Customers Role in the Service Encounter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Customers Role in the Service Encounter - Essay Example Standard Industry Classification System. The first one is the goods-producing sector and the second one is the service-producing sector. The goods-producing sector includes agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining; construction; and manufacturing. The service-producing sector includes the divisions of transportation, communications, and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, public administration and other services. In other words, the service sector can be termed as hospitality sector (Simmering, 2006). Today's customers have more power than ever before. This is mainly because of the fact that a single product or service is provided by several agencies. As a result of this competition, customers have more than enough choices. They have high-quality alternatives, greater access to information, and the unprecedented ability to compare brands. It can be said that power has shifted from producers to consumers. For example, it a person decides to buy a car with specific model, colour, and interiors in his mind and approaches a showroom that does not have that model, he would look for another showroom. But if the seller is good at selling, he may convince the customer to either change his choice by giving a better option at competitive price or buy some time from the customer to deliver the exact model. Consumer Consumerism has changed the out look of hospitality sector. Recent years has witnessed the intense competition in the hospitality sector. This sector need to excel is customer service not only to retain existing customers, but also to attract new customers. To thrive in the ever increasing competition, today hospitality sector needs to aim for process excellence (vfirst.com, N.D.). For example, if a customer decides to have food from a restaurant, he first decides on what type of food he would like to have it may be Chinese, Indian or any other. The next question that comes to his mind is which Chinese or Indian restaurant he would go Based on his past experience, he takes the decision mainly based on the quality of food and the service that he got in previous instances. Today, service industries are facing challenges as they are only as good as their last customer transaction or touch-point. As customers compare value and tale decisions at a much faster rate due to easy accessibility to information, this sector must live up to their promises. Irrespective of the type of market, the reasons a customer chooses a particular brand may not be the same tomorrow. Hence it becomes even more difficult to have and maintain customers. As a result of these challenges, nothing is more important than understanding customer behaviour. Knowing what leads to a customer's choice allows the company to make better business decisions, develop effective marketing strategies, and hold the attention of the customers. There are only a few companies that consistently live up to their brand promises and have large customer base. And these companies are the ones who benefit from the rewards of repeat business and customers who are advocates for their products and services (Maritz research, 2005). It is important for a service oriented company to understand what differentiates their companies from others and must understand the needs of the consumers in their markets. These two ingredients are the key to develop a