Post on 26-Mar-2015
EMPLOYEES ROLE IN SERVICE DELIVERY
The Critical Importance Of Service Employees
Key focus on customer contact service employees because: They are the service They are the organization in customer’s eye They are the brand They are the marketers
Their importance is evident in: The Services Marketing Mix (People) The Service-Profit Chain The Services Triangle
The Service Triangle
Internal Marketing
Interactive Marketing
External Marketing
Company(Management)
CustomersEmployees
enablingpromises
delivering promises
settingpromises
The Service Triangle
External Marketing: includes anything or anyone
that communicates to the customer before service delivery
Interactive Marketing: its the real time marketing
were promises are kept
Internal Marketing: management aids the
providers in their ability to deliver the service promise- recruiting, training, motivating, rewarding, and providing equipment & technology
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?
Why Internal Marketing?
Satisfied employees make for satisfied customers Unless service employees are happy in their jobs,
customer satisfaction will be difficult to achieve Employees directly influence all 5 dimensions of
service quality
Service Profit Chain
Boundary Spanning Roles
The frontline service employees are referred to as boundary spanners because they operate at the organization's boundary
They provide a link between external customer and environment and the internal operations of the organization
They serve as a critical function in understanding, filtering, and interpreting information and resources to and from the organization and its external constituencies
They vary from the least skilled, lowest paid employees like order takers, front desk employees, delivery people to well paid highly educated professionals like doctors, lawyers
These positions require extraordinary levels of emotional labor, frequently demand an ability to handle interpersonal and inter-organizational conflict
Emotional Labor arises from the discrepancy between the way frontline staff feel inside and the emotions they are expected to portray in front of customers
Sources of Conflict Personal/ Role Conflict: conflict between
what their job requires and their own personalities, self perceptions, and beliefs
Organization/ Client Conflict: dilemma of whether they should follow the company’s rules or satisfy customer demands.
Interclient Conflict: conflict between customers. Eg: speaking o mobile phone in a cinema hall, noisy guests in a restaurant
External Environment
Internal Environment
Boundary Spanners Interact with Both Internal and External Constituents
Strategies for Delivering Service Quality Through PeopleStrategies for Internal Marketing: To build
a customer-oriented, service-minded
workforce, an organization must:
Hire the right people Develop people to deliver service quality Provide the needed support systems Retain the best people
Customer-Oriented Service Delivery
Hire theRight People
ProvideNeeded Support
Systems
Retain theBest
People
DevelopPeople to
DeliverServiceQuality
Compete
for
the B
est
People
Hire for Service
Competencies and Service Inclination
Tre
at
Em
plo
ye
es
a
s
Cu
sto
me
rs
Em
po
we
r E
mp
loy
ee
s
Be the Preferred
Employer Train for
Technical and
Interactive
Skills
Prom
ote
Team
wor
k
Measure
Internal
Service
Quality
Develop Service-
oriented Internal
Processes
Mea
sure
and
R
ewar
d S
tron
g S
ervi
ce
Per
form
ers
Include
Em
ployees in
the
Com
pany’s
Vision
Provide Supportive Technology
and Equipment
Hire the Right People
Compete for the best people Identify the people and compete with other
organizations to hire them
Hire for service competencies and service inclination
Service competencies are the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job
Service inclination means their interest in doing service related job
Be a preferred employer Provide career and growth opportunities, excellent
internal support, attractive incentives etc
Develop People to Deliver Service Quality
Train for technical and interactive skills Ongoing training in necessary technical skills like
cash machine procedures, accounting systems in hotels
Interactive skills allow employees to provide courteous, caring, responsive, and empathetic service
Empower employees Empowerment means giving employees the desire,
skills, tools, and authority to serve customer Frontline providers need to be empowered to
accommodate customer requests and to recover on the spot when things go wrong
Employees need the knowledge and tools to be able to make these decisions
Positive benefits of empowerment: reduction in job related stress, improved job satisfaction, greater adaptability, and better outcomes for customers
Promote teamwork Teamwork enhances the employees’ abilities to
deliver excellent service Build an interactive community of coworkers who
help each other Encourage the attitude- “everyone has a
customer” Team gals and rewards also promote teamwork
Provide Needed Support Systems
Measure internal service quality Internal customer service audits can be used to
implement a culture of internal service quality
Provide supportive technology and equipment
Develop service-oriented internal processes Internal processes should be designed with
customer value and customer satisfaction in mind Go for “process engineering” (i.e. total redesign
of system)
Retain The Best People
Include employees in the company’s vision
Treat employees as customers Make them feel valued and take care of their
needs The products that the organization has to offer its
employees are a job (with assorted benefits) and quality of work life
Measure and reward strong service performers
Service Culture
To move an organization towards service excellence, we
need a strong service culture that is continuously reinforced
and developed by the firm’s management.
“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.”