Because he has a busy practice, new patients for dentist Dr. Kirby Brown are informed
that, unless there is an emergency, the first available appointment will be in three
months. If they accept the appointment, they will be reminded of their appointment by a
courtesy call. This first visit will take about an hour. On this visit, their teeth will be
cleaned and x-rayed, their gums will be examined and the dentist will talk to them
about future dental treatment needs. Dr. Brown is _____________ to manage customer
expectations.
A. Managing horizontal communications
B. Making realistic promises
C. Offering a service guarantee
D. Offering choices
E. Coordinating external communication
Flying across the Pacific Ocean is an eight-hour trip that could be dreadful if you did
not fly Singapore Airlines. One frequent flyer between the U.S. and Japan noted the
Singapore cabin crew gives the impression that it is truly their pleasure to serve the
passengers. Seating has been designed to provide comfort in the airline’s wide body
planes. In first class, the seats are referred to as sky suites because they are so roomy.
Every meal is carefully planned and served. The commitment to making the long flight
as pleasant as possible indicates Singapore Airlines:
A. Does not rely on physical evidence
B. Considers reliability more important than empathy
C. Has a service culture
D. Does not use internal marketing
E. Wants to increase the number of service encounters it has with a customer
American Airlines BreakAway fares offer travelers substantial savings on nonstop
flights from Newark, New Jersey to Los Angeles from mid-August to mid-October. The
round-trip airfare is $299 for customers who depart on Friday and return the following
Monday or Tuesday. American Airlines is using a(n) _____ differential.
A. Place
B. Time
C. Quality
D. Incentive
E. Quantity
In service blueprinting terms, _____ are those steps and activities that contact
employees, like desk clerks and receptionists, perform that are visible to customers.
A. Customer actions
B. Onstage contact employee actions
C. Backstage contact employee actions
D. Support processes
E. Audience actions
A consumer is more likely to complain when the:
A. Flowers he ordered for his wife’s birthday are not delivered
B. Big Mac bought in a drive-through comes with pickles even though the special order
said no pickles
C. Icing on the bakery cake is dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate as ordered
D. Mechanic fills the radiator with antifreeze instead of water
E. Repair person is 30-minutes late
A medical clinic conducted a research study to determine the standard for patients’ wait
times in the reception area by having the patients note the time when they arrived on a
sign-in sheet. As each patient went back to the examining room, the office manager
noted the time on another sheet and then asked the patient five questions about his or
her perceptions of the wait. The medical clinic conducted a _____ study to establish
target levels for wait time standards.
A. Critical incident benchmarking
B. Event-triggered requirements
C. Hypothetical satisfaction-performance
D. Participant observation tracking
E. Simple perception-action correlation
Which of the following statements is a criterion for the creation of appropriate service
standards?
A. The standards should be based on behaviors and actions that are very important to
customers
B. The standards should be challenging even if that means they are unrealistic
C. The standards should be based on past complaints rather than current and future
customer expectations
D. The standards should be established for behaviors and actions that at the present time
cannot be improved
E. All of the above are criteria for the creation of appropriate service standards
FedEx honors a handful of non-management employees with its Golden Falcon award
each month, recognizing efforts that are “above and beyond their customary line of
duty.” This award includes a gold pin with the gold falcon emblem and ten shares of
FedEx stock. By giving deserving employees the Golden Falcon award, FedEx is using
which of the following human resources management strategies for closing provider
gap 3?
A. Hire the right people
B. Provide needed support systems
C. Retain the best people
D. Develop servicescapes to deliver service quality
E. Creating an employee-oriented culture
In acquaintance relationships, firms generally focus on:
A. Creating service offering awareness
B. Inducing product trial and adoption
C. Gaining specific knowledge of customer’s needs
D. Providing value comparable to the competition
E. Creating clear and easily comprehended communications
When translating abstract customer requirements into concrete behaviors and actions,
the pertinent information should be gathered and interpreted by _________ to avoid the
creation of company-defined standards rather than customer-defined standards.
A. Company managers
B. An objective source such as an outside research firm
C. Contact employees only
D. Company managers and contact employees
E. The company’s board of directors
If you visit a county or state fair, you will pay a basic admission fee plus other fees if
you want to enjoy any of the amusement rides. County and state fairs that price this way
is using:
A. Synchro-pricing
B. Two-part pricing
C. Mixed bundling
D. Contribution margin pricing
E. Contingency pricing
When a customer of Twin Cities Rehabilitation Center complained that his therapist
was one hour late for their appointment, the owner of the center gave the customer
credit for one free hour of therapy. The action taken by the owner is and example of
___________.
A. Service recovery
B. Service paradox
C. Service inconsistency
D. Outcome fairness
E. Procedural recovery
Which of the following statements about customer perceptions of service and
consumer purchase intentions is true?
A. There is no relationship between customer perceptions of service and any consumer
intentions
B. While there is no relationship between customer perceptions of service and purchase
intentions, there is a strong relationship between perceptions of superior service and
increased word-of-mouth communications
C. Researchers suspect there is little relationship between a customer perception of
service and his or her intent to buy
D. Customer perceptions of service affect consumer intentions in several positive
ways-including the purchase intention
E. Customer expectations ” not perceptions ” affect consumer behavioral intentions
Extron Electronics makes coaxial cables for connecting computers to all types of
peripheral devices like printers, modems and fax machines. For the benefit of its
customers, Extron provides a laminated card with pictures of all the possible cable
connections that a customer could need. With this card, a customer can order from one
to any number of connectors with as many feet of cable as is needed. Orders can be
placed using a toll-free number, a fax number or an e-mail address. Company reps are
also available 24-hours a day in case the customer is not sure which drawing on the
card matches his or her needs. Orders are shipped within 48-hours of receipt. If a
customer is not completely satisfied with his or her order, Extron has a 100 percent
satisfaction guaranteed return policy. Which of the following trends that has influenced
the development of services marketing concepts and strategies as illustrated by Extron’s
focus on customer service?
A. The increasing importance of service industries to the U.S. and world economies
B. The increase of government regulation of service industries
C. The growth in information-based technology
D. Increased competition in professional services
E. Manufacturing firms are placing increased emphasis on providing services
In a(n) _____ environment, the service facility can be designed to keep its employees
motivated and to facilitate productivity, teamwork and operational efficiency without
any consideration of customers.
A. Self-service
B. Vertical service
C. Remote service
D. Saleable service
E. Interpersonal services
Under which of the following conditions should a service provider confirm
performance to standards and expectations?
A. The customer cannot evaluate the effectiveness of the service.
B. The decision maker in the service purchase is different from users of the service.
C. The service is performed out of sight of the customer.
D. Answers A and C above
E. Answers A, B, and C above
Which of the following statements does NOT contain a reason why consumers lack
accurate reference prices for services?
A. Individual customer needs vary within the same service provider
B. Collection of price information is overwhelming in services
C. Many service providers are unable or unwilling to estimate price in advance
D. Low degree of variability exists across providers of the same service
E. Prices are not visible
Which of the following is NOT a type of differential used by service providers to
synchronize demand and supply?
A. Time
B. Quantity
C. Place
D. Utility
E. Incentive
The marketing department at a well-known university has 11 full-time faculty members
and 3 part-time faculty members. There are more than 400 marketing majors at this
university. The primary constraint for offering a course in mobile marketing would
more than likely be:
A. Equipment
B. Labor
C. Money
D. Facilities
E. Time
If customers believe they have multiple service providers to choose from for a
particular service, or if they can provide the service for themselves, their levels of
adequate service are _________ those of customers who believe it is not possible to get
better service elsewhere.
A. Lower than
B. Higher than
C. More volatile than
D. More stable than
E. The same as
Which of the following statements about providing customers with service quality is
true?
A. All customers must be provided the same superior quality of service
B. All customers are worth attracting and keeping through the use of service quality
C. The same services marketing strategy should be used with all customers
D. All customers will be profitable in the long run; therefore, each is deserving of
quality service
E. Links exist among customer satisfaction, service quality and increased purchases
_____ service is the level of service the customer hopes to receive.
A. Desired
B. Adequate
C. Functional
D. Predictable
E. Augmented
Many companies do not identify and act on the correct non-financial measures. One
four major mistakes that companies make is _______. In other words, they do not
verify that the non-financial measures lead to financial performance.
A. Not linking measures to strategy
B. Not validating the links
C. Not setting the right performance targets
D. Measuring incorrectly
E. Not creating a balanced scorecard
Creating tiered value service offerings is a strategy for:
A. Personal selling
B. Managing customer expectations
C. Communicating with customers
D. Managing horizontal communications
E. Exceeding customer expectations
The basic formula for _____ is Price = Direct costs + Overhead + Profit margin.
A. Contribution margin
B. Return on investment
C. Cost-based pricing
D. ABC costing
E. Net profit
Every time Beth takes her three-year-old daughter shopping, the child complains about
unpleasant smells. A sharp olfactory sense makes _____ in retail situations extremely
important to Beth and her daughter.
A. Natural environments
B. Functional forms
C. Ambient conditions
D. Spatial formats
E. Sensory symbols
As a service dimension increases in importance, a customer’s zone of tolerance _____
and his or her desired and adequate service levels _____.
A. Narrows; increase
B. Widens; increase
C. Widens; decrease
D. Narrows; decrease
A service blueprint depicts:
A. The process of service delivery
B. All stakeholders that will be affected by the service process
C. The intangible elements of the service
D. The relation of the service to the services marketing mix
E. How the service dimensions will interact before, during and after the service process
Which of the following statements about service standardization and employee
empowerment is true?
A. For every service standardized, some degree of employee empowerment is always
eliminated
B. Any service standardization makes employee empowerment impossible
C. Service standardization is not necessary when the organization empowers its
employees
D. The use of service standardization is compatible with employee empowerment
E. There is no overlapping relationship between service standardization and employee
empowerment
Cookies is a retail store where customers host parties for guests to bake and decorate
cookies. The store offers customers their money back if the party experience is boring.
Cookie’s is:
A. Creating tiered-value offerings to improve customer education
B. Preparing customers for the service process through customer education
C. Offering a service guarantee to manage customer expectations
D. Featuring the servicescape as a tool for integrating its marketing communications
E. Confirming that performance equals performance standards to manage customer
expectations
According to the service marketing triangle, which of the following lists the types of
marketing that must be successfully carried out in order for a service organization to
succeed?
A. External, internal and interactive marketing
B. Strategic, tactical and operational marketing
C. Lower-level, middle-level and top-level marketing
D. Functional, hierarchical and, relationship marketing
E. Relationship, interactive and transactional marketing
Are the referee uniforms, the wide aisles, the racks and counters and the scoreboards
all part of the servicescape at a Foot Locker store?
What are the positive effects of implementing defensive marketing to reduce or
eliminate customer defection?
List three groups of service providers that typically use results-based pricing?
What is the final step in the process for setting customer-defined standards?
What kind of pricing strategy explains why a traveler is willing to pay $400 to fly first
class when he or she could get to the same destination by paying $125?
Which type of qualitative research has as its primary objective to identify customer
requirements as input for quantitative research?
The data have been gathered. It is now time to analyze these data and interpret them.
What is the primary goal of this part of the marketing research process?
When the advising center at Santa Rosa Community College stays open longer hours
during the week prior to registration for classes, what strategy for matching capacity
and demand is being used?
Tyra has done volunteer fundraising for years. She has recently decided it would be a
good career move for her to become a full-time, paid fundraiser. She likes the idea of
working with a variety of different organizations and then moving on to some new
problem to tackle. She is trying to keep her operation simple. From what Tyra has told
you so far, you understand that she plans on using cost-plus pricing. What problems do
you foresee if she uses this pricing technique? What type of a pricing strategy might be
more appropriate and simpler?
Discuss the four sources of conflict for boundary-spanning service workers.
What kind of an innovation occurs when a beauty salon adds a tanning booth to its
service offerings?
One of the major approaches to overcoming service communication challenges is to
manage service promises. What strategies would a large janitorial service use to manage
its service promises to match service promises with delivery?
What type of service encounter occurs when Raphael uses his computer to order and
pay for concert tickets?
List the five dimensions U.S. customers use to determine service quality.
What is another name for customer-linked operational measures that would be used in a
balanced performance scorecard? What are some of the specific measures that may
appropriate to include in this area of the balanced performance scorecard?
What type of services marketing needs to be used to stop customer defection?
Discover Card has an automated inquiry system that enables card members to obtain
their current balance, available credit and payment information via telephone without
speaking to an account representative. What term should be used to describe this
inquiry system?
Provide an example of a situation in which a strategy for delivering customized service
is more appropriate than a strategy of standardization.
Some professional associations manage customer expectations by offering different
membership packages to professionals, students and retirees. What is the term used to
describe this practice?