1. The document discusses the gaps model of service quality which identifies four key gaps that can occur within companies and lead to a gap between customer expectations and perceptions. 2. The four gaps are: a knowledge gap where the company does not understand customer expectations, a service design gap where standards do not match expectations, a service performance gap where delivery does not meet standards, and a communication gap where promises do not match performance. 3. The model provides a framework for understanding service quality issues and identifies factors that can contribute to each of the four internal gaps. Addressing these gaps is important for improving customer perceptions of service.

3. 1.Stay in Touch
2. Make Great Service a Priority
3. Store Collective Wisdom

4. 4.Empower Your Staff
5.Know Your Customers
6.Manage Customer Relationships

5.  1. To underline the importance of
personal selling in retailing.
 2. To define the salesperson as a true
representative of the retail store, projecting its
philosophy and principles.
 3. To provide an overview of the qualities
required for an effective retail salesperson.
 4. To elaborate on the retail sales process with
details of the selling steps to be followed.

6.  Be a resource for information as he or she is
knowledgeable about the store's merchandise,
services and policies.
 Be a value counselor, assisting the customer with
value comparisons with items in the store or
competing brands.
 Be a public relations representative for the store.
 Be a custodian of the merchandise and service,
ensuring effective stock turns for the store and
selling the inventory, which is the primary
objective of the business.

7. Contd…
 Be able to advise customers with good selling
suggestions that will improve customer
satisfaction and build sales.
 Be able to explain the benefits of the merchandise
and services that he or she sells and not just its
features.
 Ensure that the customer's needs are met so that
complaints are kepi to the
 Develop by virtue of his or her attitude knowledge
and skills, and ensure that the store's
merchandise has a loyal customer following.

8.  1. Connect with the customer.
 2. Probe needs subtly.
 3. Presenting merchandise.
 4. Handling objections and indecision.
 5. Recognize buying signals.
 6. Trial close and add-ons.
 7. Closing the sale.

10. History of the Gaps Model
 Developed By - Parasuraman, Zeithaml,
Berry, at Texas A&M and North Carolina
Universities, in 1985
 Proposed - A conceptual model of service
quality indicating that consumers’ perception.
 They further developed in-depth measurement
scales for service quality in a later year
(Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, 1988).

11.  Introduce a framework, called the gaps model of
service quality.
 Demonstrate that the most critical service quality
gap to close is the customer gap, the difference
between customer expectations and perceptions.
 Show that four gaps that occur in companies,
which we call provider gaps, are responsible for
the customer gap.
 Identify the factors responsible for each of the four
provider gaps.

13. Applications of the Gaps Model

14.  Customer Gap:
 difference between customer expectations and perceptions
 Provider Gap 1 (The Knowledge Gap):
 not knowing what customers expect
 Provider Gap 2 (The Service Design & Standards
Gap):
 not having the right service designs and standards
 Provider Gap 3 (The Service Performance Gap):
 not delivering to service standards
 Provider Gap 4 (The Communication Gap):
 not matching performance to promises

15. The Customer Gap

16. Customer
Expectations
Customer
Gap
 Provider Gap 1: Not knowing what customers expect
 Provider Gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs and standards
 Provider Gap 3: Not delivering to service standards
 Provider Gap 4: Not matching performance to promises
Customer
Perceptions

17. Customer Expectations
 Inadequate marketing research orientation
Gap Insufficient marketing research
Research not focused on service quality
1 Inadequate use of market research
 Lack of upward communication
Lack of interaction between management and customers
Insufficient communication between contact employees and managers
Too many layers between contact personnel and top management
 Insufficient relationship focus
Lack of market segmentation
Focus on transactions rather than relationships
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 mechanisms in place for service failures
Company Perceptions of
Customer Expectations

18. Customer-Driven Service
Designs and Standards
Gap
 Poor service design
2 Unsystematic new service development process
Vague, undefined service designs
Failure to connect service design to service positioning
 Absence of customer-driven standards
Lack of customer-driven service standards
Absence of formal process for setting service quality goals
 Inappropriate physical evidence and servicescape
Failure to develop tangibles in line with customer expectations
Servicescape design that does not meet customer and
employee needs
Inadequate maintenance and updating of the servicescape
Management Perceptions of
Customer Expectations

19. Customer-Driven Service
Designs and Standards
Gap
 Deficiencies in human resource policies
3 Ineffective recruitment
Role ambiguity and role conflict
Inappropriate evaluation and compensation systems
Lack of empowerment, perceived control, and teamwork
 Customers who do not fulfill roles
Customers who lack knowledge of their roles and responsibilities
Customers who negatively impact each other
 Problems with service intermediaries
Channel conflict over objectives and performance
Difficulty controlling quality and consistency
Tension between empowerment and control
 Failure to match supply and demand
Failure to smooth peaks and valleys of demand
Service Delivery

20. Service Delivery
 Lack of integrated services marketing communications
Gap Tendency to view each external communication as independent
Absence of strong internal marketing program
 Ineffective management of customer expectations
4 Absence of customer expectation management through all forms of
communication
Lack of adequate education for customers
 Overpromising
Overpromising in advertising
Overpromising in personal selling
Overpromising through physical evidence cues
 Inadequate horizontal communications
Insufficient communication between sales and operations
Insufficient communication between advertising and operations
Differences in policies and procedures across branches or units
External Communications to
Customers