Which of the following factors is NOT a factor leading to provider gap 1?
A. Inadequate marketing research orientation
B. Over-promising
C. Lack of upward communication
D. Insufficient relationship focus
E. Inadequate service recovery
The maintenance contract offered by Sears on its Kenmore refrigerators, dishwashers,
and microwaves is an example of a(n) _______.
A. Service
B. Experience
C. Attribute
D. Good
E. Benefit
The clearly displayed ENTRANCE and EXIT signs at a Jiffy-Lube 10-minute oil and
lubrication service indicate that the Jiffy-Lube servicescape is playing the strategic role
of:
A. Package
B. Facilitator
C. Differentiator
D. Boundary spanner
E. Socializer
The carpenter came to install the new flooring in the Stephenson’s kitchen two weeks
ago. Once he had removed the old flooring, he announced he needed to go get a sander
to smooth out the subflooring. He has not been back. A person who is a passive type
when it comes to complaining would react to this by:
A. Firing the original carpenter and hiring another one
B. Taking no action whatsoever
C. Complaining to the Better Business Bureau about the terrible service
D. Threatening to sue the carpenter if he didn’t return immediately
E. Complaining daily to the carpenter’s answering machine
Spatial layout and functionality increase in importance when:
A. Service is provided in a self-service environment
B. Customers are under no time pressure
C. Service is provided in a remote environment
D. Photographic blueprints are used to assess the service process
E. Service is provided in an interpersonal services environment
All of the following are questions that managers want answered about defensive
marketing EXCEPT:
A. What is a loyal customer?
B. What is the role of service in defensive marketing?
C. What levels of word of mouth are needed to retain customers?
D. What specific aspects of service are most important for customer retention?
E. How can defection-prone customers be identified?
When comparing the value of health clubs, Shaundra believes value comes from having
a “women’s only” nautilus room and “women’s only” aerobic classes. Shaundra defines
value as:
A. All that I get for all that I give
B. Whatever I want in a service
C. Low price
D. Reliable service
E. The quality I get for the price I pay
To make car maintenance service more tangible to consumers, Speedi-Lube has added a
large diagram on one of the waiting room walls of its service centers that shows the
underside of an automobile and identifies all of the lubrication points and exactly what
work is being done to the car. As part of its physical evidence strategy, Speedi-Lube
has:
A. Mapped the physical evidence of the service
B. Identified physical evidence opportunities
C. Clarified the roles of the servicescape
D. Recognized the strategic impact of physical evidence
E. Updated and modernized its ambient evidence
To close the customer gap, the gaps model of service quality suggests that the _______
gaps need to be closed.
A. Services marketing
B. Service dimensions
C. 4 Ps
D. Provider
E. Value
Many customers will not shop at traditional retail stores the day after Thanksgiving due
to the crowds. This refusal to shop is an example of how a servicescape can create
_____ behavior.
A. Interaction
B. Elimination
C. Avoidance
D. Approach
E. Cognitive
Salespeople are often on the road three nights every week. They cannot afford to stay in
the most luxurious of hotels, but they do appreciate amenities like a good mattress, a
firm pillow and a comfortable work area. They want the price they pay to be
commensurate with the amenities provided by the hotels. They tend to define value as:
A. All that I get for all that I give
B. Whatever I want in a service
C. Low price
D. Reliable service
E. The quality I get for the price I pay
The carpenter came to install the new flooring in the Stephenson’s kitchen two weeks
ago. Once he had removed the old flooring, he announced he needed to go get a sander
to smooth out the subflooring. He has not been back. A person who is an irate type
when it comes to complaining would react to this by:
A. Taking no action whatsoever
B. Assuming he had done something to alienate the carpenter
C. Using the phone to check up on the status of the carpenter at most once a week
D. Begging the carpenter to come back and finish the job
E. Firing the first carpenter and hiring another one who is willing to complete the job
Hotels next to universities experience _____ fluctuations in demand over time and have
peak demand that _____.
A. Wide; can usually be met without a major delay
B. Wide; regularly exceeds capacity
C. Narrow; can usually be met without a major delay
D. Narrow; regularly exceeds capacity
E. Wide, can never be met
A service firm is underutilizing its labor, equipment and facilities when:
A. Demand exceeds maximum capacity
B. Demand exceeds optimum capacity
C. Supply and demand are balanced at the level of optimum capacity
D. Demand is below optimum capacity
E. Demand is below minimum capacity
When customers complained that employees at Freddy’s Fast Stop Stores were
unfriendly, Freddy’s instituted its Smiling Service program, which required all
employees to greet and make eye contact with every customer they see within 5
seconds and always smile and offer help whenever the customer appeared to need any.
Employees were counseled, sent to training courses and terminated if they failed to
follow these instructions. What mistake did Freddy’s make when it instituted this
program?
A. It did not want to use audits or operating data to see how well the new program was
being implemented
B. It chose a hard standard without seeing if a soft standard would be more appropriate
C. It selected behavior/actions for service standards instead of attributes
D. It did not establish a means of measuring performance against standards
E. It chose a soft standard without seeing if a hard standard was more appropriate
If you own a small advertising agency and have limited funding and even less time to
spend on service marketing research, which of the following types of research would
you be LEAST likely to use?
A. Process checkpoint evaluations
B. Future expectations research
C. Trailer calls
D. Critical incidents studies
E. Complaint solicitations
Private schools that have mentoring programs for new students are encouraging
experienced students to perform which of the following customer roles?
A. Helping himself or herself
B. Positioning the company
C. Promoting the company
D. Recruiting customers
E. Helping others
Every time Tom and Betty stay at a Marriott Hotel, they earn points that can be used at
a later date for free rooms, meals and other hotel amenities. Marriott is using _____ to
implement its retention strategy.
A. Financial bonds
B. Social bonds
C. Customization bonds
D. Structural bonds
E. Security bonds
Bettie’s Boutique recently instituted a new policy for returns that states, “Happy
returns. Any item, anywhere, anytime. It’s that easy.” Bettie’s Boutique’s return policy
is an example of a(n):
A. Marketing testimonial
B. Implicit service promise
C. Word-of-mouth communication
D. Past experience influencer
E. Explicit service promise
In order to have a greater likelihood for ultimate success, who should be involved in the
new service development process?
A. Customers and employees
B. Suppliers, distributors and all employees
C. All members of the internal and external environment except customers
D. Top management only
E. Members of the marketing department only
By participating in the service delivery process, customers cocreate _____ for
themselves.
A. Value
B. Needs
C. Economic order
D. Loyalty
E. Economies of scale
Which of the following is NOT a source of customer expectations?
A. Word-of-mouth communications
B. Advertising
C. Pricing
D. Sales promises
E. Target market
Every functional area in a Marriott Hotel operates under standard operating procedure
manuals where all processes and services are carefully documented. Housekeepers, for
example, must perform 64 required steps in cleaning a room. These specific guidelines
result in uniformly clean rooms anywhere in the Marriott Hotel chain. By having
specific guidelines for cleaning a room, Marriott is avoiding one of the problems
associated with:
A. Inadequate management of service promises
B. Over-promising in advertising and personal selling
C. Inadequate external marketing communication
D. Inadequate interactive marketing communications
E. Inadequate internal marketing communications
Which of the following is NOT a demonstrated benefit of service blueprinting?
A. Providing a platform for innovation
B. Recognizing roles and interdependencies among functions, people, and organizations
C. Designing moments of truth from the customer’s point of view
D. Clarifying competitive positioning
E. All of the above are demonstrated benefits of blueprinting.
At the partnership stage of the customer relationship, the firm is most concerned with:
A. Creating a competitive advantage
B. Customer satisfaction
C. The enhancement of its relationship with the customer
D. Creating service loyalty
E. Customer retention
Service quality can help companies attract more and better customers to the business
through _____ marketing.
A. Insurgent
B. Offensive
C. Flank-movement
D. Defensive
E. Guerilla
Two decades ago, travelers needing a place to rest for the night looked for the large,
multi-colored Holiday Inn signs. Eventually, the signs started looking dated and seemed
to remind people of early times even though the motel chain knew travelers wanted to
stay in modern rooms with all the latest amenities. Holiday Inn recognized the signs
were sending the wrong message during which stage of the physical evidence strategy?
A. Map the physical evidence of the service
B. Assess and identify physical evidence opportunities
C. Clarify roles of the servicescape
D. Recognize the strategic impact of physical evidence
E. Update and modernize the physical evidence
The Canfields want to landscape their five-acre yard. The couple plans an herb garden
in back that will lead to an English cottage garden. In the west side yard, they are
planning on a Japanese garden and a rose garden will be located in the east side yard.
They have hired a landscaper to draw the design and to do the actual planning. The
Canfields want input on the landscaping. They have asked the landscaper to set up
several points where they can give their inputs, correct anything they do not like and
make changes before the plan is finalized. Most landscapers would be bothered with
this seeming interference, but the landscaper the Canfields chose has used this method
for years as a way to measure his company’s customer service performance. The
landscaper is using a method of gathering customer information most similar to which
of the following methods?
A. Trailer calls
B. Market-oriented ethnography
C. Process checkpoint evaluations
D. Requirements research
E. Critical incidents studies
If you buy your tickets early for a live theater production in Rome, you’ll pay about 30
percent less, than if you buy them on the day of the show. The lower price helps the
early sale of tickets and guarantees the audience will be large enough to justify the cost
and effort put into the production. What strategy does the theater company use to shift
demand for theater tickets?
A. Differentiate on price
B. Modify timing and location of service delivery
C. Vary the service offering
D. Stretch capacity
E. Communicate with customers
Retention strategies based on social bonds:
A. Build long-term relationships through social and interpersonal as well as financial
bonds
B. Use a strategy of mass customization
C. Are concerned about maintaining customer intimacy
D. Are the most difficult of the retention strategies to initiate
E. Create high opportunity costs
American Airlines pilots and crews are trained to inform customers immediately when
flight delays occur and to keep customers advised at regular intervals about the changes
in a flight’s schedule. By keeping customers informed during a flight, American Airlines
is closing provider _____ of the gaps model of service quality.
A. Gap 1
B. Gap 2
C. Gap 3
D. Gap 4
