Gaps in Service Delivery
UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE
NAME: SOKO TINASHE
COURSE: SERVICES MARKETING
ASSIGNMENT:
"Gaps at any point in service delivery and design damage relationships with customers." Parasurama (1988), Ziethmal (1990). In cite of this statement what gaps can occur in service quality and how can service marketing reduce them? (25)
Knowing what customers expect is the first and possibly the most critical step in delivering service quality (Kotler 2000). Ziethmal et al (1988) propounds that the central focus of the gaps model is to close the all important the customer gap - the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. According to Seaton and Bennett (1996) the gaps model suggest four provider gaps which need to be closed which are; gap 1: the listening gap – not knowing what customer expect, gap 2: the designs and standards gap - not designing services to meet customer's expectations, gap 3: the service-performance gap - not performing the service as designed and gap 4: the communication gap - not matching performance to promises. Firms need to close these gaps by understanding customer needs and delivering services to match customer expectation and perceptions through internal and relationship marketing in order to satisfy their customers and build long term relationships with them.
Gap 1 is defined as lack of understanding of customer's expectations and perceptions of the service, motivated by both lack of initiative to listen customers (Ziethmal 1989) and by a lack of common understanding when these initiatives are taken (Parasurama 1985). Managers may cause this gap if they do not interact directly with customers, be unwilling to ask about expectations or be unprepared to address them. Formal and informal methods of capturing information about customer's expectations must be developed to curd this gap through market research. Relationship marketing is essential as it ensures that the company's strategy is designed to retain customers and
NAME: SOKO TINASHE
COURSE: SERVICES MARKETING
ASSIGNMENT:
"Gaps at any point in service delivery and design damage relationships with customers." Parasurama (1988), Ziethmal (1990). In cite of this statement what gaps can occur in service quality and how can service marketing reduce them? (25)
Knowing what customers expect is the first and possibly the most critical step in delivering service quality (Kotler 2000). Ziethmal et al (1988) propounds that the central focus of the gaps model is to close the all important the customer gap - the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. According to Seaton and Bennett (1996) the gaps model suggest four provider gaps which need to be closed which are; gap 1: the listening gap – not knowing what customer expect, gap 2: the designs and standards gap - not designing services to meet customer's expectations, gap 3: the service-performance gap - not performing the service as designed and gap 4: the communication gap - not matching performance to promises. Firms need to close these gaps by understanding customer needs and delivering services to match customer expectation and perceptions through internal and relationship marketing in order to satisfy their customers and build long term relationships with them.
Gap 1 is defined as lack of understanding of customer's expectations and perceptions of the service, motivated by both lack of initiative to listen customers (Ziethmal 1989) and by a lack of common understanding when these initiatives are taken (Parasurama 1985). Managers may cause this gap if they do not interact directly with customers, be unwilling to ask about expectations or be unprepared to address them. Formal and informal methods of capturing information about customer's expectations must be developed to curd this gap through market research. Relationship marketing is essential as it ensures that the company's strategy is designed to retain customers and
References: Besson, R (2004), Unique Aspects of Marketing Services, Arizona, New York Brogowicz, A (1990), International Journal of Service Industry Management;1, 27-45 Gronoos, C (1990), Services Marketing, Managing the moment of truth in service Competition, Middleton Kotler, P (2000), Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, New Delhli Lovelock, C. H (1991), Services Marketing, McGrall Hill, London Zeithmal, V, Berry, L and Parasurama, A (1988), The Service Quality Puzzle, Business Horizons, New York