1.

SERVICES MARKETING CHAPTER - 7 Service Quality GAPS Model

2. One of the greatest challenges of service firms is to ensure continuous quality
services to the customers. Effective services marketing is a complex process that
involves many different strategies, skills, and tasks. INTRODUCTION :
3. Service marketers have long been confused about how to approach this
complicated topic in an organised manner. The design of effective quality
management process alone cant ensure the achievement of the desired
objective. 3
4. One approach is that of viewing the services marketing in a structured and
integrated way as a model called The GAPS Model of Service Quality as devised
by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry in 1988. A Model can be defined as a
simplified representation of reality. It simplifies by incorporating only those
aspects of reality that are of interest to the modelling. 4
5. The most important is the Customer Gap, which is the difference between
Customer Expectations and Customer Perceptions. 5 The GAPS model positions
the key concepts, strategies, and decision in service marketing in correct
perspective. THE CUSTOMER GAP
6. THE CUSTOMER GAP Customer Expected Service THE CUSTOMER GAP Customer
Perceived Service 6
7. 1. Customer expectations are standards or reference points that customers bring
into the service experience. 2. Customer perceptions are subjective assessments
of actual service experience. 3. Closing the gap between what customers expect
and what they perceive is critical to delivering quality service It forms the basis
or the starting point for the GAPS Model 7
8. 4. Because Customer satisfaction and customer focus are so critical to
competitiveness of the firms, any company interested in delivering quality
service must begin with a clear understanding of its customers. 8
9. 5. The sources of Customer expectations are : 1. Marketer-controlled factors
(such as pricing, advertising, sale promises) as well as 2. Factors that the
marketers has limited ability to effect (innate, personal needs, word-of-mouth
communications, competitive offerings). 9
10. 6. In ideal situations, expectations and perceptions would be identical
customers would perceive that they have received what they thought they would
and should. In practice this concepts are often, even usually, separated by some
distance. Broadly, it is the goal of services marketing to bridge this distance. 10
11. 7. This Customer gap leads to the following situations : 1. Lost customers, 2. Bad
reputation, 3. Negatively confirmed quality, 4. Negative corporate or local image.
8. Service firms need to turn this negativity to positive results in the process of
bridging the gap by making perceived quality greater than the expected quality.
11
12. 9. Some marketing experts put this as GAP No. 1, and some others as No. 5. But it
is best to refer it as The Customer Gap. 12
13. The following table gives a tabular form or the matrix form of the GAPS and their
explanations : 13THE GAPS TABLE OR MATRIX
14. Gap Description Gap Between The Customer GAP Customer Expected Service
Customer Perceived Service The Provider GAP - 1 Customer Expectations
Company Perception of Customer Expectations The Provider GAP 2 Customer
Driven Service Designs and Standards Management Perception of Customer
Expectations The Provider GAP 3 Customer Driven Service Designs and
Standards Service Delivery The Provider GAP - 4 External Communications to
the Customers Service Delivery 14
15. Customer Gap Gap between Customer Expectation and Perception Customer
Perception Customer Expectation Provider GAP 1 Not knowing what customers
expect Provider GAP 2 Not selecting the right service designs and standards
Company / Management Perception of Customer Expectations Customer Driven
Service Designs and Standards Provider GAP 3 Not delivering to service
designs and standards Provider GAP 4 Not matching performance to promises
Service Delivery External Communications to the Customers 15
16. These gaps occur within the organisation providing the service (hence the term
Provider Gaps). These include : 16 To close the all important Customer Gap,
the GAPS model suggests that four other gaps known as the Provider Gaps need
to be closed. THE PROVIDER GAPS
17. THE PROVIDER GAPS (CONTD.) GAP-1 : Not knowing what customers expect
GAP-2 : Not selecting the right service designs and standards GAP-3 : Not
delivering to service designs and standards GAP-4 : Not matching performance
to promises 17
18. THE PROVIDER GAP - 1 Customer Expectations THE PROVIDER GAP - 1
Company Perception of Customer Expectations 18
19. There are many reasons for managers not being aware of what customers
expect : 19 An important cause in many firms for not meeting customers is
that the firm lacks accurate understanding of exactly what those expectations
are. Provider Gap -1 is the difference between customer expectations of
service and firms understanding of those expectations. PROVIDER GAP -1 :
NOT KNOWING WHAT CUSTOMERS EXPECT
20. 1. They may not interact directly with the customers, 2. They may be unwilling to
ask about expectations, or 3. They may be unprepared to address them. When
people with authority and responsibility for setting priorities dont fully
understand customer service expectations, they may trigger a chain reaction of
bad decisions and sub-optimal resource allocations that results in perceptions of
poor service quality. 20
21. Too many layers between contact personnel and top management 21
Insufficient communication between contact employees and managers Lack of
interaction between management and customers Lack of upward
communications : Inadequate use of market research Research not focused
on service quality Insufficient marketing research Inadequate marketing
research operation : THE KEY FACTORS LEADING TO THE PROVIDER GAP-1
ARE :
22. Insufficient relationship focus : Lack of market segmentation Focus on
transaction rather than relationship Focus on new customers rather than
relationship customers Inadequate service recovery : Lack of encouragement
to listen to customer complaints Failure to make amends when things go wrong
No appropriate recovery mechanism in place to tackle service failures 22
23. THE PROVIDER GAP - 2 Customer Driven Service Designs and Standards THE
PROVIDER GAP - 2 Management Perception of Customer Expectations 23
24. Frequently the service firms experience difficulty in translating customer
expectations into service quality specifications that employees can understand
and execute. 24 Another pre-requisite is the presence of service designs and
performance standards that reflect those accurate perceptions. For delivering
quality service, accurate perceptions of customers expectation are necessary,
but not sufficient. PROVIDER GAP -2 : NOT SELECTING THE RIGHT SERVICE
DESIGNS AND STANDARDS
25. These are precisely the Provider Gap -2, which is the difference between the
companys understanding of customers expectation and development of
customer driven service designs and standards. Customer driven standards are
different from the conventional performance standards that companies establish
for service in that they are based on pivotal customer requirements that are
visible to and measured by customers. 25
26. These are operation standards set to correspond to customer expectation and
priorities rather than to companys concern such as productivity or efficiency. 26
27. Absence of formal process for setting service quality goals 27 Absence of
process management to focus customer requirements Lack of customer driven
service standards Absence of customer driven standards : Failure to connect
service design to service positioning Vague, undefined service designs
Unsystematic new service development process Poor service design : THE
KEY FACTORS LEADING TO THE PROVIDER GAP-2 ARE :
28. Inadequate maintenance and updating of the servicescape 28 Servicescape
design that doesnt meet customers and employees needs Failure to develop
tangibles in line with customer expectations Inappropriate physical evidence
and servicescape :
29. THE PROVIDER GAP - 3 Customer Driven Service Designs and Standards THE
PROVIDER GAP - 3 Service Delivery 29
30. Once service designs and standards are in place it would seem that the firm is
well on its way to delivering high quality service. This assumption is true, but it
still not enough to deliver excellent service. The firm must have systems,
processes, and people in place to ensure that service delivery actually matches
(or is even better that) the designs and standards in place. 30PROVIDER GAP -
3 : NOT DELIVERING TO SERVICE DESIGNS AND STANDARDS
31. Provider Gap -3 is the discrepancy between development of customer driven
service standards and actual service performance by company employees. Even
when guidelines exist for performing services well and treating customers
correctly, high quality service performance is not a certainty. Standards must be
backed by appropriate resources (people, systems, and technology) and also
must be enforced to be effective, i.e., employees must be measured and
compensated on the basis of performances along those standards. 31
32. Thus even when standards accurately reflect customers expectations, if the
company fails to provide support for those standards. If the company doesnt
facilitate, encourage, and require their achievement, standards alone dont
produce good results. When the level of service delivery falls short of the
standards, it falls short of what customers expect as well. Narrowing Gap-3 by
ensuring that all the resources needed to achieve that standards in place
reduces the customer gap. 32
33. Customers who negatively impact each other 33 Customers who lack
knowledge of their roles and responsibilities Customers who dont fulfil roles :
Lack of empowerment, perceived control and teamwork In appropriate
evaluation and compensation systems Poor employee-technology-job fit
Role ambiguity and role conflict Ineffective recruitment Deficiencies in
human resources policies : THE KEY FACTORS LEADING TO THE PROVIDER
GAP-3 ARE :
34. Over reliance on price to smooth demand 34 Inappropriate customer mix
(Marketing Mix) Failures to smooth peaks and valleys of demand Failure to
match supply and demand : Tension between empowerment and control
Difficulty controlling quality and consistency Channel conflict over objectives
and performances Problems with service intermediaries :
35. THE PROVIDER GAP - 4 External Communications to the Customers THE
PROVIDER GAP - 4 Service Delivery 35
36. The discrepancy between actual and promised service therefore has an adverse
effect on the customer gap. 36 Promises made by a service firm thro its media
advertising, sales force, and other communications may potentially raise
customer expectations, the standards against which customers assess service
quality. Provider Gap -4 depicts the difference between the service delivery
and the service providers external communications. PROVIDER GAP -4 : NOT
MATCHING PERFORMANCE TO PROMISES
37. Differences in policies and procedures across service outlets. In addition to
unduly elevating expectations thro exaggerated claims, there are other, less
obvious ways in which external communications influence customers service
quality assessment. Service firms frequently fail to capitalise on opportunities to
educate customers to use services appropriately. They also neglect to manage
customer expectations of what will be delivered in service transactions and
relationships. 37 Inadequate coordination between operations and marketing,
and Over promising in advertising or personal selling, BROKEN PROMISES
CAN OCCUR FOR MANY REASONS :
38. Lack of adequate educations for customers 38 Absence of customer
expectation management thro all forms of communications Ineffective
management of customer expectations : Absence of strong internal marketing
programme Absence of interactive marketing in communications plan
Tendency to view each external communication as independent Lack of
integrated service marketing communications : THE KEY FACTORS LEADING
TO THE PROVIDER GAP-4 ARE :
39. Difference in policies and procedures across branches or units 39 Insufficient
communication between advertising and operations Insufficient
communication between sales and operations Adequate horizontal
communications : Over promising thro physical evidence cue Over
promising in personal selling Over promising in advertising Over promising :

40. The key to closing the customer gap is to close the provider gaps-1 thro 4 and
keep them closed. To the extent that one or more of provider gaps-1 thro 4 exist,
customers perceived service quality falls short of their expectation.
40PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER : CLOSING THE GAPS
41. The GAPS Model of service quality serves as a framework for service firms
attempting to improve quality service, and delivering and marketing service. The
GAPS Model positions the key concepts, strategies, and decisions in services
marketing in a manner that begins with the customer and builds the
organisations tasks around what is needed to close the gap between customer
expectations and perceptions. 41