Part 4

DELIVERING AND
PERFORMING
SERVICE
Provider GAP 3
CUSTOMER

Service Delivery
COMPANY
GAP 3
Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards

Part 4 Opener
 Employees’ Roles
in Service Delivery
• The Critical Importance of Service
Employees
• Boundary Spanning Roles
• Strategies for Closing Gap 3
• Service Culture
The Services Marketing Triangle
Company
(Management)

Internal External
Marketing Marketing
enabling setting
promises promises

Employees Interactive Marketing Customers

keeping promises
Source: Adapted from Mary Jo Bitner, Christian Gronroos, and Philip Kotler
 Ways to Use the
Services Marketing Triangle
 Overall Strategic
Assessment
 How is the service
organization doing on all
three sides of the
triangle?
 Where are the
weaknesses?
 What are the strengths?
 Specific Service
Implementation
 What is being promoted
and by whom?
 How will it be delivered
and by whom?
 Are the supporting
systems in place to
deliver the promised
service?
The Service Profit Chain

Source: An exhibit from J. L. Heskett, T. O. Jones, W. E. Sasser, Jr., and L. A. Schlesinger,

“Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 1994, p. 166.
 Service Employees
 They are the service.
 They are the organization in the customer’s
eyes.
 They are the brand.
 They are marketers.
 Their importance is evident in:
 The Services Marketing Mix (People)
 The Service-Profit Chain
 The Services Triangle
 Service Employees
 Who are they?
 “boundary spanners”
 What are these jobs like?
 emotionallabor
 many sources of potential conflict
 person/role
 organization/client

 interclient

 quality/productivity
Boundary Spanners Interact with Both
Internal and External Constituents
External Environment

Internal Environment
Sources of Conflict for
Boundary-Spanning Workers
• Person vs. Role

• Organization vs. Client

• Client vs. Client

• Quality vs. Productivity

Human Resource Strategies for Closing GAP 3
Hire for
r Service
fo Competencies B
Pr e t
e
t t
pe es and Service Em efe he
m B le pl rred
Co the op Inclination oy
Pe er

Str ard nd

Te Inte kills
Tr nica tive
Re ure a

ch rac
ain l
Hire the
Pe ervi g
ers

fo and
rfo ce Right People
n
w
as

S
o

r
rm
Me

Develop
Customer-

Employees
Empower
Employees

Customers

Retain the People to

Oriented
Treat

Best Deliver
as

Service Service
People
Delivery Quality
Em th any’

wo e
rk
Inc ee

am ot
Provide
plo e

Te rom
Co Visio

lu d s in
y

Needed Support
mp n

P
e

Systems
De
Se v e l o
s

re
or rvic p a su al
i
Int ente -
e
Provide Me tern e
Pr ern d In rvic y
oc Supportive Se alit
es al
se
s Technology Qu
and
Equipment
 Empowerment
 Benefits:  Drawbacks:
 quicker responses
 employees feel more
responsible
 employees tend to
interact with
warmth/enthusiasm
 empowered employees
are a great source of
ideas
 positive word-of-mouth
from customers
 greater investments in
selection and training
 higher labor costs
 slower and/or
inconsistent delivery
 may violate customer
perceptions of fair play
 “giving away the store”
(making bad decisions)
Service Culture
“A culture where an appreciation for good
service exists, and where giving good service
to internal as well as ultimate, external
customers, is considered a natural way of life
and one of the most important norms by
everyone in the organization.”