ties brokerage, and product repair and maintenance. .... mugged at the automatic teller machine?); --financial ..... a day-long course on the company's history and ...
Quality Counts in Services, Too Leonard L. Berry, Valarie A. Zeithaml, and A. Parasuraman
44 Leonard L. Berry is professor of marketing, Valarie A. Zeithaml is assistant professor of marketing, and A. ("Parsu") Parasuraman is an associate professor of
marketing, all at ~rexas A&M University. The authors wish to express appreciation to the Marketing Science Institute for funding the research on which this article is based.
Quality is essential when service is what is being sold. he issue of product quality has come to the forefront in American industry. One reason for this is the rise of the "get my money's w o r t h " consumer, a value-seeking shopper who thinks in terms of total use cost ("What will this product cost me over the total period I will be using it?") rather than just initial acquisition cost. According to a Whirlpool Corporation study, nearly four out of five American consumers claim to be more demanding about quality now than in prior years.a Most published work on product quality focuses on manufactured goods. The subject of service quality has received less attention. This distinction is important because some of the quality-improving strategies available to manufacturers (for example, better vendor management) may be inappropriate for service firms. Services are performances, not objects. They are often produced in the presence of the customer, as in the case of air travel or a medical exam. Because of the labor intensity of many services, quality can vary considerably from one firm to another and from one situation to the next within the same firm.
T
1. "America's Search for Quality," Whirlpool Corporation, 1983: 3.
To learn more about the subject of service quality, we recently conducted a series of consumer focus group interviews and executive interviews in four service sectors: retail banking, credit cards, securities brokerage, and product repair and maintenance. Our objectives were to better understand the nature and determinants of service quality from both consumer and executive perspectives, to find out more about what causes service quality problems, and to propose strategies for dealing with these causes. Our research was exploratory and, in this phase, restricted to consumer services. The four service sectors we studied vary along key dimensions used to categorize services. 2 For example, retail banking and credit card services provide immediate customer benefits, while securities brokerage and product repair services provide more enduring benefits. A nationally recognized company in each of the four sectors participated in the study. In-depth interviews were held with operations, marketing, customer relations, and senior executives in the firms. A total of 14 executive inter2. Christopher H. Lovelock, "Classifying Services To Gain Strategic Marketing Insights," Journal of Marketing, Summer 1983: 9-20. Business Horizons / May-June 1985
Quality Counts in Services, Too
views were conducted, each lasting one to two hours. The interviews were based on a c o m m o n set of open-ended questions. We also conducted 12 consumer focus group interviews, three for each of the four services being studied. Eight of the focus groups were held in a metropolitan area in the southwest; the other four were spread across the country. All focus group participants were current or recent users of the service being discussed. In the interviews, they discussed their experiences and perceptions concerning the service in general, rather than the specific service of the participating firm, the identity of which was not revealed. What Is Service Quality? ust what is service quality? Philip Crosby defines quality as conformance to specifications? Christian Gronroos distinguishes between "technical quality" (what is delivered) and "functional quality" (how it is delivered). He believes the " h o w " of service del i v e r y - f o r example, the appearance and behavior of a restaurant w a i t e r - i s critical to perceptions of service quality. 4 J a r m o Lehtinen views service quality in terms of "process quality" and " o u t p u t quality." Process quality is judged by the customer during the service. Output quality is judged by the customer after the service is performed. The barber's conversation and apparent skill during the haircut involve process quality; the appearance of the hair after the haircut involves output quality, s We asked each executive we interviewed to define service quality. A banker said that it "is setting standards regarding customer needs
J
3. Philip 13. Crosby, Quality Is Free (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979): 17. 4. See Christian Gronroos, Strategic Management and Marketing in the Service Sector
(Boston: Marketing Science Institute, May 1983), Chapter 4. 5. Jarmo R. Lehtinen, "Customer Oriented Service System," Service Management Institute Working Paper, Helsinki, Finland, 1983.
45
"I'm sorry, but she can't speak with you now. She's considering quality improvement suggestions, from a consumer perspective, for a certain technicalprocess service vendor." and meeting them." A securities brokerage executive answered, "Service quality is true representation of the client's interest first and foremost." A product repair executive responded, "Service in a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable cost by a competent technician who does it right the first time." From the focus group interviews, we identified ten determinants of service quality. Virtually all comments consumers made in these interviews about service expectations, priorities, and experiences fall into one of these ten categories. Although the relative importance of the categories would vary from one service industry to the next, we believe the determinants of service quality in most (if not all) consumer service industries are included in the list. • Reliability involves consistency of performance and dependability. It means that the firm per,forms the service right the first time. It also means that the firm honors its promises. Specifically, it involves: - a c c u r a c y in billing;
- k e e p i n g records correctly; - p e r f o r m i n g the service at the designated time. eResponsiveness concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide service. It involves timeliness of service: --mailing a transaction slip immediately; --calling the customer back quickly ; --giving prompt service. • Competence means possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service. It involves: --knowledge and skill of the contact personnel; - k n o w l e d g e and skill of operational support personnel; --research capability of the organization. • Access involves approachability and ease of contact. It means: - t h e service is easily accessible by telephone (lines are not busy and they don't put y o u on hold); --waiting time to receive service is not extensive; - h o u r s of operation are convenient;
46
--location of service facility is convenient. • Courtesy involves politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of contact personnel (including receptionists, telephone operators, and so forth). It includes: --consideration for the consumer's property; --clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel. • C o m m u n i c a t i o n means keeping customers informed in language they can understand. It also means listening to customers. It may mean that the company has to adjust its language for different consumers-increasing the level of sophistication with a well-educated customer and speaking simply and plainly with a novice. It involves: --explaining the service itself; --explaining how much the service will cost; --assuring the consumer that a problem will be handled. • Credibility involves trustworthiness, believability, honesty. It involves having the customer's best interests at heart. Contributing to credibility are: - c o m p a n y name; - c o m p a n y reputation; - p e r s o n a l characteristics of the contact personnel; --the degree of hard sell involved in interactions with the customer. • Security is the freedom from danger, risk, or doubt. It involves: -physical safety (will I get mugged at the automatic teller machine?); --financial security (does the company know where m y stock certificate is?); --confidentiality (are my dealings with the company private?). • Understanding
the
customer
involves making the effort to understand the customer's needs. It involves: --learning the customer's specific requirements; --providing individualized attention; --recognizing the regular 'customer.
• Tangibles include the physical evidence of the service: --physical facilities; --appearance of personnel; --tools or equipment used to provide the service; --physical representations of the service, such as a plastic credit card or a bank statement; - o t h e r customers in the service facility.
Four Conclusions alysis of our data leads us to onclude the following about the concept of service quality. 1. Consumer perceptions of service quality result from comparing e x p e c t a t i o n s prior to receiving the service and actual experiences with the service. If expectations are met, service quality is perceived to be satisfactory; if unmet, less than satisfactory; if exceeded, more than satisfactory. The expectations/experiences connection is consistent with Gronroos's conclusions based on research he performed in Europe. 6 2. Quality evaluations derive from the service process as well as the service outcome. The validity of Lehtinen's process quality/output quality scheme is underscored in our research by the large number of focus group comments relating to the interpersonal behaviors of the service provider, such as politeness, willingness to help, trustworthiness. The manner in which the service is performed can be a crucial component of the service from the consumer's point of view. 3. Service quality is of two types. First, there is the quality level at which the regular service is delivered (such as the bank teller's typical handling of a transaction). Second, there is the quality level at which "exceptions" or "problems" are handled (when, for example, the monthly credit card statement is incorrect, or the broker bought the securities but the instructions 6. Gronroos, Chapter 14.
were to sell them). Delivering good service quality requires strength at both levels. 4. When a problem occurs, the low contact service firm becomes a high contact firm. Credit card service is a good illustration. Usually, the credit card user has no personal contact with the credit card company. There is contact with the merchant at checkout but none with the credit card company unless there is a problem. The problem may be noticed by the company (the user exceeds the credit limit) or by the user (an error in the statement), but in either case personal contact between c o m p a n y and customer may result. We have learned that interactions between customer and company representatives c a n - a n d do--figure prominently in the quality image of so-called low-contact firms. Time and time again, credit card and product repair focus group participants emphasized interpersonal factors when discussing how service providers responded to an exception. The Figure shows how service quality evaluations are a function of the expectations consumers bring to the service situation and the process and output quality they perceive they receive. These relationships hold whether the service performed is the regular service or in response to an exception. What Causes Service Quality Problems? ur research reinforces the conclusion from a study of manufacturing companies, " t h a t the seeds of quality problems are widely distributed. ''~ However, studies of manufacturing firms and service firms produce some different "seeds." The most frequently mentioned sources of quality problems in the manufacturer study were workmanship/work force, materials/purchase of parts,
O
7. Frank S. Leonard and W. Earl Sasser, "The Incline of Quality," Harvard Business Review, September-October 1983: 164.
Quality Countsin Services,Too control systems, product design, and maintenance of process equipment. s The primary causes of service quality problems surfacing in our research are, in key respects, quite different.
Inseparability of Production and Consumption and Labor Intensity Goods are manufactured in a factory, then sold, then consumed. For many services the sequence is reversed. First the service is sold, then it is produced, often in the presence of the customer. Frequently, production and consumption are inseparable. Customers cannot be transported by an airline without being on the airplane. They cannot have their teeth cleaned without going to the dentist's office. In effect, for many services the customer is in the factory. The customer experiences firsthand the production of the services. Holy service personnel conduct themselves, how they speak, even how they dress, all potentially shape the customer's perceptions of service quality. The inseparability characteristic would not figure so prominently in matters of service quality, however, if most services were not so labor intensive. The extensive involve8. Leonm'dand Sasser: 164.
ment of people in the production of a service introduces a degree of nonstandardization that doesn't exist when machines dominate the production process. As a securities brokerage executive p u t it: "Trying to maintain service quality when you have five thousand entrepreneurs (brokers) out there is difficult. Their levels of knowledge vary greatly. Getting five thousand to do it right all the time is hard." Many factors can interfere with a satisfactory experience when service producer and service consumer are in direct contact. It is particularly t r o u b l e s o m e - a n d yet quite common--when the backgrounds of those delivering the service and those buying it are quite different. The service personnel with whom consumers interact (bank tellers and credit card operations clerks, for example) are frequently among the least educated and lowest paid employees in their companies. Both the bank and the credit card issuer participating in our study voiced concerns about personnel who respond to customer inquiries but have a poor command of the English language. The problem of service worker backgrounds involves low wages, insufficient talent pools for certain "non-glamorous" service jobs, not
enough (or the wrong kind of) training~ high turnover rates, and other factors. A bank operations executive enumerated several of these points: "Turnover is high and a lack of experience results. A person who normally would keep a position for 18 months has to move upward before he is ready. And this has an impact all the way down the line. You have limited staff because of unfilled openings and inadequately prepared staff because people have to get up the learning curve when they are new." 47 If a worker in a manufacturing plant has difficulties with the language, is poorly dressed, or has body odor, the customer won't know about it. With most services, however, the worker's language skills, dress, and odors are part of the customer's experience. The presence of the customer during production of the service--which is frequently labor-intense and hence subject to variability--causes quality problems unique to services. Inadequate Service to Intermediate Customers In each of the companies we studied, the quality of service the consumer received depended in part on the quality of operational support the service personnel received.
Continuum of Perceived Service Quality
Unacceptable Quality
Expectations Not Met II Prepurchase Expectations
X
Perceived Process Quality
X
I Perceived Output Quality
Expectations Met
[
Satisfactory
[ Expectations Exceeded]
Ideal Quality
"New services or enhanced existing services offer both additional marketing opportunity and additional opportunity for things to go wrong. Too much newness can do more harm than good." 48 In effect, these customer contact o f the broker in the office and the personnel--the branch office bank- problems he faces. For instance, the er, the stockbroker, the repair tech- broker comes to the office on nician, the me~chant accepting the Monday morning when the market credit c a r d - a r e intermediate cus- is going up, and he thinks it's going tomers of various support services to be a great week. The first call he that pertain to the services they gets is Mrs. Smith, who hasn't themselves perform. If the quality received her dividend check. He of intermediate service is poor, the spends 30 minutes with her and quality of service rendered the ulti- then he can't get the problem fixed mate consumer is likely to suffer. at headquarters. Customer-contact personnel For many service companies, provide the link between c o m p a n y two sets of service quality cusand customer. They sell and]or tomers must be satisfied. In addiperform the service. To the con- tion to the ultimate consumer, the sumer, they are the company. When intermediate c u s t o m e r - t h e contact something goes wrong--a lost stock person who depends upon support certificate, an ordered appliance services provided elsewhere in the part that doesn't arrive--it is the organization--must be served. The contact person, who may be totally consumer's perceptions of service blameless, to whom the customer quality depend on it. will likely turn. For service quality to be satis- Communication Gaps factory, customer contact person- Communication gaps were a major nel m u s t be willing and able to factor in service quality problems perform the service. The repair surfacing in our research. These technician needs to have the right gaps were of several types. One diagnostic tools. The branch banker type is when the firm overpromises. needs a prompt response from Another is when the firm fails to operations to the customer's in- stay in touch. The c o m m e n t b y a quiry. The merchant needs fast repair customer illustrates both access to credit card purchase problems: "I was told I would be authorizations We found evidence the first call tomorrow. At 12:30 that intermediate service quality the next afternoon I called to ask problems result in problems at t h e them when their day started." consumer level. The c o m m e n t made Another gap occurs when comb y a securities brokerage executive pany communications are not unillustrates the concept of inter- derstood. A brokerage customer mediate customer service: I wish I said, "When the broker talks to could take our 2,000+ operations you, you feel like he's talking to people and let them see the reality another broker." A credit card cus-
tomer complained of "this mysterious thing called average daily balance." Still another gap is when the c o m p a n y does not listen. One of several recurring themes in complaints to the bank in our study is, "My instructions to the bank were not foUowed." A second recurring theme: " I get no response." A disproportionate number of service quality problems seem to arise from failure to stay in t o u c h whh customers until a problem is fully resolved, to communicate in nontechnical rather than technical language, to develop employee listening skills in training, and to moderate customer expectations. Service Proliferation and Complexity Another source of service quality problems is too much newness in the service l i n e - t o o many new services, too much added complexity with existing services. Change, in effect, outstrips organizational capacity to handle it. All of the companies we studied were characterized by extensive "net additions" to their service lines during the period in which we conducted our research. In the case of the financial firms, a clear impetus was deregulation. In the case of the repair firm, the impetus was electronics technology and its new product offspring: videocassette recorders, home computers, touchsensitive, electronically timed washing machines.
Quality Counts in Services, Too
In discussing the sources of service quality problems, a product repair executive stated: "We may not have all the specifications needed to train technicians before a new product is marketed. Some technicians may never be capable of being trained to service these new 'hi-tech' products. These products are coming too fast." On the same subject, a securities brokerage executive said: "All the new services bring with them new quality problems. When you are no longer a broker and not quite a bank, you're 'in-between' and there are no 'inbetween' people to hire--so you have to make them. We've taken our best brokerage clients and hooked on a credit card, and we don't know enough about minimizing mistakes. Learning the process has taken a couple of hairs off my head." Clearly, new products are vital to a firm's long-term success. However, our research underscores the importance of service firms being prepared to provide the service before marketing it. New services--or enhanced existing services-offer both additional marketing opportunity and additional opportunity for things to go wrong. Too much newness can do more harm than good. Viewing Customers as Statistics Services are performed for individuals. It can be difficuh to keep this perspective in mind when every working day a bank processes over one million checks, a credit card issuer receives thousands of telephone calls from customers, a brokerage firm executes 300,000+ transactions, and a repair firm has rooms full of appliances awaiting repair. When a service firm has many customers, there is a tendency to view them as statistics, foregoing the opportunities that are sometimes present to individualize the service. However, many consumers desire a personalized and tailored
approach to the service. A bank customer says: " S o m e b o d y in the bank should know y o u . " A credit card customer: " T h e y should know you're good for the bucks. They should know that, if I want to exceed my credit limit, I'm good for it." A securities customer: " T h e broker has to understand your situation, your objectives. Is the money for play, for risk, or is it for the kids' education?" Repetitive tasks, more problems to solve than staff to solve them, sheer size and magnitude of operations, improper selection, training, compensation, and supervision of service workers-all contribute to a service insensitivity we found in our research. A product repair executive discussed the problem this way: "We tend to forget to put ourselves in the customer's shoes. All we see are broken appliances. We forget sometimes about how the customer feels, about his concerns, and we don't take the time to allay these concerns." A bank operations executive said: "Operations personnel can be insensitive. They see so many problems that they lose sensitivity. For example, one hundred dollars doesn't seem as important as one thousand dollars, but it's critical to the customer out one hundred dollars. Nevertheless, a situation where the bank has shortchanged a customer one hundred dollars may be put on the back burner because of other problems involving more m o n e y . " While the customer interacts with a small set of firms for a given service, the service firm interacts with a large set of customers. Treating individual customers as individuals is not automatic. When the lines in the bank lobby are backed up to the door, when the credit card customer telephones to indicate the charges on his statement belong to someone else and it's the forty-third such call received that day', the potential for treating the customer as a statistic-and for the customer to be disappointed-is high.
Short-Run View of the Business Too much emphasis on short-term profitability in a service firm may be reflected in lower service quality assessments from the customer. A short-run view can affect service quality in several ways. First, it can lead to too many cost-reducing moves and their consequences, such as reducing t h e number of bank tellers (and lengthening the lines at the teller windows) or drawing down the spare parts inventory (and delaying the completion of certain repair jobs). Second, it can encourage transactions that are not in the best interests of the customer; for example, account churning by the stockbroker. In the focus group interviews, credibih'ty of the service firm proved to be a major determinant of service quality perceptions, especially in the securities brokerage and product repair groups. Two themes prevailed: Are they honest? Do they care about my welfare? These remarks from customers are typical: • " I f a broker is going to make a recommendation to a client, it should be an honest recommendation based on facts, not based on commissions to be received. Honesty is the basis of the whole thing." • " I f I find a good, honest repairman, I won't even experiment with anyone else." • "When you have a problem, they treat you like you have a disease." • "Everyone has the best products and service departments before you buy. Once you buy and sign your check, you go down the drain." Taking a short-run view to conducting business is a well-known problem about which much has been written. The problem can be particularly acute in service businesses, however, because service is what is being sold. If you jeopardize the service in a service business, you jeopardize the business.
49
"Avoiding the promotional temptations to overpromise can help a company achieve a good quality image. Raising expectations to unrealistic levels may lead to more initial business, but it invariably fosters customer disappointment and discourages repeat business." 50 realistic levels may lead to more initial business, but it invariably aterially improving service fosters customer disappointment quality is a long-term, and discourages repeat business. multifaceted task. To ap- The "on-time" airline, the "no surproach this task on a short-term, prises" hotel chain, and the "it will unidimensional basis is to invite be ready by five" auto repair shop failure. What ideas might be incor- risk their reputations for quality pora'ted into a service company's every time they fall short of these quality improvement planning? promises. It is better, we believe, to Identifying primary quality excel in the primary quality deterdeterminants. Earlier we presented minant areas, to exercise prudence the determinants of service quality and caution in promoting these found in our research. Improving attributes of performance, and to service quality begins with a com- let repeat patronage and word-ofpany using research to identify the mouth build the business. It is quality determinants most impor- better to exceed customer expectatant to market segments of interest. tions than to let the customer It is necessary to find out if the mix down. of primary quality determinants Managing evidence. Closely aschanges when it is an "exception" sociated with the notion of manrather than a routine service. The aging expectations is the notion of next step involves assessing how the managing evidence. While the forcompany and its competitors are mer is concerned with assuring realrated by target markets on the key istic expectations prior to the serquality determinants. Isolating vice situation, the latter is conquality determinants important to cerned with shaping perceptions the customer and in need of imduring and after the service. Beprovement by the company pro- cause a service is a performance and vides a focus for a quality improvecannot be sensed as goods can, ment program. Because market consumers tend to be especially priorities may change, they need to attentive to tangibles associated be tracked over time. with it for clues about its nature Managing customer expecta- and quality. 9 Managing evidence tions. The expectations consumers means making sure that these tangibring to the service situation play a ble objects convey the proper clues. pivotal role in the quality percep- The tangibles to be managed could tions they ultimately develop. include the physical service facility, Avoiding the promotional tempta- the appearance of service providers, tions to overpromise can help a c o m p a n y achieve a good quality 9. Leonard L. Berry, "Services Marketing Is image. Raising expectations to un- Different," Business, May-June 1980: 26. Improving Service Quality
M
devices or equipment used in performing the service, account statements, and the firm's logo. Consider the case of the product repair service. The appearance of the technician is a clue. Is he neat and clean? Does he look "professional"? Another clue is his attitude. Is he courteous? Is he interested? Does he appear to know what to do? Still another clue is the technician's equipment. Is it impressive? Is it modern? All of these tangibles can make an impression about the quality of service rendered. If managed properly, they can support the intended quality image; if neglected, they can suggest a lower quality than desired. Planning the tangible and intangible elements of the service so they are reinforcing can help a service company improve its quality image. Educating customers a b o u t the service. A service firm can enhance its credibility for "being on the customer's side" by helping consumers through education. More knowledgeable customers are likely to make better decisions, leading to greater satisfaction. Customer education can take several forms. The firm can educate consumers to perform certain services themselves. Whirlpool, for example, has developed a do-it-yourself kit and a series of pamphlets for buyers of its appliances? 0 The firm can also help customers to 10. "Whirlpool: A Marketing-Minded CEO Tries To Set Sales Spinning," Business Week, May 16, 1983: 50-51.
Quality Counts in Services, Too
know when to use the service. For phones are answered). American instance, in our product repair has scores of service standards for focus groups, a number of partici- every facet of the operation. Reserpants expressed the desire for infor- vation phones should be answered mation that would help them within 20 seconds at least 80 perdecide whether to fix an appliance cent of the time; doors should be or replace it. Finally, the firm can opened for deplaning within 70 educate consumers on how to use seconds after the aircraft parks at the service. Crocker Bank, for ex- the gate. Employee compensation, ample, sponsored a "wait reduc- including incentives and merit tion" educational program, suggest- raises, is tied to achievement of the ing various strategies customers standards.l could use to minimize delays in Commitment to quality needs banking transactions. to pervade an organization. It starts Although not directly related to at the top but cannot end at the customer decision making, some top. Quality happens in the service companies could improve trenches. In reviewing published quality perceptions by explaining case histories of companies known to customers the underlying ratio- for service of high quality, we nale for policies that could frustrate noted one constant: the pervasivethem. A banker i~a our study said: ness of quality consciousness in "Lots of problems arise because these companies. At Wachovia people don't understand bank poli- Bank, which thoroughly pretests c i e s - f o r example, our policies on new services and technologies even funds availability. We don't teach if it means entering the market later our customers how to use us well or than competitors, quality is part of why we do the things we do." the culture. 12 So is it at Disney, Developing a quality culture. which puts all of its theme park Superior service quality on a sus- employees through "Traditions I," tained basis requires that quality a day-long course on the company's become imbedded in a company's history and central values; in genculture, that quality become eral, the enterprise places a prevah~ed. mium on fielding well-trained, neatBuilding a culture for quality ly groomed, unfailingly cheerful involves establishing specific quality "cast members" (as they are called standards, hiring personnel with the at Disney). 13 capacity to meet those standards, Automating quality. Replacing training them to meet the stan- or supplementing human efforts dards, checking to see that they with automated systems can minimeet the standards, and rewarding mize the chances of error in prothem when they are successful. ducing a service. For instance, the There is a quality loop, and the repair firm in our study has deloop must be closed. 11. Based on remarks by William E. Crosby, At American Airlines, which has vice president of passenger service for American had a formal quality program for Airlines, in Robert C. Lewis and Bernard H. more than 30 years, the vice presi- Booms, "The Marketing Aspects of Service dent of passenger services makes a Quality," in Leonard L. Berry, G. Lynn Shostack, and Gregory D. Upah, eds., Emerging weekly presentation to top manage- Perspectives on Services Marketing (Chicago: ment on the company's quality American Marketing Association, 1983): performance. Data is collected by a 100-102. quality consultant who rides the 12. See "Interview: John G. Medfin, Jr., planes to check on service perfor- President, The Wachovia Corporation," United mance and take photographs. Data States Banker, October 1983: 22-28, 74. also comes from customer opinion 13. See Norwood W. Pope, "Mickey Mouse surveys and from various electronic Marketing," American Banker, July 25, 1979: measurements (for example, the 4, 14; and Pope, "More Mickey Mouse Marketing," American Banker, September 12, 1979 : 4, elapsed time before reservation 14. f
veloped a computerized system that produces daily printouts of the repair jobs promised for the next working day in each service location. The securities brokerage industry is developing technology offering on-line editing of transactions entered into remote data input devices. In other words, if a broker in Des Moines enters a transaction containing an error, the order is not accepted until the error is corrected. A key to making the right decisions about technology is understanding the customer's priorities well enough to know which aspects of the service require the human touch and which lend themselves to automation. Finding the optimum mix of "high-touch" and "hightech" can pay off in better service quality. Following up the service. Following up on services performed can help isolate aspects of the service that require improvement. Several possibilities exist. The company can take the initiative and contact all customers, or a sample of them, to determine their level of satisfaction with the service. An automobile repair firm that solicits feedback from every fourth customer is using this approach. A second option is to make it easier for customers to communicate with the firm when the need arises. Companies that sponsor toll-free telephone lines are using this approach. Contacting customers and making it easier for customers to contact the firm are complementary strategies. Service companies should consider using both. The strength of the first strategy is that it represents a systematic approach for monitoring service quality. The second option affords the opportunity to get back in the good graces of unhappy customers who otherwise may be lost to the firm forever. Soliciting feedback from contact personnel concerning the quality of intermediate customer service
51
when tile service is performed, in effect witnessing its production. Even if customer contact personnel have the talent, training, and motivation to deliver high-quality service, they may nonetheless be dehe service quality challenge pendent on " g o o d sel-~,ice" from is to meet--or better yet, the operations part of the firm to exceed--customer expecta- be fully effective. There are no formulaic answers tions. For most firms, this is a complex undertaking. Most service to this challenge. Part of the solubusinesses are labor intensive and tion is recognition b y management the service is subject to variability. that high quality can contribute Customers are frequently present significantly to bottom-line perfor-
is also recommended. Surveys and small group discussions involving contact personnel can uncover conditions preventing them from offering higher quality service.
T 52
mance. Part is recognition that delivering high-quality service touches everyone in the organization and is not limited to a quality assurance department. Part is recognition that many steps can be taken to improve quality and that they need to be melded into a cohesive whole. Improving service quality requires formalization, planning, and coordination. Most of all, it requires total commitment. Anything less is not enough. CZ]
