The document discusses the Service Quality Gaps Model, which identifies four key gaps between a customer's expectations of service and a provider's actual service performance. The four gaps are: 1) differences between customer expectations and management perceptions, 2) differences between management perceptions and service quality specifications, 3) differences between specifications and actual service delivery, and 4) differences between service delivery and external communications to customers. The document also provides examples of how companies like IKEA, Starbucks, IBM and GE work to close these gaps to improve customer satisfaction.

1. SERVICE QUALITY GAPS MODEL
-DEEPIKA BROCA (10)
-DINESH BARGOTRA (12)
-NATASHA THAKUR (27)

2. CONTENTS :
 SERVICE QUALITY
 The Customer Gap
 The Provider Gaps
 Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps

3. THE OAKS AT OJAI
•commands a 67% guest return rate.
• named as one of the 10 best destination
spa’s. (travel and leisure magazine)
•Voted in the top 5 for favourite affordable
spa, favourite spa for cuisine, favourite spa
for travelling solo, and favourite destination
spa in U.S. (spa magazine readers).
•Employee turnover is also less than half of
the rest of the industry.

4. What makes the oaks at ojai excel among
competitors??
Oaks excel at creating a well managed SERVICE EXPERIENCE that :
>puts guests at ease
( SHEILA CLIFF (75 year old founder) makes a point of greeting and
personally motivating each guest)
> educates them in healthy living
(having daily classes on weight training, muscle conditioning)
> challenging them to have fun and get fit
(zumba dancing, hula hoopig, belly dancing etc.)
> expert staff
(massage therapist represents a wide array of techniques, even
the cleaning staff is well trained & skilled)

5. Special practice:-
 Just before leaving, each guest is asked to complete a
questionnaire to provide his or her individual feedback.
Questions are specific and management meets weekly to
review, taking care of making improvements out of
suggestions
 On returning home, each guest who completed the
questionnaire receives a lettter of thanks and a promise
to work on any issues mentioned.

6. Because of its loybal efollowing, THE OAKS
does not need to spend on
advertisement. Instead , it depends on
word of mouth & publicity. Both of which
bring many new and former guests to fill
the spa year round.

7. SERVICE
AMA define service as activities,
benefits or satisfaction that are
offered for sale, or provided in
connection with the sale of goods.
QUALITY
According to AMA , Quality is the
totality of features and characteristics
of a product, or service that bear on
it’s ability to satisfy stated or implied
needs.

8. Performed by..
People, machine, people with
machine
Service is…
an
activity
Deed,
Performance
Efforts.
Directed at….
people and
Business users
Rendered by…
profit,
Non profit
SERVICE

9. service quality?
Expected
service
Perceived
service
Service
quality
Customer
satisfaction
Customer
loyalty
An assessment of how well a delivered service conforms
to the client's expectations.

10. • Effective service marketing is
complex & involves many different
strategies, skills & tasks.
• Veiwing services in a structured
integrated way is called the GAPS
MODEL OF SERVICE QUALITY.
• GAPS MODEL positions the key
concepts, strategies & decisions in
service marketing.

11. The service quality Gaps
Model was proposed by :
•A Parasuraman,
•Valarie Zeithaml and
•LL Berry
in 1985 in the Journal Of
Marketing.

12. SERVICE QUALITY GAPS:
2. THE PROVIDER GAP
GAP 1. - the listening gap.
GAP 2. - the service design
and standards
gap.
GAP 3. - the service
performance gap.
GAP 4.- the communication
gap.
1. THE CUSTOMER GAP

13. The service Gap Model

14. THE CUSTOMER GAP
 CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS :
 standards or reference points.
 What a customer believe, should or
will happen.
 Sources of customer expectations are
marketer controlled factors (pricing,
advertising, sales promises)
E.g. : expecting a high level of service from an expensive
restaurant, considerably superior then what is expected
from a fast food restaurant.

15. THE CUSTOMER GAP
 CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS :
 are subjective assessments of actual
service experience.
Perceptions can be managed towards
organisation’s benefits.
Perception leads to attitude.

17. Customer gap – closing the gap
• In a perfect world, expectations and
perceptions would be identical i.e.
customers would perceive that they
have received what they thought
they would and should.
• Gap is critical to deliver service
quality.
• Such a gap arises usually in a large
organisation in which manager’s are
not. in direct contact with customers

18. Provider gap
• In order to close the customer gap,
the four other gaps- the provider
gaps need to be closed.
GAP 1. - the listening gap.
GAP 2. - the service design and
standards gap.
GAP 3. - the service performance gap.
GAP 4.- the communication gap.

20. Provider Gap 1 : THE LISTENING GAP
Expected
Service
Company
Perceptions of
Consumer
Expectations
CUSTOMER
COMPANY
GAP 1

21.  Difference between customer expectations of service & company
understanding of those expectations.
 Arises when firms lack an accurate understanding of exactly what
customer expectations are , due to :
1. Managers may not interact directly with customers.
2. May be unwilling to ask about expectations.
3. May be unprepared to address them.

22. Customer’s expectations
 Inadequate marketing research orientation
 Lack of upward communication
 Insufficient relationship focus
 Inadequate service recovery
Company’s perceptions of customer expectations
Reasons
for
provider
gap
I

23. • Insufficient customer research.
• Research not focused on service quality
• Inadequate use of market research
Inadequate customer
research orientation
• Lack of interaction between customer and
management.
• Insufficient communication between contact
employees & managers
• Too many layers between contact personnel and top
management.
Lack of upward
communication
• Lack of market segmentation.
• Focus on transactions rather than relationships.
• Focus on new customers rather than relationship
customers.
Insufficient relationship
focus
• Lack of encouragement to listen to customer
complaints
• Failure to make ammends when things go
wrong.
• No appropriate recovery mechanisms in place
for service failures.
Inadequate service
recovery

24. Listening gap : closing the gap
 Formal & informal methods to capture information about customer
expectations must be developed through customer research.
 Techniques :
• Customer interviews
• Survey research
• Complaint systems
• Customer panels
1. Traditional
approaches
• Structured brainstorming.
• Service quality gap analysis. 2. New innovative
techniques

25.  Well defined complaint handling
procedure
 Emphasis on empowering employees
to react on the spot.
 Ways to compensate the customer
for unfulfilled promise.
 Building strong relationships and
understanding customer needs over
time.
 Implementation of recovery
strategies when things go wrong.

26. EXAMPLES:
- IKEA has pioneered in using innovative techniques
used to identify customer expectations. They put customer’s
in the wish mode to begin closing the gaps.
( ikea has organised an activity where they asked group of customers
about their ideal shopping experience at IKEA.)
- STARBUCKS has well analysed customer’s expectations of a cofee
drinking environment and hence enriched the customer experience by
incorporating it in the service design.
- IBM & GE : relationship marketing has always been a
practice, recognizing that clients have the potential to
spend more with them if they provide excellent
service.

28. Gap 2: THE SERVICE DESIGN & STANDARD GAP
CUSTOMER
COMPANY
GAP 2
Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards
Company
Perceptions of
Consumer
Expectations
Provider Gap 2

29. Translation of perceptions into service
quality specifications
 Poor service design
 Absence of customer-defined service
standards
 Inappropriate physical evidence and
services cape
Management perceptions of customer
expectations
Reasons
for
provider
gap
2

30. • Unsystematic new service development process.
• Vague, undefined service designs.
• Failure to connect service design to service
positioning.
Poor service design
• Lack of customer- driven service standards.
• Absence of process management to focus on
customer requirements.
• Absence of formal process for setting service
quality goals.
Absence of customer-driven
standards
• Failure to develop tangibles in line with
customer expectations.
• Servicescape design that does not meet
customer & employee needs.
• Inadequate maintenance & updating of
servicescape.
Inappropriate
servicescape

31. The service design & standards gap : closing the gap
 Technology changes & improvements are particularly helpful in
closing this gap.
 Same vision of service & associated issues : It is critical that all people
involved ( managers, frontline employees) work with the same
concepts of the new service, based on customer needs and
expectations.
 Clearly designing services without oversimplification,
incompleteness, subjectivity & bias.
 Using tools that are most effective in service development & design
such as – service blueprinting.

33. Gap 3: THE SERVICE PERFORMANCE GAP
CUSTOMER
COMPANY Service Delivery
GAP 3
Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards
Provider Gap 3

34. • Ineffective recruitement.
• Role ambiguity & role conflict.
• Poor employee- technology job fit.
• Lack of empowerment & teamwork
Deficiencies in human
resource policies
• Failure to smooth peak & valleys of demand.
• Inappropriate customer mix.
• Overreliance on price to smooth demand
Failure to match supply
& demand
• Lack of knowledge to customer about their roles &
responsibilities.
• Customers negatively impact each other.
customers not fulfilling
roles
• Channel conflict over performance & objectives.
• Channel conflict over costs & rewards.
• Difficulty controlling quality & consistency.
• Tension between empowerment & control.
Problems with service
intermediaries

35. The service performance gap : closing the gap
 The firm must have systems, processes, and people in place t ensure
that service delivery actually matches the designs & standards in
place.
 Standards must be backed by appropriate resources (people, systems,
technology ) and must be enforced to be effective.
 By ensuring that all the resources needed to achieve the standards
are in place – reduces the gap.

36.  Focus on :
 internal practices – recruitement, training,
feedback, motivation, job design, organizational
structure etc.
 operational strategies - as cross training employees
or varying the size of employee pool to synchronize
demand & supply.
 marketing strategies - price changes, advertising,
promotion.
 firm must develop ways to either control the
intermediaries or motivate them to achieve company
goals

37. The service performance gap : closing the gap
 firm must develop ways to either control the
intermediaries or motivate them to achieve company
goals

39. Gap 4: THE COMMUNICATION GAP
Provider Gap 4
CUSTOMER
COMPANY
External
Communications to
GAP 4 Customers
Service Delivery

40.  Illustrates the difference between actual & promised service.
 Promises made by a service company through its media
advertising, sales force, and other communications may raise
customer expectations, the standards against which customers
assess service quality.

41. COMMUNICATION GAP : key factors responsible
1. Lack of integrated service mktg. communications : lack of co-ordination
between contact people & customers. Result of poor
quality service perceptions.
2. Ineffective mang. Of customer expectations: when employees who
promote the services do not fully understand the expected service.
3. Overpromising : may lead to broken promises.
4. Inappropriate pricing : whether price is fair or in line with
competition.

42. External communications to
consumers
 Lack of integration of marketing
communications
 Inadequate management of customer
expectations
 Overpromising
 Inadequate horizontal communications
Service delivery
Reasons
for
provider
gap
4

43. • Tendency to view each external communication
as independent.
• Not including interactive mktg. in
communications plan
• Absence of strong internal marketing program
Lack of integrated
service mktg.
communications
• Not managing customer expectations through all
forms of communication.
• Not adequately educating customers.
Ineffective mang. Of
customer expectations
• In advertising.
• In personal selling.
• Through physical evidence cues.
overpromising
• High prices raise customer expectations.
• Prices that are not tied to customer perceptions
Inappropriate pricing 0f value.

44. Communication Gap : closing the gap
 companies must manage all communications to customers , so that
inflated promises doesnot lead ton higher expectations.
 Appropriate pricing.
 Capitalising on oppurtunities to educate customers to use services
appropriately.
 Need to co-ordinate interactive marketing with external marketing.
 Effectively coordinating actual servicedelivery with external
communications.
 Pricing strategies such as discounting, couponing needs to be
different in service situations where customer has no initial sense of
prices.

45. CLOSING THE GAPS
• Gap 1: Learn what customers expect
• Gap 2: Establish the right service quality standards
• Gap 3: Ensure that service performance meets standards
• Gap 4: Ensure that delivery matches promises

47. • Use research, complaint analysis, customer
panels .
• Increase direct interactions between managers
and customers .
• Improve upward communications.
• Act on information and insights.
listen to
customers

48. • Top management commitment to providing service quality
• Set, communicate, and reinforce customer-oriented service
standards
• Establish challenging and realistic service quality goals
• Train managers to be service quality leaders
• Be receptive to new ways to deliver service quality
• Standardise repetitive tasks

49. • Prioritise tasks
• Gain employee acceptance of
goals and priorities
• Measure performance of service
standards and provide regular
feedback
• Reward managers and
employees for achievement of
quality goals
Service Quality Awards

50. • Attract the best employees
• Select the right employees
• Develop and support employees
– train employees
– provide appropriate technology &
equipment
– encourage and build teamwork
– empower employees
– internal marketing
Can I
take your
order?

51. • Retain good
employees
– measure and
reward service
quality
achievements
– develop equitable
and simple
reward systems
You are a
Star Service
Provider

52. • Seek input from operations personnel on what can be
done
• ‘Reality’ advertising
– real employees, real customers, real situations
• Seek input from employees on advertising
• Gain communications between sales, operations and
customers
• Internal marketing programs

53. • Ensure consistent standards in
multi-site operations
• In advertising, focus on service
characteristics that are important
to customers
• Manage customer’s expectations
– What are realistic
expectations?
– Explain industry realities
• Tiered service options
– Offer different levels of
service - user pays
Why do we
always have
to wait?

54. Brief Summary : Gaps in Service Quality
Gap Problem Cause(s)
1. Consumer
expectation – mgmt.
perception
The service features offered
don’t meet customer needs
Lack of marketing research; inadequate upward
communication; too many levels between contact
personnel and management
2. Management
perception – service
quality specification
The service specifications defined
do not meet management’s
perceptions of customer
expectations
Resource constraints; management indifference;
poor service design
3. Service quality
specification – service
delivery
Specifications for service meet
customer needs but service
delivery is not consistent with
those specifications
Employee performance is not standardized;
customer perceptions are not uniform
4. Service delivery –
external
communication
The service does not meet
customer expectations, which
have been influenced by external
communication
Marketing message is not consistent with actual
service offering; promising more than can be
delivered