THE FLOWER OF

SERVICE

There are two kinds of supplementary services.

• Facilitating supplementary servicesare either needed for service delivery, or help in the use of the core product.

• Enhancing supplementary services add extra value for the customer. These different supplementary services can be classified into one of the following eight clusters.

Types of Facilitating Services

Facilitating Services

Information Order-taking Billing Payment

Types of Enhancing Services

Enhancing Services

Consultation Hospitality Safekeeping Exceptions

• The eight clusters are displayed as petals surrounding the center of a flower, hence we call it the Flower of Service.

• The petals are arranged in a clockwise sequence depending on how they are likely to be encountered by customers.

• However, the sequence may sometimes vary. For instance, payment may have to be made before service is delivered rather than afterwards.

• In a well-designed and well-managed service organization, the petals and core are fresh and well-formed.

• A service that is badly designed or poorly delivered is a like a flower with missing or dried petals. Even if the core is perfect, the flower looks unattractive.

• Think about one of your negative experiences as a service customer. When you were dissatisfied with a particular purchase, was it the core that was at fault, or was it a problem with one or more of the petals?

• A company’s market positioning strategy helps to decide which supplementary services should be included. If a company’s strategy is to add benefits to increase customers’ perceptions of quality, then more supplementary services are required.

• For example, airlines such as Emirates, the award-winning Dubaibased airline, may offer supplementary service like goodie bags to soothe hyperactive children. There is also in-flight entertainment such as cartoons and games that can keep the children occupied for hours.

• This will help to reduce the stress faced by parents traveling with young children. If the strategy is to compete on low prices, then fewer supplementary services are required.

FACILITATING SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES

Information

• To obtain full value from any good or service, customers need relevant information .New customers and prospects are especially hungry for information.

• Information may sometimes be required by law. Th ese include conditions of sale and use, warnings, reminders, and notifi cation of changes.

• Customers also appreciate advice on how to get the most value from a service and how to avoid problems.

• Companies should make sure that the information they provide is both timely and accurate. If not, it is likely to make customers feel irritated or cause them inconvenience.

• Traditional ways of providing information to customers include using front-line employees, printed notices, brochures, and instruction books.

• Information can also be provided through videos or software-driven tutorials, touchscreen video displays, or through company web sites. The types of information range from train and airline schedules, to assistance in locating specific retail outlets, to information on the services of professional firms.

• Many business logistics companies off er shippers the opportunity to track the movements of their packages, which have been assigned a unique identifi cation number.

• For example, Amazon.com provides online customers with a reference number and they can track the goods that they have bought, and know when to expect the goods.

Order-Taking

• Once customers are ready to buy, the company accepts applications, orders, and reservations.

• The process of order-taking should be polite, fast, and accurate so that customers do not waste time and endure unnecessary mental or physical effort.

• Technology can be used to make order-taking easier and faster for both customers and suppliers.

• Order-taking includes applications, order entry, and reservations or check-ins. Banks, insurance companies, utilities, and universities usually require potential customers to go through an application process.

• Order entry can be received through a variety of sources such as through sales personnel, phone, and e-mail or online.Airlines now make use of ticketless systems, based on telephone or web site reservations.

• Customers receive a confi rmation number when they make reservations and need to only show identifi cation at the airport to claim their seats and receive a boarding pass. Northwest Airlines promotes order-taking online.

Billing

• Billing is common to almost all services (unless the service is provided free of charge). Customers usually expect bills to be clear. Inaccurate, illegible, or incomplete bills risk disappointing customers who may, up to that point, have been quite satisfied with their experience. If customers are already dissatisfied, the billing mistake may make them even angrier.

• Billing should also be timely, because it encourages people to make payment faster. Procedures range from verbal statements to a machine-displayed price, and from handwritten invoices to elaborate monthly statements of account activity and fees.

• Busy customers dislike being kept waiting for a bill to be prepared. There are diff erent ways in which bills can be presented to customers in a faster way.

• Hotels and rental car firms now have express check-outs. Many hotels may push bills under guestroom doors on the morning of departure showing charges to date.

• Others off er customers the choice of seeing their bills beforehand on the TV monitors in their rooms. Some car rental companies have an express check-out procedure.

• An agent meets customers as they return their cars. After they have checked the mileage and fuel gauge readings, the bill is printed on the spot using a portable wireless terminal.

Payment

• In most cases, a bill requires the customer to take action on payment. One exception is the bank statement which shows details of charges that have already been deducted from the customer’s account.

• Increasingly, customers expect it to be easy and convenient to make payment, including using credit, when they make purchases in their own countries, and while traveling abroad.

• A variety of options exist for customers to make payment. For selfservice payment systems, one may make payment by inserting coins, banknotes, tokens or cards into machines.

• Good maintenance of the equipment is important.If the equipment breaks down, it can destroy the purpose of such a system.

• Most payment still takes the form of cash or credit cards. However, more and more shopping is being done online.

• PayPal offers a fuss-free and secure way to make payments for goods bought over the Internet.Online shoppers must first register with PayPal and have a credit card to use the service.

• Customers can make their payments via PayPal who will process the payment to the seller. PayPal will then charge the amount owed to the registered buyer’s account.

ENHANCING SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES

Consultation

• Now we move to enhancing supplementary services, led by consultation. Consultation involves a dialog to probe customer requirements and then develop a solution that is suited to the needs of the customer.

• Examples of several supplementary services in the consultation category-

• Customized advice• Personal counseling• Tutoring/training in product use• Management or technical consulting

• At its simplest level, consultation consists of immediate advice from a knowledgeable service person in response to the request, “What do you suggest?” (For example, you might ask the person who cuts your hair for advice on different hairstyles and products).

• Finally, management and technical consulting for corporate customers include the “solution selling” associated with expensive industrial equipment and services.

• Effective consultation requires an understanding of each customer’s current situation, before suggesting a suitable course of action.

• Good customer records can be a great help in this respect, particularly if relevant data can be retrieved easily from a remote terminal.

• In an Internet environment, which encourages customers to engage in self-service applications and be more self-reliant, companies should not forget the personal touch of a “live” human being during the process of consultation.

• The human touch of a friendly customer-service officer will certainly be valued and remembered, and will go a long way for customers.

• Counseling is another type of consultation that is less direct than consultation. It involves helping customers understand their situations better, so that they can come up with their “own” solutions and action programs.

• For example, diet centers such as Weight Watchers use counseling to help customers change behaviors so that weight loss can be sustained after the diet program has ended.

• Advice, another form of consultation, can also be offered through tutorials, group training programs, and public demonstrations.

Hospitality

• Hospitality-related services should, ideally, refl ect pleasure at meeting new customers and greeting old ones when they return. Well-managed businesses try, at least in small ways, to ensure that their employees treat customers as guests.

• Courtesy and consideration for customers’ needs apply to both face-to-face encounters and telephone interactions.

• Hospitality is an element that can be more clearly displayed in face-to-face encounters. In some cases, it starts (and ends) with an off er of transport to and from the service site on courtesy shuttle buses.

• If customers must wait outdoors before the service can be delivered, then a thoughtful service provider will off er weather protection.

• If customers have to wait indoors, then there can be a waiting area with seating and even entertainment (TV, newspapers or magazines) to pass the time. Recruiting employees who are naturally warm, welcoming, and considerate helps to create a hospitable atmosphere

• Th e quality of the hospitality services off ered by a fi rm can increase or decrease satisfaction with the core product. This is especially true for people-processing services where customers cannot easily leave the service facility.

• Private hospitals often seek to enhance their appeals by providing the level of room service that might be expected in a good hotel. This includes the provision of quality meals.

• Some airlines seek to diff erentiate themselves from their competitors with better meals and more attentive cabin crew and Singapore Airlines is well-recognized in both areas.

• Failures in hospitality can extend to the physical design of the areas where customers wait prior to receiving service. A survey found that unappealing offices and lack of comfort can drive away patients of cosmetic surgeons.

Safekeeping

• While visiting a service site, customers often want their personal possessions to be “looked after.”

• In fact, some customers may choose not to go to certain places that do not have safekeeping services like a safe and convenient car park.

• On-site safekeeping services includes coatrooms; baggage transport, handling and storage; safekeeping of valuables; and even child care and pet care.

Examples ofsafekeeping elements.

• Caring for Possessions Customer Bring with Them

• Child care, pet care• Parking for vehicles, valet parking• Baggage handling• Storage space• Safe deposit boxes• Security personnel

• Caring for Goods Purchased (or Rented) by Customers• Packaging• Pickup• Tranportation and delivery• Installation• Inspection and diagnosis• Cleaning• Refueling• Preventive maintenance• Repair and renovation

Exceptions

• Exceptions involve supplementary services that fall outside the normal service delivery. Exceptions include special requests, and problem solving.

• Companies should anticipate exceptions and develop back-up plans and guidelines in advance. Th at way, employees will not appear helpless and surprised when customers ask for special assistance. Well-defi ned procedures make it easier for employees to respond promptly and effectively.

• Managers need to keep an eye on the level of exception requests. Too many requests may indicate that standard procedures need to be changed.

• For example, if a dentist keeps receiving requests for more information about a particular dental procedure, then this may indicate that it is time to perhaps print some brochures that educate customers.

• A flexible approach to exceptions is generally a good idea, because it refl ects responsiveness to customer needs. On the other hand, too many exceptions may have a negative impact on other customers, and overburden employees.

Examples ofException elements.

• Special Requests in Advance of Service Delivery• Children’s needs• Dietary requirements• Medical or disability need• Religious observances• Handling Special Communications• Complaints• Compliments• Suggestions

• Problem Solving• Warranties and guarantees• Resolving diffi culties that arise from using the product• Resolving diffi culties caused by accidents,service

failures• Assisting customers who have suffered an accident or a

medical emergency• Restitution• Refunds and compensation• Free repair of defective goods

Managerial Implications

• The eight categories of supplementary services forming the Flower of Service collectively provide many choices for enhancing core products.

• Some are facilitating services that enable customers to use the core product more eff ectively. Others are “extras” that enhance the core or even reduce its non-fi nancial costs.

• Any badly handled element may negatively aff ect customers’ perceptions of service quality. Not every core product is surrounded by a large number of supplementary services from all eight petals.

• People-processing services tend to have more supplementary elements, especially hospitality, since they involve close (and often extended) interactions with customers.

• When customers do not visit the service factory, the need for hospitality may be limited to just letters and telecommunications.

• Possession-processing services sometimes place heavy burdens on safekeeping elements. However, there may be no need for this particular petal when providing information-processing services, whereby customers and suppliers interact at arm’s length.

• Financial services that are provided electronically are an exception to this however.

• Companies must ensure that their customers’ intangible financial assets and their privacy are carefully safeguarded in transactions that take place through the telephone or the web.

BRANDING SERVICE PRODUCTSAND EXPERIENCES

• In recent years, more and more service firms have started talking about their products. What is the diff erence between a service and a product? A product is a defined and consistent “bundle of output.”

• One bundle of output can be differentiated from another bundle of output.

• Service providers can usually offer a “menu” of products, representing an assembly of carefully prescribed elements built around the core product. They may also bundle in certain value-added supplementary services.

Product Lines and Brands

• Most service firms offer a line of products rather than just a single product. As a result, they must choose among three broad alternatives: using a single brand to cover all products and services, a separate stand-alone brand for each off ering, or some combination of these two extremes.

• The term branded house is used to describe a company like the Virgin Group, which applies its brand name to multiple off erings in often unrelated fields.

• Next on this spectrum are what they term sub-brands. A sub-brand is one where the master brand is the main reference point, but the product itself has a distinctive name too. Singapore Airlines Raffles Class, the company’s business class service, is an example.

Offering a Branded Experience

• Branding can be used at both the company and product level by almost any service business.

• In a well-managed firm, the corporate brand is not only easily recognized, but it also has meaning for customers. The brand stands for a particular way of doing business.

• Applying distinctive brand names to individual products helps marketers to establish a mental picture of the service in customers’ minds and to clarify the nature of the value proposition.

Th e Forum Corporation, a consulting firm, differentiates between

• Experience with high variation from customer to customer,

• A branded experience that is similar across diff erent firms, diff erentiated only by the brand name (ATMs are agood example), and

• A “Branded Customer Experience” in which the customer’s experience is shaped in a specifi c and meaningful ways.