Exam 4: Customer Expectations of Service

A friend of yours plans on opening a home cleaning service. She has decided to "delight" her customers to gain a competitive advantage over her similar services. For example, while other cleaning crews vacuum, dust and mop, she will have her employees do extras like cleaning the fireplace, washing clothes and bathing pets. She believes these extra services on top of what customers expect will guarantee her success. What information can you provide her with that may help her develop a profitable business?

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(Essay)

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Question 1

Correct Answer:

Verified

Delighting customers may seem like a good idea, but this level of service comes with extra effort and cost to the firm. Therefore, she must weigh the benefits providing delight. Two of the things she should consider are staying power and how to react when competitors offer similar services. Staying power in this context involves the question of how long a company can expect an experience of delight to maintain the customer's attention. If it is fleeting, it may not be worth the time and effort. On the other hand, the customer may remember the delight and push his own expectations upward accordingly. Then it will cost the company more just to effectively satisfy the customer. The question she wants to ask herself is can she keep delighting her customers over time. Also, better students will note how customer expectations on how homes should be cleaned will also influence her ability to delight. In other words, attempts to create delight in every transaction is unrealistic and impractical, but exceeding expectations occasionally is a good way to create service loyalty.

Avril wants to get her ears pierced. In the community in which she lives, she can get them pierced at a jewelry store in a strip mall. She can get them pierced at the local tattoo parlor or have them pierced by a friend's mother who happens to be a nurse. Avril's mother has threatened her with dire punishment if she has them pierced and then gets an infection because the person who pierces them was inept or unsanitary. Avril chose the nurse because of a(n) _____, which makes her believe it is the method her mother will most approve of.

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(Multiple Choice)

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Question 2

Correct Answer:

Verified

Customers assess service performance on the basis of what they desire and what they deem acceptable.

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(True/False)

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Question 3

Correct Answer:

Verified

True

Velma was preparing to take her first airplane trip in more than 20 years. One of the primary reasons why she has not flown is because she is over six feet tall and she hated how close the seats were. Just prior to making plane reservations, she saw an article in a travel magazine congratulating United and American Airlines for increasing the room between passenger seats. She did not have time to read the whole article-just the first paragraph. She made her reservations on United Airlines with the knowledge that she would not have to feel like she was "shoe horned" into her seat. When she boarded the plane, she was struck with how close the seats appeared. Then she learned United had only increased the room for the first six rows and American had made sure that every seat had extra room. Velma's service expectation levels were shaped by:

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 4

A fire recently destroyed Leon's neighbor's house. Everyone expected the house to be rebuilt because neighbor told them he had insurance. Unfortunately, Leon's neighbor has insurance that would rebuild the house exactly the way it was before the fire. The neighbor's house was 60 years old and did not meet current building code requirements. Unless the neighbor has $40,000, in addition to his insurance settlement, he cannot rebuild his home. Leon is worried and called his insurance agent today to see how much it will cost to make sure his insurance would pay to have his house rebuilt in accordance with the current codes. Leon's need for this insurance is the result of:

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 5

Word-of-mouth communication about a service may be either personal or nonpersonal, but it is always verbal.

(True/False)

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Question 6

What two factors influencing customers' desired and predicted expectations can the service provider control?

(Short Answer)

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Question 7

Discuss service quality as a competitive advantage for a service provider.

(Essay)

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Question 8

_____ are personal and nonpersonal statements about a service made by an organization to customers.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 9

When a customer chooses between a restaurant in a pricy suburb of Atlanta and a restaurant in a small farming community 45 miles away, there is a _____ made by the locations that the customer will be more likely to find exotic cuisine and better trained servers at the downtown Atlanta restaurant.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 10

Hildy's children are giving her a weekend trip to a Lake Tahoe resort. The expectations of the customer services the resort will provide are much higher because they are planning the trip for their mother's approval rather than for their own use. This is an example of a(n) _____ expectation.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 11

The _____ is the customer's underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service and the proper conduct of service providers.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 12

To develop a true customer franchise-immutable customer loyalty-companies must not only consistently exceed the adequate service level but also reach the desired service level.

(True/False)

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Question 13

Before going out to dinner with her husband at Formia Ristorante, a contemporary Italian restaurant in New Jersey, Jennifer read a review of Formia in the local newspaper. The review indicated Formia is an unpretentious and unassuming, but exceptionally fine, contemporary Italian restaurant. Five servers who are under the owner's watchful eye attentively care for the fourteen roomy tables in the single large dining room. What the servers may lack in experience is more than compensated for by tempered enthusiasm and sincere desire to ensure guests are comfortable. The review of Formia that Jennifer read is a(n):

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 14

What is a consumer's "wished for" level of performance?

(Short Answer)

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Question 15

Leonard has been commuting to New York City on the Long Island Railroad for ten years. Every morning he takes the 7:00 a.m. train that is scheduled to arrive in New York at 8:15 a.m. from Huntington, a suburb of New York. Although Leonard would like the train to arrive in New York on time, he knows from his experience as a commuter that it is more likely the train will be 5 minutes late. Leonard's expectation that his train will be 5 minutes late reflects his _____ level of service for the Long Island Railroad.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 16

Credit card companies have raised customer _____ for service performance by offering lower interest rates, longer grace periods before paying, frequent flyer miles, no annual fees, rebates, discounts, prizes and merchandise.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 17

Which of the following is NOT a source of desired service and predicted service?

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 18

The radio ads for the Kia automobile dealership promises that the prices on its cars is lowest in the Memphis area. Categorize these ads as a source of customers' desired and predicted service expectations.

(Short Answer)

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Question 19

_____ are individual, stable factors that lead consumers to a heightened sensitivity to service.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 20

Showing 1 - 20 of 80

Customers assess service performance on the basis of what they desire and what they deem acceptable.

Word-of-mouth communication about a service may be either personal or nonpersonal, but it is always verbal.

What two factors influencing customers' desired and predicted expectations can the service provider control?

Discuss service quality as a competitive advantage for a service provider.

_____ are personal and nonpersonal statements about a service made by an organization to customers.

When a customer chooses between a restaurant in a pricy suburb of Atlanta and a restaurant in a small farming community 45 miles away, there is a _____ made by the locations that the customer will be more likely to find exotic cuisine and better trained servers at the downtown Atlanta restaurant.

Hildy's children are giving her a weekend trip to a Lake Tahoe resort. The expectations of the customer services the resort will provide are much higher because they are planning the trip for their mother's approval rather than for their own use. This is an example of a(n) _____ expectation.

The _____ is the customer's underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service and the proper conduct of service providers.

To develop a true customer franchise-immutable customer loyalty-companies must not only consistently exceed the adequate service level but also reach the desired service level.

What is a consumer's "wished for" level of performance?

Credit card companies have raised customer _____ for service performance by offering lower interest rates, longer grace periods before paying, frequent flyer miles, no annual fees, rebates, discounts, prizes and merchandise.

Which of the following is NOT a source of desired service and predicted service?

The radio ads for the Kia automobile dealership promises that the prices on its cars is lowest in the Memphis area. Categorize these ads as a source of customers' desired and predicted service expectations.

_____ are individual, stable factors that lead consumers to a heightened sensitivity to service.

Introduction to Services

Conceptual Framework of the Book: the Gaps Model of Service Quality

Consumer Behavior in Services

Customer Perceptions of Service

Listening to Customers Through Research

Building Customer Relationships

Service Recovery

Service Innovation and Design

Customer-Defined Service Standards

Physical Evidence and the Servicescape

Employees Roles in Service Delivery

Customers Roles in Service Delivery

Delivering Service Through Intermediaries and Electronic Channels

Managing Demand and Capacity

Integrated Marketing Communications

Pricing of Services

The Financial and Economic Impact of Service

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