The Hindu Business Line : Rehearse your lines to sell services

TRADE, hotels, transport, communication, financing, insurance, and real estate — what's common to all these? These are all services that registered impressive growths, ranging from 6 to 11 per cent, according to the Central Statistical Organisation's latest tally. It would be logical, therefore, to expect today's Budget to look for a good share of revenues from services. In developed countries whose economies are "in the post-service stage," the contribution of services to GDP is more than 75 per cent, notes the preface of Services Marketing by Govind Apte, a book published by Oxford University Press (www.oup.com) .

You can't sell services the same way you sell soaps, can you? No, marketing of services is distinct from conventional industrial marketing. Also, don't hang on to Adam Smith's definition of value generation — as involving production and tangible output — because, in services, there is no physical output. However, services have been "key differentiators even for manufacturing firms."

For consumers, one of the first problems with services is the difficulty in comparing service offers, whereas with goods one could consider factors such as "appearance, feel, weight, smell, size and shape, price, packaging and brand" to help in the selection process. What can add disservice to service selling is that the mood of the consumer also gets in. Thus, to avoid any prejudice from creeping in, "it is important for a high-quality restaurant to provide good décor, suitable music and lighting, and friendly staff, to put the customers in a favourable frame of mind to enjoy the service being offered." Also, "the aroma of food acts as an additional appetiser." Similarly, "the hot perfumed towels or welcome drinks offered on board by the friendly staff of an airline" may offset your displeasure when the flight arrives late.

Compatibility is important for computers and spouses, as also for customers. How? "Tour operators would typically try to bunch up retired persons or newly married honeymooners and young persons in separate groups." Why? Well, the guide is going to take the oldies to temples and museums, and the youths to restaurants and nightclubs. "The level of enjoyment is enhanced by this synergy of experience produced by compatibility." Don't forget that delivery of services is "drama in action," and "some of the lines are well rehearsed."

"In some of the traditional restaurants in Germany, it is quite common for the waiter or waitress to recite the menu of the day non-stop in one breath. This is quite amusing but expected, and makes the experience enjoyable."

There are four types of gaps that account for the difference between expected and perceived service, according to Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithami. These are: Not knowing what customers expect, inability to set the right type of standards, not delivering to service standards, and mismatch between promises and performance. In between is the adequate level, buffered by `zone of tolerance' but this is not a constant. Paradoxically, the "zone of tolerance for the most important factors is much smaller than that for the least important factors." Which explains why airline staff are aghast when a consumer brings the roof down for, say, absence of travel magazines in the seat pocket. A breather, however, is that "most customers are willing to provide another opportunity to deliver the service."

At the end are essential inputs on service taxation — a bonus in a marketing book. Do yourself a service by grabbing Apte off the racks.

BookMark@thehindu.co.in

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Rehearse your lines to sell services