BLUE PRINTING

Blue printing is a technique which is used to portray an existing service

situation and provides a useful tool to assess and identify service evidence
opportunities.
employees

The process of service delivery, the role of customers and

and

the

visible

displayed by the service map.

elements

of

the

service

are

simultaneously

Blue Print of a typical Indian Airline company

Such a blue print provides 2 additional features to add to the management
information.
1. provides greater attention to customer interaction;
2. Provides a visual representation of the structure of the service.
However, this blueprint is of a typical Indian airline company which has
many loopholes. It starts right from reservation, wherein even obtaining of
tickets takes a lot of

time

due

to

manipulation by agents. Even after

arriving at the airport most of the Indian airline companies do not direct their
customers properly creating a lot of confusion especially for first time fliers,
and indirectly increases the lead time for service delivery. At the time of
service delivery in the service factory the customer faces problems tackling
nuisance from other customers, poor quality of food etc. To add to this, most
Indian airline companies do not take feedback from their customers, which is one
of the vital elements of effective service marketing.

Airline

encourage

through

customers

to

give

feedback

companies
verbal

and

must

non-verbal

communications.
Verbal

may

include

direct

ground employees and call

customers while giving

interaction

with

the

on

flight

crew,

centre representatives who interact

them necessary details. Non-verbal

may

on

with the
include

feedback forms at the airports and business reply cards sent directly to the
customers residence or office.
It is important for airline companies to encourage customer feedback
because only 5% of the customers come up with complaints on their own and the
ones who dont complain just decide that the service provider is not worthy
of further patronage.

ZONE OF TOLERANCE
The

nature

of

services

makes

consistent

delivery

difficult

across

employees of the same company and even by the same employee from one
day to another. The extent to which customers are willing to accept this
variation is called the zone of tolerance. It can increase or decrease for
individual customers depending on

factors such as competition, price or

service attributes.
In

the

airline

industry,

the

customer

expects

minimum

level

of

service below which he is dissatisfied with the service provided by the airline
company.

This includes easy availability of tickets, quick information about

rescheduling of fights or any other immediate changes made, clean aircrafts,

hygienic food, safe keeping of baggage and adequate safety measures (oxygen
masks, parachutes) in case of an emergency.
Many a times a customer desires a particular level of service for
complete satisfaction especially in those cases where he/she pays a high
premium for it. This includes on

time service,

customized food

service,

additional supplementary tangibles such as teddy bears for children, shaving kits
for men

etc., on-board auction

(conducted by

Air Sahara)

to

keep

the

customer interested, transport service from the airport to the final destination of
the customer etc.
This gap between the desired and the minimum level of service is
known as the zone of tolerance. When a customer pays a high premium i.e. first
class passenger, he definitely expects the best service possible and in such a case
the zone of tolerance flows from top to bottom. In this case the zone of tolerance
will be at a higher par than that of an economic class traveler.
If the service delivered is below the minimum level of expectation then the
customer will be dissatisfied and he is likely to move to other air carriers for his
traveling needs and may even spread a bad word of mouth. On the other hand if
the delivered service surpasses the zone of tolerance, the customer will be
delighted and will praise the company for the same.

Service Recovery

When the company fails to stand for its promises made to the customer on
the basis they build expectation, its to be said that there is service failure. When
the service failure occurs, there can be again severe ramification. Customer
is considered to be the bread and butter, hence retaining them is the biggest
challenge, and however service failure acts as an obstacle to it. In such failures,
1) The customer wants what they were promised.
2) Customer wants personal attention
3) Customer wants a decent apology
4)

Customers want that they should not be made to feel that they are the
cause of the problem. (Though in many cases they are responsible for
nuisance)

There are again five steps involved in order to deal with service failure. They are
mentioned as below
1st step: acknowledgement and apology for the fact.
2nd step: listening to the customers.
3rd step: avoid defending the company and offer a rational explanation.
4th step: offer some extra benefits
5th

step: have a proper follow up and make sure no mistakes this time, so that

he can easily forget about the service failure and is retained.

(Example covered while presentation)
A customer expects 3 shorts of fairness in case of service recovery. They are mentioned
as below.
1. Interaction fairness: - when there is service failure, first the company is
supposed to acknowledge the customer.

Due

to

this the

customer

might turn

erate, but he still expects fairness and courtesy in the language and tone
used by the addresser
2. Procedure fairness: - to know in detail about the incidence of service
failure

or

to

avail

the

compensation.

There

should

be

simplicity

in

procedure, which is involved. Service failure and complexity in procedure both

together might result in a disaster as far as customer is concern.

3. Outcome fairness: - now when the company realizes that there is service
failure they should end up compensating, arranging for some alternative mode of
transporting or complies with the customer condition. The outcome should be
taken by considering the customer, his needs and the companys policy.

Complain Handling
Handling complaints is a big challenge for every company today. Before
understanding how to handle, let us see what are the factors, which can
result in customers complaints
The Fish-Bone diagram for the Airline Industry
The best airlines cannot have 100 % security as far as complaints are
concerned. Whatever the airlines does, the customer who feels that they are
not

treated

important

to

properly
know

are
how

going
to

experience for all involved.

to

diffuse

complain.
them

In dealing such situation, it is

and

turn

them

into

positive

People complain because they have received

service below tolerance zone. In airlines generally complaints are regarding weight
penalties, no attention from the front office, no guidance by the crew member on
the flight, flight delay, bad quality of food and so on. If these complaints
are not resolved to the satisfaction of the customer there can be serious
ramifications. In particularly, the customer is likely to convey about the bad
service to other people. But if the things are done well, there also positive
ramifications. It has been observed that those customers who have had problems and
proper solution are provided, are the most loyal customers of the company.
Employees play a vital role in handling these complaints.
There are ten steps involved in handling complaints effectively. They are mentioned
below.
1)

The

frontline

employee

handling

complaints

should

stay

calm under

any circumstances.
2)

Let the customer get the story off their chest- do not interrupt, this will only
cause irritation. In this case listening skills comes into picture.

3)

Avoid admitting any liability at this stage. The officer just need to show
concern like, Im sorry for the inconvenience, let me see what I can do.
Give attention to the customer, make him feel important.

4)

Get facts by using question and try to find out the real and whole story
behind it.

5)

After listening and collecting data, just identify appropriate action considering
companys policy and customers expectation.

6) Take action if you have authority or involve manager or concerned person.

7)

If corrective action cannot be taken immediately, tell the customer. Its better
to give bad news rather giving false news.

8)

Record

the a c t i o n t o b e

taken and

inform a ny on e

else in

the

organization involved.
9) Look into the matter, provide a proper follow-up.
This ten approaches if followed effectively, complaints can be handled properly
and possibly a customer can be retained.

BLUE PRINT OF HOSPITAL SERVICE

Exterior of the
Hospital & the
Lobby etc.
CUSTOMER
CALLS

ARRIVAL
&
ENQUIRY

RECEPTION

The waiting room, Assurance

cleanliness etc
given,
dressing etc
REGISTERATION & ADVANCE
PAYMENT

REGITRATION
DESK AND
PROCESS

GO TO
ASSIGNED
PERSON

DOCTOR

Hospitality
& cleanliness
The payment
dcor of room Hygiene
desk.
desl
EAT
PAYMENT
GO TO
ROOM

NURSING
STAFF

DIFFERENT
TECHNICAL
DEPARTMENTS

CUSTOMER

SERVICE

REGISTERATION SYSTEM
FORMAT

FOOD

X-RAYS, ECG,
LABORATORY
TESTS ETC

OF BILL

CASHIER

CANTEEN
STAFF

CANTEEN
DEPARTMENT

RECIEPT
MAKING

ACCOUNTS
DEPARTME
-NT

Service blueprint from time of check-in to check-out for a hotel stay.