CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The dream of any good
entrepreneur is not actually to sell what he can sell but to retain customers.
In pursuance of this line of action, the customer must be placed at the centre
of all marketing activities without which no marketing activity takes place.
Customer satisfaction is the pivot on which all marketing activities revolves,
be it in production or in marketing.
Although service
oriented companies do not have any tangible good to their credit, the most
effective means of measuring consumers satisfaction is by listening to their
complaints. These complaints are not actually made to tarnish the image of the
producers, but to improve on their services. Since the consumers do not own
anything from the payment he makes, the perishable services he receives must
offer enough satisfaction for the sums of money so expended.
To a good producer,
these complaints will actually guide him in the planning of his product, by way
of determining what his customers actually want and to the qualities they can
afford to acquire. Appropriate pricing may be an outcome of a customer’s
compliant. The prices at which the best service is offered could really affect
its demand. If best decisions are taken in that line, the producer is likely to
triumph over his competitors. Marketing concepts which involve letting the
people know of the product and sending the product to where it is actually
needed, will create no less impact. A good mix of product, price, place and
planning will give a fantastic reap-off.
Empirical evidence
has shown that service firms typically lay behind manufacturing firms in their
use of marketing. In comparison to manufacturing firm, service firms appear to
be generally less likely to have marketing-mix activities carried out, less
likely to perform analysis in the offering area, more likely to handle their
advertisement internally than to go to experts, less likely to have an overall
sales plan, less likely to develop sales training progammes, less likely to use
marketing research firms and consultants and less likely to spend as much on marketing
when expressed as a percentage of gross sales.
There are several
reasons why service firms have neglected marketing. One of this reasons is that
many of them are small, so do not use expansive marketing technique because of
cost. In some cases they are deemed irrelevant. Some of them are business firms
like Law, Architecture, Accounting and Management consulting firms, who think
it is unnecessary using professionals in other fields for their functional
activities.
Most observers agree
that competition in industry is becoming increasingly intense. More and more
companies worldwide are searching for ways to build sustainable advantage to
counter this threat. As costs rises, as productivity stagnates and as service
quality deteriorates, more service firms need to take interest in marketing. More
market sophistication is needed as competition intensifies. More pressure is
now on service firms to increase productivity. Since the service business is
highly labour intensive, cost has been rising rapidly. To this end, it is not
enough to make workers work harder, but more training will provide the needed
skill geared towards customer’s satisfaction. The quality of service may be
improved by reducing quantity and vice versa. An increase in equipment has a
lot to do with improvement in services rendered. Imaga and Ewurum (1998).
In a nutshell,
customer services should be of prime importance to service or companies, which
could be improved upon by taking customers complaints very seriously and acting
in the direction that will bring a better satisfaction to the customers. To this
end, it is important for companies to develop customer services that are
desired by customers and effective against competitors. The company has to
decide the most important services to offer, the level at which services should
be provided and the form each service. The service-mix can be coordinated by a
customer-service department that handles complaints and adjustments, credit
maintenance, technical service and customer information. Marketing need to know
more about marketing service products.
According to Imaga
and Ewurum (1998), service are activities or benefits that one part offers
essentially as intangible product to the other and do not result in the ownership
of anything. Service are not only intangibles, they are also inseparable, variable
and perishable. Two main types of service can be identified viz:
v Material
Service: This consists of the actual product or service, which you are selling.
It is all about getting the product right.
v Personal
Service: this is the way in which the material service is delivered. It is
about the interaction between your employees and your customers.
It is probably the
most visible part of the operation and often the part in which a company is
adjudged “good of bad”. Personal service is the focus of this research work.
Though service
industries have always behind in the use of marketing concepts, there is
compelling need for a change in attitude.
In another
alternative expression, services can be classified into People or Equipment
based. A good example in this case is a Lawyer or an Accounting consultant; a
motor mechanic or an aircraft used in conveying passenger. While the former is
people based, the latter is equipment based. It would also need the client’s
presence. In this case, a doctor needs the presence of the patient (client) for
him to do his work. The motive for providing such services may differ. Private and
government hospitals provide close to the same service but while the private
hospital wants to maximize profit, the government hospital wants to maximize
service to the people. In whatever way they are looked at, all are service oriented.
Admittedly, customer complaints must be geared towards maximum satisfaction and
should be treated as such. However, the pill given in one case may not be the
same with another and the dosage in one may differ from the other.
Customer’s complaints
should not be a threat; it should be viewed on a positive side as an instrument
of change that will improve the condition of the firm, industry and the economy
in general. If marketing is a means of knowing customers’ needs, providing
them, and making sure it gets to the target customers is expected to improve
marketing performance if well handled.
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