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Customers Roles in Service Delivery Lecture # 11

OUTLINEImportance of Customers in Service Delivery.Customers Role.Self-Service Technologies The Ultimate in Customer Participation.Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation.

Importance of Customers in Service Delivery Importance of Customers in Service Delivery: Customers participation at some level is unavoidable in service delivery. In many situations employees and customers interact to produce the ultimate service outcome. Customers are necessary to the production process of service organizations. Consider the service provided by cruise ship company. The actors (ship personnel) provide the service through interaction with their passengers and among each others.

Importance of Customers in Service Delivery Customer Receiving Service:Customers who are unprepared in terms of what they want to order can waste the service representatives time as they seek advice. Similarly, shoppers who are not prepared with their credit card numbers can put the representative on hold while they search for their cards or retrieve them from their cars. Meanwhile, other customers and calls are left unattended, causing longer wait times and possible dissatisfaction.

Importance of Customers in Service Delivery Fellow Customers: In many service contexts, customers receive the service simultaneously with other customers or must wait their turn while other customers are being served. In both cases, fellow customers are present in the service environment and can effect the service process. Fellow customers can either enhance or detract customer satisfaction. Some of the ways fellow customers can negatively affect the service experience are by exhibiting disturbing behaviours, causing excessive delays.

Importance of Customers in Service Delivery In restaurants, hotels, and airplanes customers are sometimes unrealistic as they receive the service, like crying babies, smoking customers, and loud unruly groups can be disturbing for fellow customers. The customer is disappointed through no direct fault of the provider. In other cases, overly demanding customers, even legitimate problems can cause a delay for others. Excessive crowding or overuse of a service can cause negative customer experience.

Importance of Customers in Service Delivery Customers are being served simultaneously but who have incompatible needs can negatively affect each other. This situation can occur in restaurants, college class rooms, hospitals, and any service establishments in which multiple segments are served simultaneously. In some situations customers may actually help each other achieve service outcomes. The success of weight watcher organization depends significantly on the company and support provided by each other.

Customers Role The study found that customers increased the satisfaction of others by having friendly conversations while waiting in line, by taking photos, by assisting with children, and by returning dropped or lost items.Customers Roles: This section examines in detail three major roles played by customers in service delivery: customers are productive resource, customers as contributors to quality and satisfaction; and customers as competitors.

Customers Role Customers as Productive Resources: Service customers have been referred to as partial employees of the organization. Some management experts have suggested if customers contribute effort and time to the service production process, they should be considered as a part of organization. Customers inputs can effect the organizations productivity. Customer participation in service production raise a number of issues for organizations.

Customers Role Because customers can influence both quality and quantity of production, some experts believe the delivery system should be isolated as much as possible from customer inputs in order to reduce the uncertainty they can bring into the production process. This view sees customers as the major source of uncertainty in the timing of their demand and uncontrollability of their attitudes and action. The logical conclusion is that any service activities that do not require customer contact should be

Customers Role performed away from customers. The less direct contact there is between the customer and the service production system, the greater possibility for the system to operate at peak efficiency. Other experts believe that services can be delivered most efficiently if customers are truly viewed as partial employees and their co-production roles are designed to maximize their contributions to the service creation process. The logic behind this view is

Customers Role organizational productivity can be increased if customers learn to perform service related activities. For example, when self-service gasoline stations first came into being, customers were asked to pump their own gas. With customers performing this task, fewer employees were needed and overall productivity of gas stations improved. Similarly, the introduction of many automated airline services such as baggage check-in and self ticketing are intended to speed up the process

Customers Role for customers while freeing employees for othertasks. Organizational productivity is increased by using customers as resource to perform tasks previously completed by employees. Although organizations obtain obvious productivity benefits by involving customers as co-producers, customers do not always like to accept their new roles, especially when they perceive the purpose to the bottom line cost savings for the company.

Customers Role If customers see no clear benefit to being involved in coproduction (e.g., lower prices, quicker access, etc.), then they are likely to dislike and resist their coproduction roles.Customers as Contributors to Service Quality. Research suggests that customers who believe they have done their part to be effective in service interactions are more satisfied with the service. Interestingly, all those customers who participate in service delivery frequently blame themselves (at least partially) when things go wrong.

Customers Role Customers as Competitors: If self service customers can be viewed as resources of the firm, or as partial employees, they could in some cases partially perform the service or perform the entire service for themselves and not need the provider at all. Thus customers in a sense are competitors of the companies that supply the services. Weather to produce a service for themselves (internal exchange) for example, child care, home maintenance, car repair or have someone else provide the service

Customers Role for them (external exchange).Similar internal versus external exchange decisions are made by organizations. Firms frequently choose to outsource service activities such as payroll, data processing, research, accounting and maintenance. They find that it is advantageous to focus on their core business and leave these support services to other with greater expertise. Alternately, a firm may decide stop purchasing services externally and bring the service production process in-house.

Customers Role Weather household or a firm chooses to produce a particular service for itself or contract externally for the service depends on various following factors.Expertise capacity: The likelihood of producing the service internally is increased if the household or firm possesses the specific skills and knowledge, time and available resources needed to produce it.Economic rewards: The economic advantages or disadvantages of a particular exchange

Customers Role decision will be influential in choosing between internal and external options. The actual monetary costs of the two options will influence the decision.Trust: In this context trust means the degree of confidence the household or firm has in various exchange options. The decision will depend to some extent on the level of self-trust in producing the service versus trust of others.

Self-Service Technologies-The Ultimate in Customer Participation Self-Service Technologies: Self service technologies (SSTs) are services produced entirely by the customers without any direct involvement or interaction with firms employees.A creation of New SSts: Advances in technologies, particularly the Internet, have allowed the introduction of a wide range of self service technologies.

Self-Service Technologies-The Ultimate in Customer Participation These technologies have grow up as companies see the potential cost savings, and efficiencies that can be achieved, like potential sales growth, increased customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. The partial list of some of the self-service technologies available to consumers includes. ATMs, Pay at the pump, Airline check-in, Various vending machines, Self-scanning at retail stores, Internet banking, Package tracking, Internet shopping, Internet information search, Hotel check-in and checkout etc.

Self-Service Technologies-The Ultimate in Customer Participation Figure 13.2. Services production range

123456Customer productionJoint productionFirm productionGas station illustration1- Customer pumps gas and pays at the pump with automation.2- Customer pumps gas and goes inside to pay attendant.3- Customer pumps gas and attendant takes payment at the pump.4- Attendant pumps gas and customer pays at the pump with automation.5- Attendant pumps the gas and customer goes inside to pay attendant.6- Attendant pumps gas and takes payment from customer at the pump.

Self-Service Technologies-The Ultimate in Customer Participation The rapid creation of new self service technologies is taking place for several reasons. Many times firms are attracted by the cost savings that they expect by shifting customers to technology based automated systems and away from expensive personal service. If cost saving is the only reason for introduction of SST and if customer sees no apparent benefits, the SST is likely to fail. Customer quickly see through this strategy and are not likely to adopt the SST if they have alternative options for service.

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation Define Customers Jobs: In developing strategies for addressing customer involvement in service delivery, the organization first determine what type of participation it wants from customers, while identifying the current level of customer participation that can serve as a starting point. Customers role may be partially determined by the nature of service. The service may require only the customers presence like in a concert or airline travel, or it may require reasonable levels of input

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation from the customer in the form of effort or information like a haircut or tax preparation, or it require the customer to actually co-create the service outcome like fitness training etc. Experts have suggested that higher level of customer participation are strategically advisable when service production and delivery are inseparable, cross-selling (selling additional products or services to the existing customers) and building loyalty can be enhanced by on site contact with the customer.

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation Alternately, the organization may decide it wants to reduce customer participation due to all the uncertainties it causes. In such situations the strategy may be to isolate all but essential tasks, keeping customers away from service facility.

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation Individual Differences: Not Everyone wants to Participate: In customers job it is important to remember that not everyone will want to participate. Some customer segments enjoy self-service, whereas others prefer to have the service performed entirely for them. In health care, some patients wants lots of information and want to be involved in their own diagnoses and treatment decisions. Others simply want the doctor to tell them what to do. Despite all the customer service

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation and purchase options now available via the Internet, many customers still prefer human high contact service delivery rather than self-service option. Often an organization can customize its services to fit the needs of these different segments, those who want to participate and those who prefer little involvement. Banks customize their services by offering both automated self-service options and human delivery options.Recruit the Right Customers: Before the company

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation begins the process of educating customers for theirroles, it must attract the right customers to fill those roles. The expected roles and responsibilities of customers should be clearly communicated in advertising, personal selling, and other company messages. Educate and Train Customers to Perform Effectively: Customers need to be educated and trained so that they can perform their roles effectively. Through the socializing process, service customers come to

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation know about the organizational values, develop the abilities necessary to function as required and understand what is expected of them, and acquire the skills and knowledge to interact with employees and other customers. Customer education programs can take the form of formal orientation programs.Reward Customers for Their Contributions: Customers are more likely to perform their roles effectively if they are rewarded for doing so. Rewards are likely to come in the form of increased

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation control over the delivery process, time savings, monetary savings, or psychological or physical benefits. For instance, some CPA (Certified Public Accountant) firms have clients complete extensive forms before they meet with their accountants. If the forms are completed the CPAs will have less work to do and the clients will be rewarded with fewer billable hours. Those clients who choose not to perform the requested role will pay a higher price for the service.

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation ATM (automated teller machine) customers who perform banking services for themselves are also rewarded through greater access to the bank, in terms of both location and times. In health care context, patients who perform their roles effectively are likely to be rewarded with better health or quicker recovery. Since long, airlines have offered price discounts for passengers who ordered tickets online etc.

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