The marketing of services: A quality perspective

A strong consumer orientation is even more essential to service industries than to manufacturing, because consumers have a more immediate experience with the quality of service than with the quality of a product. When delivering a quality product, service organizations need to be aware of the needs of external customers and employees; employees should be treated as internal customers. What the customer is really purchasing is the quality of those who provide the service. Business executives need to be concerned with their workers, before that essence of quality can be produced and maintained. There are 5 categories of needs that the employee is concerned with: 1. resources, 2. specific accountability, 3. communication of standards, 4. freedom to make decisions, and 5. motivation. Quality delivery of services depends upon having employees that are involved in all levels of service production. If organizations nurture their employees, they will experience satisfaction, which promotes excellence in delivery of the service and results in a satisfied customer.