 2008). This essay will first
briefly outline the nature of scripting. Second, this essay will examine the organization
Equip and investigate how scripting is used. Using real examples of scripting at Equip it is
possible to analyses the disadvantages and advantages of this technique. Overall, this essay
will argue that scripting is definitely a vital technique for managing service people and
processes. However it has to be approached in a manner that does not offset the autonomy
of employees and customers to an extent where the service experience is unpleasant.
The term, script is a "commonly used tool to design and manage the encounter between
frontline service employees and customers" (Victorian, Verma & Wardell, 2008, p. 36).
Scripting is often discussed in the context of understanding the service encounter as a
performance, much like in the theatre, and so the script provides the lines and actions that
employees (as actors) should play when they interact with a customer (Harris et al. 2003).
Scripting is also defined as a "design tool used to exert a degree of control over employeecustomer interactions that may take place where there is no direct supervision or oversight"
(Tansik & Smith, 1991, p.36). The use of scripting in service organizations aims to ensure a
consistent level of service quality by creating procedures that assist employees in their daily
tasks (Clark & Johnston, 2008). These procedures are typically a "predetermined set of
specific words, phrases, and gestures, as well as other expectations for the employee to use
during each step of the service process" (Victorino et al, p. 6).
Equip, an Australian-owned organization, is chain of affordable jewelry stores, targeting
females of all ages. Equip Yourself Online claim "join our fast growing team ... working in a
fun, young team environment. Many organizations, Equip included, not only hire young
workers that can relate to their predominantly young customers, but also hire young people
as they are assumed to be more compliant. Scholosser (2002) suggests the word young
used in the context of a service workforce often indicates an underlying belief that younger
staff will be more flexible and conform to specific organizational procedures. This certainly
appeared to be the case in the store where I worked, from the period of November 2010 till
May 2011. Equip's employee ages ranged from 17-23, with the store manager being 23.
With such a young workforce employees may be more likely to respond to
control mechanisms like scripts.
There are six steps to Equip's encounter script which guides the daily operations of its staff.
First an employee must greet the customer with an initial smile or verbal welcome within the
first thirty seconds upon entering the store. The employee must then initiate conversation
with an opening line by asking a question that requires an interactive answer and not a
simple 'yes' or 'no' reply. The third step determines the customer's wants and needs. The
employee is required to ask whether they wear gold or silver, or ask "what in particular are
you looking for today?" The employee must then suggest an add on: for example the
matching bracelet to the necklace they have chosen. The employee should then encourage
the customer to touch the additional piece of jewelers to persuade the customer it is the
right thing to do. Touching merchandise increases the likelihood of sales (Underhill,
2008). The fifth step is directly linked to the fourth: the employee must be able to handle

any possible objections. This step is explained in more detail below. The final stage of the
encounter is closing the sale which involves putting the item(s) through the PlatyPOS
transaction system, placing the item in an Equip bag, and fare-welling the customer with a
statement that will welcome them back again, such as See you later!
Equip further incorporates scripting for employees by guiding their interactions with
customers when answering the telephone. From my personal experience the phone has to
be answered in a specific way with an initial warm welcome, stating the organization and
store location, and who is speaking. In addition to scripting answering the phone, scripting in
Equip also extend to telling employees where they are to be positioned in store, and what to
expect and say in each of the areas they are responsible for. During the busiest time of the
shopping season, primarily the Christmas period, an employee will stand at the front of the
store and ask every customer possible that is leaving to open their bag to be checked. It is
the organizations policy that the customer has a right to decline a bag check and that the
employee must not physically touch the customers bag.
Equip is successful in that they have avoided heavy amounts of scripting in a rather
customized service delivery. Although guidelines are specific employees may deviate from
the scripted six steps if needed in order to please and meet the customers expectations.
This stance towards scripting is encouraged by management. Thus, scripting is not
approached in a way that offsets the autonomy of employees and customers to the extent
where the service experience is unpleasant. This plays to Equips advantage as customers
tend to take a dim view of heavy scripting. Employees themselves take pride in their ability
to create a positive, smooth delivery service, meeting and exceeding customers
expectations and using their discretion when needed to respond to customers mood, body
language and requirements (Chase & Dasu, 2001).
Scripting is incorporated into Equips operations due to the vast advantages for their
employees, customers and the organization as a whole. With a clear set of rules and
guidelines in place, employees are able to work more effectively as they have a clear
understanding of their responsibilities and role (Johnston & Clark, 2008). Consequently a
consistent, smooth work flow is generally established (Dilworth, 1986). This creates an
environment with minimal stress and a "sense of security to behavior" (Johnston & Clark,
2008, p. 251) for both the customer and the employee. Employees at Equip benefit from
scripting as they can rely on the content of the six steps in a service encounter to know
exactly what to say, and in what manner they should approach each customer. Thus
scripting is ideal for those employees who do not necessarily find it natural to strike up a
conversation with an unknown customer. The employee's overall anxiety is reduced. In
turn, this set of scripting guidelines followed by Equip employees means customers can
relax because they understand the rules by which the encounter will be played out,
especially if they are repeat customers. Customers typically expect an opening line after the
initial warm welcome during the service encounter. Thus, customers anticipate the type of
question that will be asked and this reduces the overall pressure they may feel as there
"exists a good understanding of what will happen and what is required of the customer at
each stage" (Johnston & Clark, 2008, p. 253). As Chase and Dasu (2001, p. 84) state
"ultimately, only one thing matters in a service encounterthe customers perceptions of
what occurred".
Further, according to Tansik and Smiths (2000) functions for using scripting, a main
advantage of this technique is being able to accurately diagnose customers needs and
wants. This is achieved through the six steps that employees perform during the encounter
stage. After greeting the customer and using an opening line that encourages he/she to
open up to the employee the employee will then ask about what in particular they are
looking for. Equip needs this information in order to operationalize their brand values: they
state this purpose in strong language: "our complete devotion to help customers find that

sought after latest accessory is what will continue to make the Equip brand so successful"
(Equip Online, 2010). Understanding the customer means that Equip can maximize their
profits and growth. Thus by providing a step in the script that asks customers what they
want and need, they provide a service for the customer, but also ensure Equip is enacting
their brand purpose.
Nevertheless it must be acknowledged that there can be a tension between 'service' and
'sales', and it can be difficult to get the balance right between serving the customer and
making sure their needs and wants are met, and on-selling to them in a way that they do not
find overly aggressive and pushy. Scripting, in the form of the six steps used by Equip is
clearly a way to control both the employee and the customer. Control is a major purpose of
scripting (Tansik & Smith, 2000). Equip employees who base their interactions on the six
steps are advantaged if they use the steps along with an upbeat personality to encourage
and subconsciously manipulate customers into purchasing jewelry item(s) the customer
believes they need. Using an opening line such as "what a nice dress you have, where did
you get it from?" ideally aims to initiate a positive relationship between the employee and
customer. Therefore, this increases the chance that the customer will add on to the jewelry
they have already chosen, or make the customer more inclined to purchase at all.
Employees that successfully achieve target objections, which means having more than 45%
multi sales, are rewarded with material goods, such as movie tickets and body wash. This
practice encourages employees to add-on sales. However, employees can only succeed with
multi sales if they create a positive and enjoyable service experience for the customer, and
if their interactions do not feel false and inauthentic (Ashforth & Tomiuk, 2000). Employees
can use the script to enhance the customer's experience and this adds value for them,
which increases the profit that Equip can make, and can lead to rewards for the employee.
Although some people may see the script as requiring 'hard selling' for employees it can be
very rewarding to use the script, coupled with knowledge of 'what looks good with what', to
enhance the appearance of the customer, and generate sales.
Another positive aspect of the way that employees can use a script to their advantage is
through using Step Five well; the step involving service recovery. Step Five requires the
employee to handle any objections effectively. For an example from my own personal
experience, a customer wanted an exchange for the same handbag in another color. The
Equip store where I worked did not have the colour she wanted in stock, and only Equip at
another outlet did. She refused to drive to the other store to do the exchange as asked by
the employee. The employee handled the objection by phoning the other store to ask if they
could transfer the handbag to our Equip store. This suited the customer and this assistance
actually exceeded her expectations. Thus, by positively engaging the customer through
service recovery the customer, who was more than happy to exchange the item, then also
purchased additional items. Therefore, by enacting Step Five well, Equip benefited as this
ultimately lead to multiple items being sold. This process helped retain the customer, and so
overall the process may provide a higher customer lifetime value resulting in an overall
growth in profits (Samson & Daft, 2005).
Although Equip is growing in profit and claim that their brands success is due to their
devotion to "help customers find that sought after latest accessory" (Equip Online, 2010) the
use of scripting to achieve this is not entirely flawless, and does have its drawbacks if not
approached in an appropriate manner. Again, from my personal experience, mystery
shopping, which is regularly used to assess quality at Equip, can backfire and actually cause
poor performance. Mystery shoppers might assess an Equip store every 2 months to
monitor employees adherence to organizational scripts (Scharf, 2003). In one case where a
mystery shop was conducted the result sheet was faxed to our Equip store. The report
detailed how one identifiable employee had not met the six steps precisely. The mystery
shopper had recorded that the employee did not greet them in the first 30 seconds of the
store and used an opening line that could not be answered. The employee consequently

failed the test with comments of too much deviation from the six steps. This resulted in the
employee adopting a heavier approach to scripting, as she conformed exactly to the criteria
of the six steps. Consequently, the employees multi sales dropped below the target of
45%. According to Johnston and Clark (2008) this is likely due to customers perception of
robot-like behaviour. Greeting a customer within 30 seconds and initiating the six steps
may be viewed as too interrogative, and viewed as going through the motions of service
delivery without any real sincerity (Lawrence & Weber, 2010).
Another factor than may create unintended negative consequences is Equips performance
objective criteria which sometimes require employees to meet 45% multi sales. Each
employee is sometimes given targets for each day depending on the hours they will work.
During the busy shopping day periods these are appropriate targets. However, during quiet
periods requirements to meet 45% multi sales can act as an organizational pressure for
employees, resulting in unnecessary stress, and potentially requiring a more forceful service
delivery and therefore a more unpleasant service experience for the customer (and the
employee), and a feeling of constant competition between employees to get a sale. This
can lead to poor morale and high staff attrition rates.
Overall, this essay confirms that scripting is a vital technique for managing service people
and processes. By briefly outlining the nature of scripting it is evident that it is indeed used
in Equips management strategy. The use of specific guidelines for the six steps, telephone
communication and employee positioning within the store portray how this technique is
incorporated into Equips daily operations. Equip use scripting to create a clear
understanding of roles, resulting in a consistent and efficient work flow, and overall reduced
stress for both customer and employee. This organization further benefits from the
technique through accurately diagnosing customers needs and wants and controlling the
customer to an extent. Employees can reap rewards for high productivity and customers can
experience a pleasurable service delivery, meaning Equip can maximize their profits. It is
evident that scripting, used moderately and with common sense, is useful, especially if
managers allow employees to deviate if necessary in order to maximize customer
satisfaction. Generally, at Equip in my experience, scripting does not offset the autonomy of
either the customer or employee to the extent where the service experience is unpleasant.
Sensible approaches to scripting can be beneficial and Equip is an example of a successful
organization that has benefited from the use of scripting.
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