MKT501 MODULE 3 – Assignments RESPONSES
WEEK 1 DISCUSSION POST
The eight dimensions of service quality are reliability, assurance, performance, responsiveness, extended services, empathy, appearance, and reputation.
Provide a brief introduction to the company with which you are working.
Using the dimensions of service quality, develop a strategy to differentiate the company.
This post should be 200-300 words in length. Since you are engaging in research, be sure to cite in the body of the post and add a reference list in APA format.
ABOVE FOR INFORMATION ONLY AFTER THIS IS WHAT IS NEEDED TO RESPONDED.
RESPONSES
WEEK 1 INTERACTIVE RESPONSES TO CLASSMATES
1st Interactive Response:
Select one student’s post and explain which dimension would be most important in gaining your loyalty.
2nd Interactive Response:
Analyze another student’s post and explain which dimension would be least important in gaining your loyalty.
Each reply should be one paragraph in length (or about 100 words) and must be substantive in nature. Do not simply say “I agree” or “That is great.” Specify why and be detailed in your explanation. You may use research in your responses, but it is not required.
RESPONSE 1: 1st Interactive Response
Full spectrum home healthcare, services that go beyond the weekly nurse home visits. True home healthcare provides patients with a full-service medical experience in their own homes. This full service fosters a three-way partnership between physicians, nurses and most importantly patients. Home healthcare services provide more than nursing and rehabilitative services. It also offers physician services to elderly and other adults with complex health issues who have difficulty getting out to the doctor’s office and offers many in-home services including primary care, short-term episodic care, lab, mobile x-ray and ultrasound (Visiting Physicians Association, 2019). These services take healthcare out of the clinics and into to the homes of patients. Think of full spectrum home healthcare as concierge medicine that is available to all enrolled patients, not just the rich.
In an industry that offers potential substitutes, it is important to develop a strategy to differentiate the company. To accomplish this, the Full Spectrum Home Healthcare company will use two of the eight dimensions of service quality, reliability and empathy. Patients schedule their lives around medical appointments and literally place their lives in the hands of medical providers. To that end, the Full Spectrum Home Healthcare company will ensure that it can meet patient appointments 100% of the time. Reliability not only comes in the form of time, it also comes in the form safe and expert services. Patients can rest assure that this company employs the best qualified professionals who in turn will ensure their safety. Beyond timelines and safety, empathy goes a long way.
In healthcare, empathy goes a long way. “According to Anderson and Fornell (2000), customer satisfaction measures the quality of goods and services as experienced by those that consume and feel them” (Raposo, Alves and Duarte, 2009, p. 87). Here the operative word is feel. Patients need to feel like their medical providers care about them. Through empathy, healthcare workers can understand what the patent is experiencing. Any healthcare provider can deliver superb medical services, but can he or she walk a mile in the patient’s shoes? Patients want to be heard, and empathy will help us listen. In summary, the Full Spectrum Home Healthcare company will use two of the eight dimensions of service quality, reliability and empathy to differentiate itself.
References:
Raposo, M., Alves, H. M., & Duarte, P. A. (2009). Dimensions of service quality and satisfaction in healthcare: A patient’s satisfaction index. Service Business, 3(1), 85-100. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.trident.edu:2048/10.1007…
Visiting Physicians Association (2019). Healthcare at home. Retrieved from https://www.visitingphysicians.com/
RESPONSE 2: 2nd Interactive Response
Flush Masters Plumbing Inc. is a plumbing service located in the St. Louis area. They take pride in providing all customers plumbing needs such as, draining, water clean-up, water heaters, kitchen or bathroom plumbing and more. Flush Masters strives to give customers the best service possible. One dimensions of service quality that Flush Masters strives do better than the rest is extended services. In the plumbing business %97 of consumers go online to find or research local products and services (Doyle, 2019). However, if you search online at night, there a very few services that are open. Some plumbing services will only come out at night only in the case of an emergency. Even if they do come out they will charge an additional fee for coming out during off shift hours. Flush Masters Plumbing is 24/7. Someone is always available and at no additional charge will come out to service a plumbing issue.
The next dimension of quality service Flush Masters will focus on is empathy. Flush Masters’ plumbers will be trained to be empathetic with the customers. A plumbing emergency can be very costly and often an inconvenient expense. Plumbers will be trained to talk to customers an offer them the best solutions. For example, expressing that the company can take give them a payment plan if they cannot afford the fix right then and there. They will explain that it is probably best to fix a leak for $200 because soon it will probably cause a bigger problem that is worth $2000. In addition Flush Masters will do follow up emails after service. This will be to ensure that customer satisfaction is met and the issue was %100 fixed.
Reference
Doyle, B. (May 20, 2019). ULTIMATE PLUMBER MARKETING GUIDE TO INCREASING LEADS & BOOKED JOBS. Retrieved from https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/plumber-digital-ma…
RESPONSE 3:
Galleta Sabrosa Cookie Company is one of the organizations that deals with the production of sweet delicious and healthy cookies. I have been working in the company for many years. One of the goals of our company is to ensure that customers receive quality products. Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority. Based on the customer feedback, we try to improve our products to user satisfaction. It is important to note that, the industry is competitive with a variety of firms engaging in the same business. To strive through the competition, it is important to come up with strategies. All the strategies that are evaluated ought to be designed after research has been conducted. This involves analysis of important aspects such as market trends, technology among other essential factors.
Considering the eight dimensions of service quality, Our Company should embark on reliability. Reliability refers to the likelihood that the product will provide the customers with the best satisfaction without any challenges (Wu et al., 2018). As mentioned earlier, most people like to interact with companies that offer reliable products. Failure in products is one of the factors that discourage customers from interacting with the organization. If our organization is to strive through the competition reliability is a factor that should be considered. The management should ensure that there is adequate staff in the production sector who are entitled to the responsibility of researching the areas that should be improved to ensure that the cookies are of good quality. This should include improvements in the products to differentiate it from other products in the competitors. The company should ensure that there is a platform whereby customers are allowed to share their views on the areas which they think the organization should improve.
Reference:
Wu, H. C., Li, M. Y., & Li, T. (2018). A study of experiential quality, experiential value, experiential satisfaction, theme park image, and revisit intention. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 42(1), 26-73.
QUESTION TO ANSWER:
ZACK,
Thank you for the post. You have some interesting thoughts on how to insure reliability. Why did you select reliability as the factor to first focus upon? It seems that some of the other service attributes also have application to developing the quality of your product.
JESSY
Module 3 – Background
DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING PLAN
Discussion
The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Valarie_Zeithaml/publication/248768479_The_Behavioral_Consequences_of_Service_Quality/links/543d1f660cf20af5cfbfacea/The-Behavioral-Consequences-of-Service-Quality.pdf
The Advantages of a Product Differentiation Strategy
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-product-differentiation-strategy-17691.html
Service Quality Differentiation Competitive Strategies
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/service-quality-differentiation-competitive-strategies-72197.html
Distribution channels
Channel Management And Physical Distribution
http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/w3240e/W3240E09.htm
20190627005058module_3_background
Solution Preview
Domains of Service Quality
Companies in the service industry achieve significant gains from an exceptional customer service and DirectTV is no different. Providing cable TV services to California and a significant part of the southern region of the United States, DirectTV has achieved much success over the years primarily due to its focus on customer interest and the consequent ability to keep up with the ever-changing needs in the television industry.
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