Many companies have split personalities over defining service as a marketing tool. On the one hand they recognise that good service brings value to their customers and might be used as a reason to purchase; on the other hand advertisements and salespeople rarely talk of service preferring to focus on the Brand and features. Once an item is purchased, excellent service becomes a real motivator of satisfaction and serves to reinforce loyalty.
It is becoming apparent that the best service is marketed through customers (Viral marketing) offering recommendation, referral and opting to re-purchase. Marketing the service offering is still considered by some as anathema and probably stems from a heritage of opinion based on outdated service systems. This legacy is detrimental, particularly if the consequence is that service is not marketed and business efficiency is sacrificed. Service organisations were established to remedy manufacturing errors, so marketing service (if at all) was often simply the offer to fix a problem promptly so the impact on the user was minimal: the level of warranty on offer, usually only the minimum required to satisfy legal requirements. Once outside warranty, the customer would be expected to meet the cost of repair or replacement, so service evolved as a revenue opportunity for the business. As equipment became more reliable, the margin on service improved with little effort, but as quality improves, margins are narrowed, customer expectations and demands increase – resulting in the current scenario in which maintaining margins is a constant struggle.
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