Through its external marketing efforts, a company makes promises to its customers
regarding what they can expect and how it will be delivered.
The development of services marketing concepts has been strongly influenced by
professional services like doctors and attorneys.
An effective services research program includes either quantitative or qualitative
research, but never both.
Standardization of service behaviors and actions is inconsistent with employee
empowerment.
How a customer defines desired levels of service is more likely to change than how
adequate levels of service are defined.
Wide aisles on an airplane let the servicescape act as a facilitator.
A contractor could use outsourcing as a way to adjust its capacity to meet demand.
The four strategies of tangibilization are documentation, illustration, intimation and
physical representation.
With relationship marketing, customers can develop social relationships with their
service providers, which makes it less likely that they will switch to a competitor.
Services marketing bridges the gap between what customers expect to get and what
they perceive they actually got.
Whether a customer assumes the role of competitor is unaffected by trust, control, or
time.
The loading of passengers’ baggage onto an airplane by baggage handlers is a
backstage contact employee action.
On-site, the customer requires functional and chronological orientation.
Once a company has entered into a relationship with a customer, that relationship
should never end.
The letters ACSI are an acronym for the Association of Customer Service Institute,
which measures customers’ perceptions of service quality around the world.
Moderate customer participation is required with marriage counseling.
A more complex type of integrated marketing communications is needed for goods
than for services.
Customers typically notice service when it falls outside the zone of tolerance.
The absence of customer-defined standards will broaden provider gap 2.
Customers assess service performance on the basis of what they desire and what they
deem acceptable.
An elaborate interpersonal service faces the most complex servicescape decisions.
The parking lot, the neon signs, the building exterior and the restrooms are all part of a
servicescape for a nightclub.
Customer input can affect the service organization’s productivity through both the
quality of what they contribute and the resulting quality and quantity of output
generated.
Provider gap 2 exists in service companies because of a failure of horizontal
communication.
A customer’s personal service philosophy is an influence on his/her adequate service
expectations.
While the zones of tolerance may vary because of differing personality types, they are
stable with relation to the importance of the service dimensions.
Derived service expectations occur when customer expectations are driven by another
person or a group of people.
A service provider that wants to be perceived as empathetic should allow its employees
to customize the services to meet the specific needs of each individual customer.
The most commonly known form of results-based pricing is a practice called mixed
bundling.
All businesses and organizations that operate on the Internet are essentially providing a
service.
A service firm’s yield can be raised by increasing capacity used or by decreasing price.
Social bonds alone may not tie the customer permanently to the firm, but they are
much more difficult to imitate than financial incentives.
A dry cleaning establishment is more likely to experience a wide demand fluctuation
over time than a cleaning company that specializes in cleaning up after a fire.
Individual differences exist in customers’ desire to participate in the service process.
The two research menthods used to document customers’ opinions about whether
service performance met the standards established are benchmarking and critical
incident surveys.
The reliability dimension of service quality ” delivering the service as promised ” is
often totally within the control of frontline employees.
Importance/performance matrices typically combine information about customer
perceptions of service encounters with a company with how the company rates in each
of the five service dimensions.
Peak demand for rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, an upscale hotel in Phoenix,
Arizona, occurs during the tourist season from November through mid-April. During
the summer slow season when demand for rooms drops considerably, the Ritz-Carlton
encourages local Phoenix and Tucson residents to experience the beauty of the hotel on
weekends by offering attractively priced weekend packages. The Ritz-Carlton uses
which of the following strategies for shifting demand to match capacity?
A. Differentiate on price
B. Modify timing and location of service delivery
C. Vary the service offering
D. Stretch capacity
E. Communicate with customers
Things that can be counted, timed or observed through audits are _____
customer-defined service standards.
A. Formal
B. Hard
C. Informal
D. Qualitative
E. Responsive
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
Nude bathing is the norm at the Tagoona lakefront beach. By prohibiting the wearing
of clothes on weekdays, the Tagoona lakefront beach is:
A. Rewarding customers
B. Positioning customers
C. Managing the customer mix
D. Defining customers’ jobs
E. Educating customers
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
Return on service quality (ROSQ):
A. Is based on the assumption that it is impossible to spend too much money on quality
B. Replaces intuition as a guide for service quality investments
C. Is an intuitive approach to determining whether a company should implement
specific service quality strategies
D. Is based on the assumption that all quality expenditures are valid
E. Is accurately described by all of the above
The primary goal of businesses that are in the first stage of their relationship with a
customer is to:
A. Create financial bonds
B. Develop a long-lasting relational time horizon
C. Qualify the prospect as a customer
D. Initiate communications in order to attract them
E. Engage in problem solving sales
In which of the following service industries are you most likely to find the service
provider using fee for service pricing?
A. Apartment rental business
B. Management consulting business
C. Cleaning service industry
D. Airline industry
E. Internet service providers
During which stage of the service innovation and development process are demand
analysis, revenue projections, cost analyses and operational feasibility assessed?
A. Commercialization
B. Business analysis
C. Market testing
D. Service development and evaluation
E. Post introduction evaluation
The Learning Academy provides tutoring for children who are having trouble
mastering some skill in school-whether it is math, reading, studying or something else.
It wants to monitor and determine the strengths and weaknesses of The Learning
Academy’s curriculum. Which of the following types of research should The Learning
Academy use to realize this objective?
A. Complaint solicitation
B. Critical incidents studies
C. Relationship surveys
D. Key client studies
E. Trailer calls
Bob Wilson owns and operates Flashdance Skating Rink. Last Monday afternoon, he
had rented the rink out for a birthday party that was cancelled at the last minute due to a
flu epidemic that had sickened three-fourths of the children who were invited. While
Wilson kept the deposit, he did not get the skate rental fees or the snack food money he
had anticipated from the rental. Wilson lost money as a result of the _____
characteristic of services.
A. Heterogeneity
B. Simultaneous production and consumption
C. Incomparability
D. Perishability
E. Intangibility
The ability to connect to the Internet through a modem using the same wires that
transmit cable television was an example of a _____ when it was first introduced.
A. Major innovation
B. New service for the currently served market
C. Service line extension
D. Service improvement
E. Style change
Which of the following acts as the stimulus in the stimulus-organism-response model?
A. Employees
B. The multidimensional service environment
C. Customer emotions
D. Customer
E. Customer purchase behavior
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
Ally Bank advertises “24/7 live customer care” which means that customer can call by
telephone and speak with a human being about their banking matters any time of day or
night. Ally Bank customers never have to talk to a machine. With this service feature,
Ally Bank is emphasizing the _________ dimension of service quality.
A. Reliability
B. Responsiveness
C. Assurance
D. Empathy
E. Tangibles
While being trained at Disney University in Orlando, Florida, Disney employees are
told they are not just employees but pivotal “cast members” in a ‘show.” From street
sweepers to monorail pilots, each cast member must go out of his or her way to make
the resort seem unreal. No matter how tired employees are or how deeply guests may
try their patience, employees must never lose composure. _______ labor is required of
Disney employees to always maintain composure.
A. Physical
B. Mental
C. Personal
D. Accountable
E. Emotional
_____ costs represent other sources of sacrifice perceived by consumers when buying
and using a service.
A. Penalty
B. Forfeit
C. Opportunity
D. Nonmonetary
E. Psychological
To reach business travelers (its largest market) Canadian Airline has installed gate-side
business centers where tired business travelers can enjoy a hot shower or sit in massage
chairs and listen to soothing music. These amenities are examples of which composite
dimension of servicescapes?
A. Spatial layout
B. Signs
C. Artifacts
D. Ambient conditions
E. Functional forms
A human resources manager who is hiring a sales trainer to improve the company’s
sales close rate will be concerned whether the trainer will provide the needed tools and
motivation to perform his or her job. The human resources manager wants the
company’s top management and its sales force managers to approve of his selection of
trainer. This is an example of a(n) _____ expectation.
A. Derived service
B. Other-self
C. Procured
D. Service-vision
E. Shared
Beyond the specific inherent benefits of receiving service value, customers also benefit
in other ways from long-term associations with firms. The three types of relational
benefits for customers are:
A. Confidence benefits; economic benefits; behavior benefits
B. Management benefits; confidence benefits; economic benefits
C. Confidence benefits; social benefits; special treatment benefits
D. Confidence benefits; special treatment benefits; economic benefits
E. Social benefits; management benefits; behavior benefits
The Limited recognizes sales associates who provide excellent customer service by
rewarding them with a “Hero Award,” which is displayed in the store where the sales
associate is employed. To measure a sales associate’s service performance, which type
of research should The Limited use?
A. Complaint solicitation
B. Critical incidents studies
C. Relationship surveys
D. Mystery shopping
E. Lost customer research
Which of the following is an example of a soft measure of a company’s success?
A. Return on investment
B. Customer satisfaction
C. Sales volume
D. Gross margin
E. Inventory turnover
Which type of promotion has more credibility than other sources of information about
a service?
A. Word-of-mouth
B. Personalized direct mail
C. Network television advertising
D. Publicity
E. Advertising in prestige magazines
Because most people like to get tattoos and body piercings on the weekends, a tattoo
parlor in Portland, Maine, offers a reduced rate Monday to Thursday for all of its
services. Prices on Friday and Saturday are 45 percent higher than they are during the
rest of the week. The tattoo parlor is using a(n) _____ pricing strategy.
A. Odd
B. Synchro-
C. Discounting
D. Prestige
E. Complementary
In which of the following services is inadequate customer communication most likely
to result in customer dissatisfaction?
A. Fast food restaurant
B. Animal boarding
C. Movie theater
D. Physical rehabilitation therapy
E. Overnight package delivery
Which of the following statements about complaint solicitation is true?
A. Customer complaints provide an adequate source of information about customers’
perceptions and expectations of services
B. The technique of soliciting customer complaints is only used for services
C. Research on customer complaints is one of the most difficult research techniques to
use
D. Research on customer complaints allows companies to improve failure points and to
improve or correct the performance of contact personnel
E. No major companies would depend on customer complaints as its only source of
information on its customers’ perceptions and expectations of its services
Which of the following service encounter themes reflects employees’ responding to
problem customers, i.e., customers who are unwilling to cooperate with the service
provider, other customers, industry regulations and/or laws?
A. Recovery
B. Adaptability
C. Spontaneity
D. Credibility
E. Coping
Service providers sometimes need to tell customers that services have been performed
for them. To get credit for their actions, service providers need to reinforce their actions
with appropriate communication about their accomplishment of the service. After which
of the following services customers most likely require further information?
A. Pet grooming
B. A fluoride treatment given to a child
C. A full-body massage
D. Car insurance
E. Gas station
Which of the following is an example of a tangible component provided by a hotel?
A. Wake-up call
B. Guest rooms
C. Room service
D. Express check-out
E. Guaranteed reservations
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. With its automated inquiry system, Discover
Card is enhancing customer participation in the service process by:
A. Recruiting customers
B. Positioning customers
C. Managing the customer mix
D. Defining customers’ roles
E. Educating customers
A state auditor who is expected to deliver quality, individualized service to state offices
and departments while at the same time finishing jobs as quickly as possible is
experiencing a(n) _____ tradeoff:
A. Demand/supply
B. Client/organization
C. Customization/standardization
D. Inclination/competency
E. Quality/productivity
After determining that responsiveness was a major concern of customers, American
Express conducted additional research to establish the exact number of days customers
defined as responsive for the various company processes (e.g., 2 days for reissuing lost
cards and 15 days for deciding on an application). By conducting additional research,
American Express was addressing which of the following steps in the process for
developing customer-defined standards?
A. Developing feedback mechanisms for measurement of standards
B. Identifying existing or desired service encounter sequences
C. Establishing measures and target levels for standards
D. Deciding whether hard or soft standards are appropriate
E. Translating customer expectations into behaviors and actions for each service
Traditional measures of company performance:
A. Have relied on financial indicators such as profit, sales and return on investment
B. Predict the future performance of companies as well as the results of yesterday’s
decisions
C. Measure operational process and customer satisfaction as well as other quantitative
factors
D. Are useful in measuring the effect of a short-term increase of service quality on a
company’s bottom line
E. Have used the soft measures primarily
What is wrong with the following service goal posted in a restaurant: “Do not keep
customers waiting too long to be served”?
A. It is too formal
B. It is not actionable
C. It is not specific enough
D. It does not reflect the goal of the restaurant, which is to provide service quality
E. It is not responsive to customer needs
(p. 162-163) Retention strategies built around financial bonds:
A. Provide long-term profit increases
B. Use price as the primary marketing mix element
C. Are difficult to initiate
D. Provide long-term competitive advantage
E. Have a high degree of service customization
What do tax preparation services, law offices, dental practices and architects have in
common?
While at Six Flags over Georgia, Mitch had his picture taken with Tweetie Bird, one of
the many Warner Brothers characters that tour the park. Which component of the
service blueprint does the picture exemplify?
Briefly describe the four provider gaps that are the underlying causes behind the
customer gap.
Why are public policymakers so interested in the development of a device to measure
and track customer satisfaction?
Even thought she was not moving, Katherine dropped her membership at a local
church. She received a call from one of the church’s representatives wanting to know
why she had quit. She was asked to describe the moment in which she decided she no
longer wanted to be a member of the church. What type of research is being conducted
in this example?
What is a consumer’s “wished for” level of performance?
What is the primary goal of relationship marketing?
College activities boards (CABs) have the responsibility for hiring the entertainment
that appears on college campuses. They have limited budgets and when dealing with
them, talent agencies have to remember they often define value as low prices. Describe
how a talent agency might use this information in pricing to those on CABs that
actually have the authority to hire the musicians they represent. Give specific examples
with each.
What kind of research is being used when an insurance company representative sits
down with people who have lost their homes to tornadoes and asks, “What could have
been done to better handle your needs immediately after the storm”?
Luke Roche has developed a great new massage therapy that can completely alleviate
the pain produced by the typical migraine headache. He wants to patent his massages.
What is wrong with this plan?
Describe the four common themes identified as sources of customer
satisfaction/dissatisfaction in memorable service encounters.
“Level 1″ retention strategies are very useful in creating a long-term competitive
advantage.
The framework for understanding servicescape effects on behavior follows from basic
stimulus-organism-response theory. Define a service’s physical evidence in terms of this
theory.
Bundling and cross-selling are ways to implement a “Level 1” retention strategy
A commercial for online courses at Santa Rosa Community College shows an
individual doing homework on a laptop computer while lounging on a white sand
beach. Which tangibilization strategy is being used in this commercial?