- Should service quality be analyzed in terms of productivity? Who determines quality? Where do we start to generate value ? Who makes quality, people or technology? Is it possible to differentiate ourselves by quality of service, or is it just an eventual comparative advantage? Can we calculate the return on quality of service - ROC? What does the Customer currently perceive about the service of their company? Do we provide real solutions? Do we know how to say “no” without disturbing? Do we know how to generate trust? Do we know what the customer expects? Do we have the right standards? Do we match performance with promises? Etc.
The reality is the same in many companies. We run out of answers.
The quality of the service cannot be conceived within it, much less not not having a market information system: Clients and Competition. If you don't know what your client wants or what values the most and, even more so, if you don't know how you differ from the competition, then I wish you a RIP. Many companies believe they are different, but the point is that the competition does not see them that way. Do not fool yourself by doing random surveys or tele-surveys. Apply serious marketing.
Quality of service is the foundation of performance marketing
A high quality service gives credibility to the sales force and the advertising. Companies that don't provide good service can't be successful. Advertising and the sales force will only persuade more people to experience bad service and ensure its immediate removal. The essential of the quality of a service is its reliability, that it fulfills what it promises. Therefore, the quality of the service is a vital requirement to compete, due to the implication it has on the net profit account and, consequently, it becomes a strategic element that confers a differentiating advantage.
A very important distinction that must always be in the minds of those who manage service companies is that between:
- Basic Service: represents "what the customer buys". It is the basic and direct benefit that the client hopes to obtain through the service. (Primary functions performed by the service). Eg: Savings account in a bank (custody and security of money, interest payment). Internal quality. Service system: Refers to the way in which the service is "delivered" to customers or users; that is to say, to the "meeting of the service", to the actual provision of the service. Example: Primary office (before), in any branch of the same bank (after), ATM network (a little later) and by telephone or via Internet (today). External quality.
When internal quality (processes, technology) and external quality (way of delivering the service) achieve high levels, customer and user satisfaction is achieved.
The distinction and effective management of the basic service and the service system is important because:
- With the service system, the perception of quality of the basic service can be significantly improved without having to modify it. The service system allows adding value to the basic service for customers.
With the service system it is possible, in the eyes of customers, to clearly differentiate two basic services that are similar to each other.
The total value of a service is defined based on three key “moments”.
Customers take all three "moments" into consideration when deciding to purchase (not after).
In large corporations, I have first had to convince the Board of Directors with the ROC and the benefits of having a Customer Service Management System (currently many do not give importance to the subject). The ROC method is proposed as a useful way to measure something that until now was considered impossible to measure. It is about converting "soft" data on quality into "hard" data, expressed in money. It is not just about being convinced that improving the service is "good", it is also about being profitable and… that it can be demonstrated.
