Developing Services Marketing Leadership In Serving the Global Executive Education Customer

Nancy J. Stephens, Ph.D.Associate Professor

Center for Services LeadershipArizona State University

December 6, 2002

Executive Education at a Crossroads:Global Perspectives on Success in a Changing Environment

Arizona State University

College of BusinessCollege of Businesswww.cob.asu.edu/csl

Charter Member Firms

Charter Member Firms

StudentEducationExecutive

Education

Center for Services Leadership: Bridging Communities

ActionableResearch

1. Making, Keeping and Enabling Promises

2. Building Relationships and Customer Loyalty

3. Recovering from Service Failures

Leadership in Services Marketing:

1. Making, Keeping and Enabling Promises

External MarketingInternal Marketing

Interactive Marketing

“Making Promises”“Enabling Promises”

“Keeping Promises”

Organization

ServiceProviders Customers

The Services Marketing Triangle

1. What is being promised? By whom?

2. How will it be delivered? By whom?

3. Are the supporting systems in place to deliver the promised service?

4. Where are our weaknesses?

5. Where are our strengths?

In your university :

Which point in the triangle is most important?

For gaining the customer’s loyalty:

1. Gain his/her trust in the serviceprovider/ frontline employee.

2. If service is high value, gaintrust in the organization.

SOURCE: Sirdeshmukh, Singh and Sabol (2002)

Organization

ServiceProviders

Customers

Customers

ServiceProviders

Organization

2. Building Relationships and Customer Loyalty

a. Identify them

b. Differentiate them.

c. Interact with them.

d. Customize for them.

Treat the customer relationship like a marriage?

Lead

Iron

Gold

Platinum

The Customer Pyramid(Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon 1999)

Spends more, costs lessto serve, spreads positiveword-of-mouth

Expensive or difficultto serve and doesn’tprovide good return

SOURCE: Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon 1999

The Customer Pyramid

Lead

Iron

Gold

PlatinumSpends more, costs lessto serve, spreads positiveword-of-mouth

Expensive or difficultto serve and doesn’tprovide good return

How do we build loyalty? What drives customer loyalty?

Performance - Expectations = Satisfaction = Loyalty

What I What I thought I’m satisfied I’ll continue got I would get to buy from

this company

“Is it this simple?”

3. Recovering from Service Failures

Minimizing complaints is the wrong goal. Enlightened managers try to encourage complaints (feedback).

The majority of unhappy customer do not complain. Why not?

1. Too much hassle. It’s easier to go elsewhere.

2. Don’t think it will make any difference.

3. Feel the problem is their own fault.

4. Do not have assertive personality.

Managers must make it easy for customersto complain. How?

1. Actively, not passively, seek customer feedback.

2. Ask customers for specifics. (“What could we havehave done to make this a better experience for you?” ratherthan “How is everything?”)

3. Thank and/or reward customers for feedback.

4. Follow-up with customers on what was done asa result of their complaint.

What to do when things go wrong

1. Give distributive justice(What did customer get?)

2. Give procedural justice(What procedure did s/he have to follow to get it?)

3. Give interactional justice.(How was the customer treated?)

Good Luck ! May you:

1. Make, keep and enable promises to customers,

2. With whom you have good relationshipsand who are loyal, but,

3. Who tell you about it when they are unhappyso that you may recover from service failure.