Service Marketing Management - Managing Customer Satisfaction at a authorized car service station

Managing Customer Satisfaction at
a Maruti authorized service station
Service Marketing Management – Group Project

Team (EPGP):
D.Gopalakrishnan (0910021)
Mukesh Sharma (0910036)
Sujeet Kumar (0910062)

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, BANGALORE

December 1, 2009

Table of Contents
OBJECTIVE ..........................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................3
LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER .........................................................................3
FACTORS AFFECTING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ....................................................4
SERVICE PROCESS ................................................................................................ 5
SERVICE INITIATION ............................................................................................... 6
IN-SERVICE EXPERIENCE .......................................................................................... 7
SERVICE DELIVERY ................................................................................................ 7
POST-SERVICE EXPERIENCE ......................................................................................8
MARUTI SERVICE PROCESS....................................................................................9
MEASURING & CLOSING THE GAPS ....................................................................... 10
GAP-1 ............................................................................................................. 11
GAP-2 ............................................................................................................. 13
GAP-3 ............................................................................................................. 14
GAP-4 ............................................................................................................. 17
GAP-5 (CUSTOMER GAP) ...................................................................................... 19
MAPPING SATISFACTION CATEGORIES ................................................................. 23
SATISFACTION CATEGORIES .................................................................................... 23
MEETING EXPECTATIONS ....................................................................................... 24
CHALLENGES .................................................................................................... 26
Managing Customer Satisfaction at a Maruti authorized service station | 12/1/2009

CUSTOMER ....................................................................................................... 26
COMPETITOR .................................................................................................... 26
COMPANY ........................................................................................................ 28
CONTEXT ......................................................................................................... 28
OPPORTUNITIES (WITH RECOMMENDATIONS) ............................................................. 29
TECHNOLOGY ................................................................................................... 29
BUNDLING ........................................................................................................ 29
LEVERAGING EFFICIENCY ....................................................................................... 30
MOBILE SERVICE ................................................................................................. 30
SERVICE GUARANTEE ........................................................................................... 31
EXTENSIVE NETWORK .......................................................................................... 31
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 32
MEASURING THE GAPS .......................................................................................... 32
CLOSING THE GAPS .............................................................................................. 33
TACKLING CHALLENGES ........................................................................................ 34
DELIGHTERS ...................................................................................................... 35
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 39

1

OBJECTIVE

This project covers the various aspects of managing customer satisfaction at a Maruti authorized dealer
workshop.

Through this project we aim at understanding and analyzing the customer satisfaction management
systems, presently followed by Maruti workshops, and its significance through the perspectives learnt in
the subject “Service Marketing Management”.

At the end of the project, we also attempt to suggest recommendations for improving the present
Customer Satisfaction management systems of Maruti workshops based on our learning in the subject.


2

Managing Customer Satisfaction at a Maruti
authorized service station
INTRODUCTION
An automobile is a quite unique product. Unlike pure services, it has a component of the product
quality which affects the overall experience of the customers and unlike pure products it has a service
component which also significantly affects the overall experience of the customers. There are many
products today in which there is some component of service which a customer may or may not
experience but an automobile is one such product which has a component of Periodic Maintenance
Service (PMS) i.e. the regular service which a customer definitely experiences during the ownership of
the product.
For a typical automobile, a customer visits the workshop to avail service almost 3 times per year for
regular maintenance as well as intermittent repairs. A car is owned by a person for almost 4-5 years on
an average. Hence, during the entire lifetime of a car, a customer experiences after-sales service almost
12-15 times while he experiences the sales just once. As the ratio of overall experience is significantly
skewed towards after-sales service, hence the service satisfaction has a significant effect on the loyalty of
a customer.

LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER

The typical lifetime value of a customer (not discounted to present value) who purchases a small car and
avails service and body repair needs of his car for 5 years would be as follows:
S.No. Activity Amount % Net Margin No. of Lifetime Earned
spent Margin earned visits in value during
(Rs.) (Rs.) lifetime (Rs.)
1 Purchase of car 3,50,000 1% 3,500 1 3,500 Sales
2 First year insurance 10,500 10% 1,050 1 1,050 Sales
(~ 3% of insured
value)
3 Car accessories 10,000 15% 1,500 1 1,500 Sales
Total margin earned thru SALES 6,050 ~ 24%
4 Service 3,000 15% 450 15 6,750 Service
5 Body Repair 10,000 25% 2,500 2 5,000 Service
6 Annual Insurance 7,000 10% 700 4 2,800 Service
renewal
7 Resale of 2nd hand 2,00,000 2.5% 5,000 1 5,000 Service
car purchased from
customer
Total margin earned thru SERVICE 19,550 ~ 76%

3

In the above table, the amounts assumed are an approximate conservative estimate from the Maruti
Suzuki’s dealers’ data.
As we can see from the above data that Service contributes to almost 75% or three-fourths of the
margin earned from each customer. Hence, it becomes critical to focus on the service experience of a
customer as it has a major contribution to the bottom-line of an automobile dealership.
But, there are 3 important behaviors of a customer which every automobile business desires to
ensure that the earnings detailed in the above table are virtually achieved in perpetuity:
1. Recommend – The satisfaction of a customer with the service experience will influence the
“word-of-mouth” of the customer and hence have a strong effect on the business received from
the friends and relatives of the customer.
2. Revisit – The satisfaction of a customer with the service experience will also have an effect on
the repeat visit of the customer for fulfilling the repeat service needs of his vehicle.
3. Re-purchase – The satisfaction of a customer with the service experience will also affect the
re-purchase behavior of the customer when he decides to replace his vehicle with a new one.
Thus indirectly the service satisfaction has an effect on the entire spectrum of earnings during the
lifetime of a customer.

FACTORS AFFECTING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
For an automobile, the customer satisfaction is affected by 2 factors:

1. Service quality
2. Product quality

Service
Quality

Customer
Satisfaction
Product
Quality

As per the importance study conducted by M/s. JD Power, product quality (i.e. Problems
Experienced) has just ~25% effect on the customers’ satisfaction while the service quality (i.e. total of
remaining factors) has almost ~75% impact. The same is depicted below in the pie chart.
Thus we also see that in automobile ownership, the service quality has a higher impact on the overall
customer satisfaction than the product quality. Moreover, an automobile service provider has little
control on the product quality which is mainly affected/ controlled by the manufacturer.
Hence, it is important and rather more relevant for a dealership to focus more on service quality rather
than product quality.

4


Keeping the above facts in mind, our further discussions shall focus primarily on Service Quality.
In order to understand how to manage customer satisfaction, we will first describe the various stages of
getting a vehicle serviced. Then we shall describe the ways that can be adopted to measure the gap
between the perception and expectation. In the subsequent section we will try to describe the ways in
which the gaps can be closed & service quality be improved and finally we shall recommend ways in
which the entire experience can be designed to excel in customer satisfaction.

SERVICE PROCESS
The entire service process which a customer undergoes can be broken down into 4 main stages:
1. Service Initiation
2. In-Service Experience
3. Service Delivery
4. Post-Service Experience
In the following sub-section, we will try to understand what the customer evaluates during each step of
the service process. This will help us in designing the entire service experience to take care of potential
shortfalls. In each of the steps of interaction, we will also try to understand the hygiene factors and the
activities which can delight the customer.

5

Service Initiation
This is the stage in which a customer gets his vehicle into the service. The convenience and speed with
which the customer is able to get his vehicle into the service process determines the satisfaction level of
the customer. Usually the customers give their vehicle in the morning before going to the office.
Hence, usually time is the essence here. Customers usually feel that as the workshop staff is technically
qualified hence the time spent for getting his vehicle into service is of no use. The anxiety level of the
customer increases exponentially with the increase in waiting time as he has a time-bound activity
planned after that (reaching office on time).
The subsequent interaction of the customer is with the Service Advisor of the workshop who is a
technical person. His responsibility is to understand the service needs of the customer and understand
the exact problems with the vehicle so that the same can be conveyed to the supervisor and technician
for necessary rectification. Hence, the Service Advisor is a vital link between the customer (who is
facing the problem) and the technician (who will rectify the problem). This is usually the first link of the
communication chain. As we know, the strength of the weakest link will decide the strength of the
entire chain.
The aspects of service which a customer would evaluate in this stage are:
1. When arrived at workshop, the time taken for someone to acknowledge his presence
2. Time spent waiting to speak to the Service Advisor
3. Overall performance of the Service Advisor
a. Understanding specific problems with the vehicle

b. Asking questions to clarify further needs
c. Listening to the customer
d. Behavior (Giving attention and treating with courtesy)
e. Knowledge and expertise
4. Overall opinion of facility
a. Convenience of location
b. Cleanliness of facility
c. Convenience of days and hours of workshop operation

6

If there is a gap in understanding the customer and vehicle service requirements then it leads to a
snowballing effect which will increase the magnitude of problems during the delivery of the vehicle in
the evening. This is depicted pictorially above.

In-Service Experience
This stage is particularly applicable to the customers wait in the workshop premises while the vehicle is
being serviced. This is also a critical phase of the overall customer experience as most of the times either
his own vehicle or other customers’ vehicle is being seen by the customer while it is being serviced.
Hence, it has a significant impact on the confidence level of the customer as while giving the vehicle for
service, the customer is entrusting the care and safety of the vehicle to the workshop personnel. Time is
also the essence here as a customer who is waiting for the service to be completed will generally expect
the vehicle to be returned faster than a customer who has given his vehicle for serviced and gone back to
his office/ home.
But, whether the customer is waiting or not, he would definitely expect communication from the
workshop in case the vehicle requires additional repairs which may either attract additional cost or time
or both.
1. Comfort during the waiting period
2. Cleanliness of the waiting area
3. Amenities available in the waiting area like beverages, TV, magazines etc.

4. Communication in case additional time or cost or both are required
If there is a lapse in the communication while the vehicle is in service, then it can also add to the
snowballing effect and lead to a bigger problem in the evening during vehicle delivery. This is also
depicted in the picture shown in the previous sub-section.

Service Delivery
This is the stage when the customer visits the workshop or waits and collects the vehicle after the
completion of service. Delivery is an important part of the entire link as it is a crucial opportunity to
make it up to the customer in the event of any lapse which may have happened while accepting the
vehicle. During the delivery, customer would expect the vehicle to be in a state better than when he left
the vehicle for servicing. This is the stage of service when the customer evaluates the fulfillment of all
promises made to him i.e. regarding time, cost and work. Here too the time is an important factor, but
the customer is not in as much hurry as he is likely to be when he leaves the vehicle for servicing in the
morning. But, as the customer makes payment for the services he has availed, he expects the value of
service he receives to be worth what he is paying for. Though the customer would be able to realize and
evaluate the quality of service completely after using the vehicle for a few days, he can very well
evaluate the basic aspects of service during the delivery itself.
This is the time when the customer again interacts with the Service Advisor and hence gets the
opportunity to complete his assessment.
1. Acknowledgement of customer’s arrival at workshop

7

2. Time taken to bring the vehicle after arrival of customer
3. Promptness of having vehicle ready when promised
4. Overall performance of Service Advisor
a. Honesty
b. Fulfillment of commitments
c. Behavior (Giving attention and treating with courtesy)
d. Knowledge and expertise
5. Explanation of work done
6. Explanation of charges/ bill amount
7. Cleanliness of vehicle
8. Fairness of charges
9. Thoroughness of fulfilling requests
10. Availability of parts for service
11. Overall opinion of facility
a. Convenience of location
b. Cleanliness of facility
c. Convenience of days and hours of workshop operation
12. Dealer taking ownership of service to assure of any problems in future
Service Delivery is the last stage of service when physical interaction happens between the customer and
the workshop staff. After this, a physical interaction may be required only in the event of requirement
of any service recovery activity. On the other hand, if a customer experiences a lapse in service at the

time of delivery, then the service recovery activity may be required on-the-spot depending on the time
required for the activity and time available with the customer.

Post-Service Experience
This is the stage of the service when customer evaluates the quality of service by using the vehicle.
Here, there is no physical interaction between the customer and the workshop as the customer is all by
himself. This is a critical stage as when the customer takes delivery of vehicle after completion of service
he may not be able to completely evaluate the service performance. As most of the customers are not
technically competent, hence they may not be able to differentiate between product problem and
service problem. For few days (~ 1 month) after service, even if any problem crops up with the vehicle
due to product quality, the customer may attribute it to poor quality of service performed by the
workshop. On the other hand, as the customer is usually in a hurry during the delivery of the vehicle,
he may not be able to thoroughly evaluate the performance of the vehicle then. Hence, it becomes
critical to keep track of the customer for few days after service in order to assess the satisfaction of
customer.
1. Ability to understand and diagnose problem mentioned
2. Quality of work performed
3. Trouble free operation
4. Ease of maintenance and repair
5. Dealership’s concern for service
6. Work done right first time

8

MARUTI SERVICE PROCESS
The complete process from acceptance of vehicle to delivery in a Maruti service station is shown below:

9

MEASURING & CLOSING THE GAPS
Customer satisfaction is defined as the gap between the performance of workshop and the expectations
of customer. The performance of workshop is the quality of service as “perceived” by the customer and
expectation is the customer’s “preconceived notion” of what he will get or what he deserves. As we can
see from the diagram below, even if a workshop delivers same quality to 2 different customers A & B,
one of them can be dissatisfied while the other can be satisfied depending on the difference in their
expectations.

Thus it is important to strive to deliver higher levels of service quality in order to be able to match or
exceed the expectations of a significant majority of customers.
From the “Gaps model” we know that customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (Gap-5: gap between the
expected and the perceived service) is a function of the other gaps (Gap 1 to 4) depicted in the chart
below.

10

In order to improve customer satisfaction, it is important to measure it. Thus in this section, we will
understand how different gaps are measured by Maruti.

Gap-1
This is the gap between the service expected by the customer and understanding of the same by the
organization. This gap can exist because of insufficient communication between the service provider and
the user/ service receiver. This can also happen because of lack of willingness of the management of an
organization to investigate customer expectations. If there is a gap in understanding, then it can lead to
wrong allocation of resources and hence wastages at the cost of customer satisfaction.
In Maruti, this gap is not measured directly by the company. The company relies on the annual
Customer Satisfaction Study done by M/s.JD Power. JD Power designs the customer satisfaction survey
by studying the various processes in a workshop. The various processes are clubbed under various
factors which serve as the common denominator for a group of processes. The factors are further
broken down into attributes which a customer expects or observes or experiences during the course of
service. After that sample customer study is conducted in the market to understand the importance
customers have for each of the attributes. The feedback of the sample of customers is then collated to
arrive at the average importance weights for each of the attributes which are further clubbed to derive
the weightages for each of the factors. The summation of factors further leads to the Customer
Satisfaction Index (CSI).

11

In order to close the gap, this study to assess the importance of various service factors to customers is
done once in 5 years. The same is communicated by JD Power to all automobile companies in the
country. Maruti adopts the Customer Satisfaction study on similar lines and revises its design at the
same time when JD Power does. This is done in order to be able to compare the results of JD Power
study results with the internal study done by Maruti.
The design of JD power study in 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2009 is given below.


12

As we can see from the pie-charts above the design of the study (i.e. factor weightages) remained the
same during 2004-2008 (i.e. 5 years). It was different in 2003 and was again modified in 2009.

Gap-2
This is the gap between the service provider’s perception of user’s expectations and the service
standards laid down by the company. This gap may exist because of unreasonable or unrealistic
expectations or lack of experience of the persons responsible for determining and setting the standards.
Maruti has developed Service Quality Standards (SQS) over the years in order to convert the
understanding of customer’s expectations to implementable processes. It is difficult to measure this gap
as it is difficult to directly quantify the defined processes. However, it is possible to gauge the
effectiveness of the processes and standards defined.
In Maruti, this gap is closed by continuously modifying the service standards based on internal customer
satisfaction surveys and external satisfaction surveys like that conducted by M/s.JD Power. Depending
on the feedback of customers and the importance they attach with the different aspects of service,
standards are developed by a department within the service Division dedicated for this purpose. The
standards and operating procedures are usually developed through either brainstorming or by
transferring best practices of workshops who would have already implemented some system with
success to live-up to the particular expectations of customers. The system thus decided are documented
in the SQS manual and communicated to workshops throughout the country for uniform
implementation.

SQS-2008
SQS No. Service Standard
1 Vehicle returned clean
2 Completed all of the work requested
3 Reasonable charges for servicing
4 Vehicle delivery at promised delivery time
5 Work done right first time
6 Explanation of work prior to service
7 Addressed appropriately
8 Reasonable time for servicing
9 Informed when the vehicle would be ready
10 Waiting area clean
11 Explanantion of work after service completed
12 Service personnel neatly dressed
13 Informed when service was completed
14 Reasonable wait at the service centre
15 Repair order provided before service
16 Informed when to schedule next visit
17 Sevice charges explained
18 Post service follow - up by workshop personnel
19 Workshop open on weekends
20 Workshop open during late hours
21 Informed vehicle settings changed SQS-2003
22 Notified for service by workshop personnel SQS No. Service Standard
23 Transportation provided 1 Vehicle Ready at Promised Time
24 Free loaner car provided 2 Reasonable Time for Servicing
25 Estimate provided before service 3 Washing Quality of Vehicles
26 Dealing with IQS cards and owners manual feedback cards 4 Dealership Values your Business
27 Home visit by service advisor 5 Reasonable Charges for Servicing
28 Steering committee meetings at dealer workshops 6 Reasonable wait at the Service Centre
29 Focus customer meet 7 Procedure for Post Service Follow-up by Workshop Personnel
30 Analysis and closure of CSI cards 8 Procedure for Service Reminder by Workshop Personnel
31 Scrutinizing of CSI cards 9 Importance of Value Added Services to the Customers
32 Spare parts availabiltiy at workshop 10 Standard Operating Procedure for Final Inspection
33 Free pick up and drop for lady customers 11 Standard Operating Procedure for Road Test
34 One page follow-up by workshop personnel 12 Standard Operating Procedure for CSI Cards
35 Road test 13 Handling of IQS Cards and Owner’s manual Feedback Cards
36 Final inspection 14 Procedure for OMR Follow-up Workshop Personnel
37 Greeting customers on birthday and anniversary 15 Procedure for handling Repeat Jobs

13

As we can see from the tables above, there were 15 Service Quality Standards (SQS) in 2003. Over the
years, based on customer’s evolving preferences and feedbacks, new SQS were developed and in 2008
there were 37 SQS i.e. 22 new standards were developed over a period of 5 years.
Thus it is important to continuously evolve new standards and modify existing standards to keep up
with the changing expectations of customers.
In each standard, few measures of performance haven been identified and benchmarks have been set for
all quantifiable aspects. The performance benchmarks as are given in the table below.

Service Performance Benchmarks
These are the measurable aspects of the Service
quality standards which are least expected
from a workshop. These standards are
communicated and monitored for the entire
workshop to quantify the performance and
target improvements. Based on customer
feedbacks, the performance benchmarks also
undergo revision from time to time.

Gap-3
This is the gap between the service standards and the actual service delivery. This gap is all about the
implementation. The best of the systems may have been developed but because of human factor, it leads
to heterogeneity and hence this gap may arise.
In Maruti, this gap is measured by conducting SQS audits (once in a quarter) at workshops. These audits
usually last 2 full days as it requires a thorough audit of workshop systems. Based on the criticality of a

14

system, each parameter is attributed a weight and eventually a score out of 100 is calculated for each
workshop. In an SQS audit there are 2 components – Enablers and Results. Enablers are the audit points
which for systems while Results are the data incorporated from different sources of customer feedback.
The sample SQS audit form is shown below. The exhibit below shows the portion of the audit for SQS-
01: Vehicle returned clean. Similar audit is done for all the remaining standards.

(S.Q.S.-01) - Vehicle returned clean
Check points for SQS Status Scored %Marks
Sl.No. Verification documents/activities Remarks Full mark Scored marks Full mark marks scored
implementation OK / NG

Is dedicated washing supervisor(s) Check washing supervisor(s) availabilty in
1
available in the workshop? the workshop. OK 5 4
Is the washing supervisor's control
Check washing supervisor's control
2 register available and entries made till
register for entries as per SQS-03/F1 format. NG one stage only 10 4
date?
Whether the GM/WM audit is being
Check GM / Works manager's 6 audit check Washing audit to be
ENABLERS

3 carried out on daily basis as per the
lists for entries. NG done by GM/WM 5 2
prescribed checklist?
Is washing quality display board Check washing quality display board for
4
available and entries updated? updation on audit day. OK 5 4
Check the final washing process after final
Is the final washing being done after final
6
inspection?
inspection as per flow chart on the audit NG one stage washing only 5 2
day.

Is manpower in washing area available Check total washing manpower and
7 as per norms and assigned specific jobs assignment for each washing job (refer to NG Avg. 4.5 vehicles/person 10 4
as per washing process? SQS).
55 28 50%
Is the washing check list displayed in the Check display of check list in the washing
8 washing area? Distribution of work in area. Whether distribution of work is NG 5
washing area. being followed and displayed.

Check internal CSI feedback card of last
9
3 month card on the parameter 94% 12
RESULTS

Give % of satisfaction from all sources. Diff
Check 42 Point A* feedback of last 3 of psf calibration with R.O. should be
10
month card on the parameter deducted while taking % psf satisfaction of
76% 27
CCE.(e.g. R.O. psf is 78% and dealer psf is 10 7.7

83%, % of satisfaction on the parameter is
11 Face to Face on the parameter 80% , we should take (83-78) 5% les 76% 27

PSF STATUS (A* customer) on the
12
parameter 75%

The sample summary sheet of SQS audit as arrived after conducting the complete audit is shown below:

Dealer Service Quality System Report Name of Dealer
Date of Audit 17.02.09 ~18.02.09 AMBAL AUTO
Name of Auditor P.K. Jain
Approved by Dealer Side Participants
Director MACE
Mr. Sivakumar K
Mr. Mahendran - CCM
Mr. Lawrence - Sr. Mgr.
Issued by Counselor MACE
Final Score 70%
Standard Operating Procedures Enablers(%) Results(%)
(1) Vehicle Returned Clean 71% 77%
(2) Completed all of the work requested 25% 79%
(3) Reasonable Charge for Servicing 50% 78%
(4) Vehicle Ready when promised 75% 78%
(5) Work done right first time 100% 79%
(6) Explanation of Work prior to service 100% 79%
(7) Addressed Appropriately 100% 82%
(8) Reasonable time for Servicing 0% 79%
(9) Informed when vehicle would be ready 0% 96%
(10) Waiting area clean 97% 81%
(11) Explanation of work after service completed 100% 80%
(12) Service Personnel neatly dressed 70% 100%

15

In order to close this gap, a workshop focuses on providing necessary resources (manpower, technology
etc.) and the softer aspects of hiring, retaining, developing and motivating manpower to get the best
adherence to systems.
The steps to close gap-3 are depicted in the chart below:

For a customer-oriented delivery:
1. Hire the right people
2. Develop people to deliver quality
service
3. Provide needed support systems
4. Retain the best people

To take care of hiring the right people, there are basic qualifications laid down for hiring manpower in

workshops for eg. a Service Advisor should either be DAE or ITI with min. 5 years experience;
Technician should be min. ITI, Works Manager should be BE with min.3 years experience or DAE with
min. 7 years experience.
The measures to train the hired manpower are also laid down by Maruti. There are multiple layers of
technical trainings and specific soft skill trainings depending on the role. For eg. Technician should be
min. Basic and Advance trained, Service Advisor should be min. Basic, Advance and SA training
completed. Similarly Works Manager should have attended WM training apart from basic & Advance
training. However, the empowerment and team work depends on the workshop management culture.
The support systems are also provided through SQS and periodic audits. The technology and equipment
is also specified by Maruti for eg. there should be 1 computer and printer set for opening and closing
job-cards for every 10 working bays.
The practices to focus on manpower retention are however dependent totally on the workshop
management and are not much specified by Maruti except that the systems of incentives are suggestive.
In order make the workshop focus on the different aspects of the above-mentioned HR strategies, the
norms have been laid out in the Balanced Scorecard and an annual audit is performed to evaluate all
workshops. The workshops are then given incentives based on their overall performance in the audit.
This serves as an incentive for workshops to implement the systems and procedures suggested by
Maruti. The Balanced scorecard rates the dealership on a scale of 1000 points of which Service resources
and performance are evaluated on 355 points. Within this, Customer Satisfaction Index has a weightage
of 150 points i.e. more than 40% weightage.

16

Gap-4
This gap exists because of the difference between actual service delivery and the external
communications and promises made by the service provider. Elevated claims or promises become the
standard for setting expectations and the standard against which they will be judged. Failure to deliver
can result from inaccurate marketing communications, lack of or poor coordination between marketing
and delivery personnel, and over promising. The external communications also lead to development of
customers’ expectations and perceptions.
In Maruti, this is captured through the different sources of customer feedbacks. Currently workshops
make explicit promises to customers in terms of quality of work, cost and time. In other areas,
presently there are not many explicit service guarantees made to customers except for the warranty
support from manufacturers.
This gap can be closed by:
1. training and familiarizing manpower on the delivery capability of the service systems
2. under-promising to customers to lower their expectations
3. educating customers to reduce the gap due to erroneous interpretations

Train &
familiarize
employees

Reduce
Gap-4
Under
Educated
promise to
customers
customers

In order to train and familiarize manpower with the systems and the delivery capability, Maruti
conducts training on SQS standards, Service Advisor procedures etc. and workshops conduct training to
familiarize manpower with the operating procedures particular to the dealership.
To under-promise customers, the Service Advisors and Marketing executives are imparted the
necessary training to keep cushion when promising customers. For example, Service Times have been
communicated to all dealers for the time taken for various services (with some cushion). A sample is
given below:

17

Customer education in Maruti is done through personal interactions like Customer Education Meets,
explanation before and after completion of work, and elaborate written material like Customer
Information Boards (used to convey the labour rate, spares cost and workshop details), warranty terms
and conditions. A Sample of the board is shown below:

Usually the communication gaps creeps up in warranty. Customers assume that all repairs are covered
under the warranty clause till the validity of the policy. However by clearly mentioning the clauses in
Owner’s Manual and explaining the same during the delivery of new vehicle, this gap can be reduced.

Customers should
also know this

Customers are usually
aware only of this

18

A sample of a detailed warranty policy the same is appended above showing what customers are usually
aware of and what needs to be communicated in order to reduce the gasp while handling warranty.

Gap-5 (Customer Gap)
This is the gap which is a function of the above mentioned 4 gaps. From a customer’s point of view this
is the most important gap which leads to dissatisfaction. It can be taken care of by taking care of rest of
the gaps. This is the gap between the customer’s perception and expectation. Perceptions are usually
formed after or during the course of the service, while expectations are usually formed either before or
during the course of the service. However, every customer has a zone of tolerance which is defined as
the gap between the expectations of ideal service and minimum tolerable expectations.
This is measured through various customer feedback collection systems. The various stages of a typical
service process and different feedbacks collection points are depicted below:

Customer entry

Job-card opening Customer lounge
feedback

Vehicle servicing inside Customer may wait in
workshop Customer Lounge or go back to

home/office

Instant feedback
Job explanation & Vehicle
Delivery
Handing over 34 point
feedback

Bill payment

Customer exit
Post Service followup,
34-point internal
feedback, 42-point
The broad summary of various feedbacks is: MSIL feedback

Collected
S.No. Feedback Collected through Stage of feedback collection
by

1 Customer lounge feedback Dealer Written, In-person While customer is waiting in lounge

2 Instant feedback Dealer Written, In-person During the delivery of vehicle

Customer advised to send after 1 week of
3 34-point Internal Feedback Dealer Written, Thru post
vehicle usage

19

Verbal, Thru
4 Post Service Follow-up Dealer On 6th day after service
telephone

Maruti Sent & collected thru post after 1 month
5 42-point MSIL feedback Written, Thru post
Suzuki of service

Among the above feedbacks, except 42-point MSIL feedback, all other feedbacks are requested from
100% customers. The 42-point MSIL feedback is sent to 200 customers per workshop per quarter. As
the 34-point and 42-point feedbacks are received back by the workshop and Maruti respectively through
post, hence the feedback receipt is not 100%. 34-point feedbacks are received back from usually ~15%
customers while 42-point feedbacks receipt is ~25%. On the other hand, the other feedbacks are
received from more than 90% customers.
Customer lounge feedback is collected from the customers who wait and avail the lounge facility till the
service of their vehicle is completed.

Instant feedback card is collected from customers at the time of delivery of the vehicle after showing the
customer his vehicle and after completing the necessary explanation of work and charges, but before the
payment of bill or while payment of the bill. The intention is to know the first quick impression of the
customer after completion of service in order to get an opportunity to understand and rectify the
customer dissatisfaction on-the-spot regarding few basic critical aspects.

The 34-point feedback card is given to customers at the time of delivery of the vehicle alongwith a pre-
stamped envelope. This is a comprehensive feedback and customer is requested to send the feedback
after a week of usage of vehicle i.e. after duly assessing the performance of the vehicle for a considerable
period of time.

20

The 42-point feedback card is sent by Maruti to customers after 1 month of completion of service in

order to get a comprehensive direct feedback about the service provided by channel.

21

The format is appended above. This feedback form is similar to the 34-point feedback card.
Post Service followup is the only telephonic mode of collecting feedback. A call is made to all customers
on the 6th day after the completion of service. This feedback mode is used to gain candid feedback from
all customers as the other comprehensive written feedbacks cover only a small sample of customers. In
order to know the true feedback, the call is made by Customer Care Executive (CCE) instead of the
Service Advisor. The script used by CCEs is given below:

There are 2 ways to close this gap:
1. Proactive way – This is presently done by compiling and analyzing feedbacks and taking
actions on a monthly basis. The feedbacks are also shared with the workshop employees in
order to sensitize them towards customers. Countermeasures are taken in order to plug the

gaps permanently.
2. Reactive way – This is presently done through various methods of service recovery.
Depending on customers’ convenience and the nature of problem, the customer is either
attended at workshop or at his premises.
The complaints are analyzed and corrective & preventive actions taken are recorded. The format for
analysis of negative feedback received through 42-point MSIL feedback is appended below.

22

MAPPING SATISFACTION CATEGORIES
Satisfaction Categories
All activities in a workshop which a customer experiences can be segregated under 3 satisfaction
categories.
1. Monovalent Dissatisfiers – These are the hygiene factors/ must-be requirements as per
Kano’s model in the absence of which a customer would be dissatisfied but the presence does
not contribute to satisfaction.
2. Bivalent Satisfiers – These are the satisfiers as per Kano’s model in the presence of which a
customer would be satisfied while the absence would lead to dissatisfaction.
3. Monovalent Satisfiers – There are the delighters as per Kano’s model in the absence of
which a customer would not be dissatisfied but the presence will satisfy a customer i.e. have
positive impact on customer’s mind.
The different activities under the 3 satisfaction categories are shown below. At Maruti, an SQS has been
developed in order to set the procedures and standards for each satisfaction attribute. The SQS
corresponding to each attribute also mapped below.

SQS-01
SQS-06
SQS-03

SQS-07
SQS-02
SQS-10
SQS-05
Monovalent SQS-12
Dissatisfiers SQS-04
SQS-08
SQS-09
SQS-11
SQS-13
SQS-14
SQS-17
SQS-16
SQS-18
SQS-22
Bivalent
SQS-15
Satisfiers SQS-19
SQS-20
SQS-25
SQS-23
Monovalent
SQS-24
Satisfiers

In the above chart, the impact has been calculated through the customer satisfaction survey done by JD
Power.

23

Meeting expectations
The various steps adopted to meet the expectations of customers against each attribute are given below.
Each of the attributes has also been mapped with the corresponding dimension(s) of SERVQUAL model
of service quality (RATER system).
S.No. Attribute/ expectation Steps to meet expectations
1 Vehicle returned clean 1. Set procedure for washing, washing sequences, manpower allocation
(Tangible) 2. Manpower norms – 2.5 cars per washer per day; 1 supervisor per 500
cars
3. Washing Final check by supervisor for all vehicles
4. Keeping 2 persons in delivery area for final mopping just before
delivery to the customer
2 Explanation of work prior 1. Sufficient Service Advisors (SAs) – 7 job-cards per day per SA
to service (Assurance, 2. Jotting down the customer’s demands on job-slip
Empathy) 3. Taking customer approval of work to be done by signing on job-slip
3 Reasonable charges for  Giving ready reckoner to SAs mentioning prices of fast moving parts
servicing (Assurance) and labour
 Benchmarking labour rates and spare prices with competitors
 Communicating the cost estimate with detailed breakup before start
of service and taking customer approval
 Displaying the charges prominently on Customer information Board
4 Addressed appropriately  Soft skill behavioural training for employees especially SAs
(Assurance, Empathy)

5 Completed all of the work  Mentioning all customer demands on job-slip
requested (Reliability)  Explaining during delivery all the work done
 Offering road test to customer to show proper completion of work
6 Waiting area clean  Dedicated person/ attendant to ensure cleanliness
(Tangible)  Fixed cleaning schedule for housekeeping staff
7 Work done right first time  Availability of proper tools and equipments
(Reliability)  Trained technicians
8 Service personnel neatly  Multiple uniforms for workshop staff
dressed (Tangible)  Regular audit by managers to ensure cleanliness
9 Vehicle ready when  Developing & communicating standard times for each type of service
promised (Reliability) to workshop staff
 Using time cards to communicate time to all w/s staff for each vehicle
 Taking cushion of 30 mins for each vehicle
 Hourly tracking to monitor work progress
 Vehicle allocation to technicians based on promised times
10 Reasonable time for  Developing & communicating standard times for each type of service
servicing to workshop staff
(Responsiveness)  Explaining customers in detail, the jobs involved and work that will
be carried out in the morning
 Manpower norms – 3 vehicles per technician per day, 1 supervisor &

24

1 technical advisor for every 7 technicians, 3 SAs for every supervisor
11 Informed when vehicle  Developing & communicating standard times for each type of service
would be ready to workshop staff
(Assurance)  Communicating promised delivery time through job-slip
12 Explanation of work after  Every SA to give staggered delivery time to customers
service is completed  Detailed note by technician on work done and his observations on
(Assurance, Empathy) job-card
 Using job-card during delivery to explain to customer
13 Informed when service was  Calling customer (by CCE) after completion of work and before
completed (Empathy) closing job-card
14 Reasonable wait at service  Adequate manpower as mentioned earlier as per norms
center (Responsiveness)  Prioritizing vehicle for customers waiting in lounge
 SA available at front office to always attend customer promptly
15 Service charges explained  Using printed proforma invoice for explanation
(Empathy)  Every SA to give staggered delivery time to customers to spend
sufficient time with every customer
16 Informed when to schedule  Training employees on Periodic Maintenance schedule
next visit (Assurance)  Communicating next service due during delivery of vehicle
17 Contacted after service  Keeping manpower (CCEs) as per norms – 1 CCE for 60 calls per day
(Empathy) 

Providing sufficient telephone lines
 Generating contact list on daily basis and calling up customers
18 Notified for service  Generating service due list from software on daily basis and calling
(Empathy) customers to inform them 3 days prior to service
19 Repair order provided  Keep 1+1 carbon-copy of repair order and give 1 copy to customer
before service (Tangible) with recorded customer demands and promised cost & time
20 Open on weekends  Weekly work scheduling and appointing extra manpower (16% extra)
(Responsiveness)  Keeping workshop open even on Sundays
 Prominently displaying working days & Sunday open information
21 Open during late hours  Daily work scheduling by staggering employee arrival based on
(Responsiveness) customer arrival trend
 Keeping workshop open from 8 am to 8 pm
 Prominently displaying working timings
22 Estimate provided before  Training of SAs on Periodic Maintenance schedule
service (Assurance)  Provide detailed estimate on job-slip
24 Transportation provided  Providing dedicated driver and 1 transportation vehicle for every
(Empathy) 1000 service load per month
 Offering transportation to all customers
 Prominently displaying transportation availability information
23 Loaner car provided  Providing 1 loaner car for every 1000 service load per month
(Empathy)  Offering loaner cars to customers whose vehicle get stuck in

25

workshop for more than 1 day due to internal problems
 Prominently displaying transportation availability information

CHALLENGES
The entire aspect of managing customer satisfaction on an on-going basis is a very challenging task. This
is because the entire scenario of managing customer satisfaction is quite dynamic and hence is changing
continuously. The various challenges faced by Maruti workshops in managing customer satisfaction in
the current scenario are given below.

Customer
The preferences and expectations of customers are changing very fast. It requires faster understanding
and quicker response of workshops to the changing customer expectations. What earlier used to be the
delighters are now the services expected by customers. Now, it is more difficult to delight customers.
Customer’s expectations are changing due to increased globalization and also increased exposure to
other services which has a rub-off effect on the customer expectations. With other services increasingly
offering service guarantees like Dominos offering pizza delivery service within 30 mins or free, it
becomes increasingly important for automobile service to also adopt such practices in order to exceed
customer satisfaction and gain loyalty of customers.


Moreover, as we can see from the above chart, in automobiles the customer satisfaction has to be
extremely high in order to convert it to loyalty as compared with other industries.

Competitor
The competitors of Maruti are also catching up fast. The competitors are the other authorized set-ups
like Hyundai, Tata and unauthorized setups like Car-nation multi-brand service. Competitors have the
advantage of trained labour pool as it is the second mover and hence shortens the learning period thus
reducing the cost of dissatisfaction.
As per the JD Power survey results for the last 9 years, even though the OEM service has been catching
up with Maruti service, only Maruti used to be the company above the industry average but last year

26

many companies have caught up with Maruti. The same is depicted in the CSI results below for 2
different years (2004 and 2009).

As we can see from the graphs above, while Maruti has improved over the years by 11 points, the
industry average has improved by 27 points. In 2004, Maruti was having a gap of 81 points over its
nearest competitor whereas in 2009 the gap has reduced to 33 points.
Earlier, the multi-brand setups used to small roadside workshops where only those customers who were
worried about cost used to go. The car owners who were conscious of quality and reliability had not
much choice and were forced to approach authorized workshops for fulfilling their car service needs.
But now, even multi-brand car service setups have become more professional and organized due to
entry of players like Car-nation, Bosch and Reliance auto who provide similar service at a cheaper cost.

27

Thus now customers have an option and those visiting authorized service stations expect much better
service than the new organized multi-brand players. The website of one such player is given above
which also shows the wide range of services offered.

Company
The effort and resources required to improve customer satisfaction increases exponentially with the
increase in customer satisfaction. Even though we have not reached such high levels of customer
satisfaction, the effort required at each step is increasing for the same amount of improvement which
forces organization to rethink their stand on customer orientation. Moreover, as it is difficult to directly
correlate and quantify the business growth due to high customer satisfaction, it becomes difficult to
convince dealers to focus on customer satisfaction.
Moreover, it is quite difficult for the workshop to either respond or not respond to the ever changing
customer expectations. If a workshop is not responsive or slow to respond to customer needs then it
will not be able to adapt to the changing environment. Eventually it will lag behind in the customer
loyalty and hence eventually be out of business. If a workshop is highly sensitive to customer’s
requirements then the changes will be so frequent that it does not allow systems and procedures to
settle down and stabilize, and hence the operations will always be under confusion which will lead to
high unpredictability, and eventually employee and customer dissatisfaction.
As most of the dealers assume that service business is an after effect of vehicle sales hence, usually they
give second grade treatment to the service department. As car sales are the primary activity of the
manufacturer hence customer service receives secondary focus. This de-motivates manpower and

restrains them from putting in their best to serve customers. Usually, the employees are even
incentivized only for revenues and not for customer satisfaction. Hence, this changes the focus of
employees towards maximizing revenues even at the cost of customer satisfaction/ loyalty.

Context
India is on a growth path and is one of the strongest growing economies of the world. This growth has
new implications on managing customer satisfaction. On one hand, the number of customers purchasing
car each year is increasing. Hence, even though few customers may stop doing business with a
dealership, the impact is not felt due to a bigger base of customers getting added parallely. This leads to
less focus on increasing customer satisfaction as the economic growth is driving business growth. On the
other hand, the economic growth also creates different job opportunities while the automobile service
business has been existing since a long time. The new job opportunities like the BPO, call center
require lesser physical work and more desk work. Such businesses also usually better pay-masters. This
creates a more lucrative proposition for new talent and dissuades them for pursuing their career in
automobile service. Thus it becomes difficult to recruit new talent and retain existing talent. This in
turn adversely affects implementation of procedures and systems, and finally leads to customer
dissatisfaction.
The only concern for the dealership business from the customer’s perspective is that the reliability of
vehicles has increased and service periodicity decreased due to the improvement in technology. This
eventually reduces the service visit frequency of customers at workshops and hence starts affecting the
top-line. The easiest way is to increase the charges for all jobs proportionally but that in turn increases
the customer expectations and hence creates dissatisfaction.

28

OPPORTUNITIES (with recommendations)
Due to continuously changing environment, new opportunities are getting created. It is essential for
service providers to realize the opportunities, grab them and leverage them to enhance customer
satisfaction and hence improve customer loyalty. The various opportunities in customer services which
can help improve customer satisfaction and service business are as follows.

Technology
Technology is one of the biggest opportunities not only for improving customer satisfaction but also to
improve business in almost any industry. This holds true for customer service also. Thus technology can
enable improvement of service processes. A few practical examples are given below.
In a Maruti workshop, internet technology can be used for facilitating easier accessibility to service by
incorporating activities like accepting online vehicle bookings, communicating vehicle service status on
website and for making online payments through credit card. This will enhance customer satisfaction by
making service more user friendly, convenient and transparent.
Technology like RFIDs can be used to generate the vehicle history and pop-up details like customer
name, last service satisfaction status etc. immediately as customer enters the workshop premises in his
vehicle. This will help the Service Advisor and other staff to personalize their approach towards the
customer. Higher personalization means higher customer satisfaction.
The Service Advisors can take down the service orders on a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) which can
further be connected wireless to the technician who can see the same near the screen on the working

bay. The technician can in turn punch the work details directly into the computer system. This can save
time in preparing the computerized job-card and avoid movement of Service Advisor to collect the job-
card opening terminal and dedicate the time saved here in interacting with the customer. This will
improve the quality of interaction with customer thus improving customer satisfaction.
GPS (Global Positioning System) technology can be used to monitor the movement of emergency on-
road assistance vehicles. This will help in diverting the nearest vehicle to a needy customer thus helping
to reduce the response time. This will eventually help in improving customer satisfaction.

Bundling
As we know that in order to get customers, workshops usually provide a wide gamut of services like
Service, Body Repair, Wheel Alignment, Wheel Balancing etc. in order to be a one-stop-shop for
fulfilling all the service needs of a customer. Thus, whether customer avails a service or not the
infrastructure and manpower is always available. For services like Wheel Alignment and Wheel
Balancing, customers usually prefer the “category killers” as they usually specialize in those services
because they are operated by authorized tyre dealers. Moreover, as customers are not technically
competent, they usually are unable to attribute performance related service problems to the respective
service providers. Hence, for example poor service given by a tyre dealer can have a rub-off effect on an
automobile service dealer. Also, it leads to lower utilization of resources at the automobile workshop.
In order to deliver higher satisfaction with the services and to increase the utilization of resources, it is
essential for a dealership to sell a broad range of services. This can be done easily by bundling different
services and making an attractive value proposition for the customer as the marginal cost of providing
service is minimal (unlike products). For example, when a customer visits for availing Paid Service at

29

20,000 kms, it is essential that the wheel balancing and alignment be done in order to ensure good
performance of the vehicle. Usually tyre rotation will be done during this service which may lead to
change in alignment and balancing of tyres, and cause new problems when a customer takes delivery of
the vehicle if alignment and balancing of tyres is not done. If Paid Service costs Rs.500 and Wheel
Alignment costs Rs.200 and Wheel Balancing Rs.250, then the total individual cost of availing these
services is Rs.950. a package can be made for customers by bundling these services and offering the
package at Rs.800. This will motivate customers to avail the package thus improving the overall revenue
from the customer and also delivering better quality of service thus improving customer satisfaction.
Similar bundling can be done targeting vehicles in different age group and bundling those services which
are really needed and valued by the customer.

Leveraging Efficiency
There are some services like the 3 Free Services in the initial phase of ownership of a vehicle in which
the work to be done is almost standard. This is due to the fact that the vehicles during that period are
relatively new and not much wear and tear has taken place. Also these services are mandatory with pre-
defined timelines which are closely followed with complete sanctity by customers as it affects the
applicability of warranty on the vehicles. Even for the related services like washing and cleaning, the
amount of work required to be done is relatively lower than other vehicles as the vehicles are newer and
also better maintained by owners. The initial 3 Free Services are hence relatively simpler and standard.
This gives a window of opportunity to perform these services in a synchronized manner typically like a
production line by deploying 2-3 technicians per vehicle and hence reducing the service time. A

separate line/ team for washing can also be created to deliver higher output. As the total service time
can be significantly reduced as compared to the conventional way of performing the services, customers
will be delighted by the time saved as it will affect the mobility of customer for a shorter length of time.
The only pre-requisite for the success of such a service system to be able to deliver the efficiency of a
line production system would be by staggering the arrival of vehicles according to the “Express Service”
capacity through booking system. The customer can be encouraged to wait and take the vehicle so that
he feels the effect on the speed of service. But, one pitfall may be that customers would feel that the
quality of service is compromised to save time. To overcome the pitfall, the “line of visibility” of such
services can be brought down by making the service bay visible to customer through a glass partition in
the waiting lounge and hence enhance customer’s confidence. Thus this system will help in enhancing
customer satisfaction in an era when time is becoming an ever critical resource.

Mobile Service
In a world where all service are now available at doorstep, even automobile service can make use of the
opportunity. Such services not only enhance customer’s satisfaction due the convenience offered but
also save substantial fixed investment in infrastructure. Today, whether it is pizza, food, grocery or
beauty services, all of these are available at doorstep.
Automobile workshops can also make use of this opportunity by understanding the services than can
conveniently be done at customer premises. Services like oil replacement, coolant replacement, spark
plug cleaning and replacement, wheel balancing, interior vacuuming, air filer cleaning and replacement,
brake bleeding etc. can conveniently be done by using portable equipments which can be run using a
diesel run portable generators. All the equipments and spare parts can be loaded on a mobile van and

30

the services can be offered to areas where there is concentration of customer population and where the
customer would value the extra step taken by the automobile workshop in offering convenience to
customers. The service will especially be meaningful for rural areas where service network is not
available or localities which have considerable customer population but are located far from any service
station.

Service Guarantee
Service guarantee is a concept which is presently not quite prevalent like product guarantee and very
few service providers have implemented it like Domino’s Pizza. Moreover, there are hardly any
automobile service providers which have any kind of service guarantee. This gives a huge scope of
gaining customer’s confidence and hence wins loyalty by offering service guarantees.
Service guarantee can be offered against all important expectations of customers like quality, cost and
time. For assuring quality, the service guarantee can be like if the customer visits the workshop for the
same repair or related repair within 30 days or 3,000 kms then the vehicle will be repaired free of cost
for the customer. For assuring timely delivery, the service guarantee can be like if the customer has to
wait for 5 to 15 mins then 10% of the bill will be waived off, if the wait is 16 to 30 mins then 20% of
the bill will be waived off and so on. For assuring cost, the service guarantee can be like if the bill
exceeds the estimate then the entire amount will be waived off for the customer.
Service guarantees will not only enhance customer confidence but will also keep the employees on toes
to deliver highest levels of performance. This will raise the quality of service being rendered to the
customers thus enhancing customer satisfaction. The only care that needs to be taken is that the service

guarantee must be substantial, meaningful, easy to understand and easy to avail else it will lose its entire
meaning of making a “promise” to the customer.

Extensive Network
Maruti has the widest and the deepest service network as compared to any other car manufacturer in the
country. However, presently the dealers work in a disjointed manner i.e. every dealer owns its
customer and though a customer can approach any dealer for his service requirements, for any previous
service related issue, a customer usually has to approach the same dealer where he last availed service.
Thus presently Maruti is not leveraging its network to further enhance customer’s satisfaction.
The network spread is a big opportunity for Maruti dealers to enhance their customer’s satisfaction and
also build a barrier against the competition from other OEMs’ dealer network and multi-brand car
service providers. Maruti dealers can come together and develop a mutual understanding to take care of
any Maruti customer in the entire country. For example, if a customer A of a dealer B in city C has
recently availed service and has a vehicle breakdown during journey at a town which is near city D
where a dealer E is located then the dealer B can immediately inform dealer E of such an occurrence and
dealer E can immediately help out the customer thus leveraging the network to improve the
responsiveness towards the customers. Similarly if a customer has got transferred from one city to the
other then he can refer a dealer in the new city and also pass on the information to the dealer in that city
so that he can contact the customer. This will prevent the customer from going to any multi-brand car
workshop and thus help in retaining the customer within Maruti’s network. The customer will also be
highly satisfied with such a response as it will save him from the inconvenience of searching a dealer in
the new city and trying an unknown service provider.

31

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
After analyzing the way Customer Satisfaction is managed at Maruti workshops, apart from the
recommendations given in the “Opportunities” section, our recommendations for enhancing the system
are given below.

Measuring the gaps
1. Presently Gap-1 is measured by JD Power for the entire country and Maruti adopts the system and
assigns its focus on the systems in the same order as per the study by JD Power. The JD Power
study for measuring Gap-1 also assumes that the customer’s expectations throughout the country
are same for all segments of customers, even though that is not the reality. Time may be more
important than washing quality to an office-goer in a busy metropolitan city, whereas for a
businessman in a small tier-3 city, washing quality may be more important than the waiting time.
Thus, instead of relying completely on JD Power to understand Gap-1, Maruti should conduct the
customer expectation assessment study once every year in all tier-1 and tier-2 cities and split the
results segment-wise (like demographic, geographic, psychographic) to understand the customer
expectations in various segments. This will help in educating the workshop staff accordingly and
hence help them to customize their service and approach towards customers thus enhancing
customer satisfaction.
2. The development of standards is usually done by a core team of Maruti based on the suggestions
given by JD Power and the experience of the head-office department staff. The dealers’ staff, who
actually are in touch with the customers are not involved in the development of service standards
while attempting to measure gap-2. Thus Maruti must form a Dealer Advisory Panel (DAP)

comprising of prominent dealers from all major towns and take feedback about the effectiveness of
any new standard. This will help in assessing the disconnect between the service standard prepared
by Maruti and its effectiveness in enabling the dealership to live up to the customer expectation
desired to be met by implementing the standard.
3. The gap between the service standards and the actual service delivery is measured through SQS
audits. These audits are pre-planned and communicated well in advance to the dealer workshops.
As most of the audit is based on live observations and previous records, the dealer gets an
opportunity to prepare for the audit day thus not revealing the usual state of systems at the
workshop. Hence, it is recommended that the SQS audits must be done in a surprise manner to
keep the dealership always on toes rather than preparing for a day and reverting back to old
practices once the audit is over.
4. Presently there is not much means of measuring gap-4 i.e. the gap between the communications and
the delivery except through customer feedbacks. In order to evaluate the entire system, “mystery
shopping” activity can be done by sending mock customers for availing service at dealerships or
making mock calls to workshop to understand the response against the service offered by them.
Mystery shopping will reveal the actual levels of communication done by dealers to customers.
5. The feedback forms i.e. 34-point internal and 42-point MSIL feedbacks are too elaborate for
customers and the questions are also framed in a quite complex language. Thus the customer will
find it difficult to share the feedback as it is quite time consuming. The feedback form must be made
shorter with max. 10 questions on critical areas wherein rating is asked on a scale of 10 and below
each question, the customer must be given some space to give comments to describe further on
anything good or bad if he so desires. Detailed insights can later be captured from customers who

32

rate 7 or below through telephonic conversation if they do not give any comment justifying the
reasons for rating average or poor i.e. for not rating excellent.

Closing the gaps
6. Presently gap-1 is measured once in 5 years in order to close it with the ever changing preferences
and expectations of customers. As mentioned earlier, the study can be done by Maruti either in-
house or by hiring market research agency. The study must be conducted atleast once every year as
customer’s expectations are changing at an ever increasing pace. Any delay in understanding it can
give an edge to competitors.
7. The development of new standards is also done in-house by Maruti through a department dedicated
for evolving new standards and revising existing standards to make the systems more robust to
consistently achieve customer satisfaction. The Dealer Advisory Panel discussed earlier must be
invited for a meeting with Maruti officials once in 6 months to discuss the upcoming expectations of
customers and develop standards for fulfilling the same. The Dealer Advisory Panel should
comprise of the dealer’s Customer Care Manager and the best Service Advisor who can be named as
the Customer Satisfaction Champion. This will help in knowing customers’ ground level
expectations.
8. Presently the measurements of the gap between the service standard and what is delivered to the
customer reveals that hardly 10% of the workshops in the entire country are above an SQS score of
85%. Most of the dealers are within the range of 65-85% thus showing that majority of the
workshops deliver average service and not excellent service. In order to retain customers and make
service as a differentiator, it is essential to deliver excellent service. This should be done by first

understanding the order or expectations of customer in each city/town. Then the Service Standards
must be sequenced in the order of importance and broken down into 3 segments i.e. Primary,
Secondary and Tertiary. There must be 3 levels of audits – one for each category. The dealers who
score more than 90% in the Primary Audit (level-1) must only be audited for level-2 audit. Then
level-3 audit must be done only for dealers who score more than 90% in level-2 and 95% in level-1.
This will encourage dealers to focus on basic systems first, stabilize them and then move onto the
next level rather than giving equal importance to all systems. In order to reduce this gap, the
employees must also be empowered. The Service Advisor must also be given monetary powers
upto Rs.5,000. The approvals given by SA may be brought to the notice of the Works Manager at
the end of each day to assess the correctness of decision and counsel the SA in case of a mistake.
This will help in taking immediate upfront action to avoid customer from waiting and thus getting
irritated.
9. The communication of Service Guarantees must be done only after thoroughly studying and
measuring delivery capability of the workshop systems for atleast 3 months else it may lead to
wrong promises being made to customers. Similarly to communicate promised delivery time, a
work scheduling software must be developed wherein Service Advisors can schedule the work to
their team of technicians and hence promise the delivery time to the next customer based on work
schedule and availability of technicians. This will help in communicating realistic delivery times to
customers which is a significant weak are for most of the dealerships and one of the factors which is
becoming increasingly critical for customers who feel that going to workshops and waiting there is a
non-value adding activity.

33

10. The analysis of the feedbacks must be done segment-wise i.e. dividing the feedbacks according to
vehicle model, age of the user/ customer, gender of the user/customer etc. in order to understand
the needs and expectations of customers in each segment. This will enable to implement the
countermeasures relevant to each segment and broaden the scope of implementation rather than
having a narrow scope.
11. In order to close gap-5 it is also beneficial to know right from the horse’s mouth i.e. the customer.
To get in-depth feedback, a Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) must be formed by each workshop
comprising of loyal long-term customers representing every segment. A meeting must be
conducted by dealership management with the Customer Advisory Panel once every 6 months to
understand the customers’ perceptions and expectations from the workshop’s service. This can also
help as the customers will tend to give better insights in such meetings as compared to mere written
feedbacks or telephonic conversations. Through these meetings, customers may even suggest
solutions for improving the workshop operations. Hence, such panels will go a long way in
understanding the customers and help in gearing up service levels to meet their expectations.

Tackling challenges
12. Instead of incentivizing workshop staff on revenues earned, they must be incentivized on efficiency
and customer satisfaction. Too much focus only on revenues will be a short term target as then it
will be at the cost of customer satisfaction eventually lowering profits. Thus revenues will be
achieved at the cost of customer which is difficult to measure. Incentivizing on efficiency and
customer satisfaction will automatically lead to higher revenues and also to higher profits. This will
also implicitly communicate the objectives which an organization wishes to achieve to its

employees.
13. Create groups for handling vehicle with each group allotted only selected models. The groups can
be formed based on the model-wise distribution of service load. For example, a group can be
formed for M800 and Alto customers, another for WagonR, Estilo and A-star customers, another
for Swift and Ritz, and a separate group for Dzire and SX4 customers. A separate group can also be
formed for Taxi vehicle customers (Omni). A separate lady Service Advisor can handle lady
customers. This will enable training and sensitizing manpower towards the needs of the customers
in these segments and hone their skills. For example, when interacting with an SX4 customer, a
Service Advisor will be focused more on the quality of service and cleanliness of vehicle while when
attending a taxi customer the primary concern will be the cost of service and reliability. Thus it will
facilitate the respective service teams to gain deeper insights of their customers, create a sense of
ownership and help them in customizing the service to their customers.
14. To have a continuous stream of talent, workshops can tie-up with local engineering colleges and it is
(Industrial Training Institutes). This will help in having a constant stream of fresh talent. 20%
surplus manpower should be maintained at the workshop to take care of continuous training
(~10%) and manpower turnover (~10%). It will prevent the creation of void of the requisite
manpower. Bundling of services which was discussed earlier will help in improving the overall
revenues from the resources and hence improve the paying capacity of workshops to its employees
which will help in retaining manpower by offering salaries competitive with the market.
15. Maruti can tie-up with few prominent ITIs to design, develop and impart automobile mechanic
course wherein the entire course is built around Maruti’s vehicles and its technology. This will help
in inclining fresh graduates towards Maruti and make them more ready for employment in Maruti

34

workshops by reducing the learning time. This will bring down the training costs and improve
productivity of new manpower thus helping improve customer satisfaction much earlier than if they
were not trained on Maruti’s technology.
16. Rather than encouraging employees to offer standard services to customers, they must be
encouraged to understand customers deeply and customize service towards them even if it is at the
cost of compromising on the laid down systems. This will help in enhancing customer satisfaction
by giving more importance to customer’s preferences rather than workshop systems.
17. Rather than focusing just on the negative feedbacks, it is essential to motivate employees by
highlighting positive feedbacks. This can be done by sharing the positive feedbacks in public while
sharing the negative feedbacks in private with the individual and also giving a token award as a
gesture of appreciation. Employees can also be motivated by creating a monthly revolving title of
“Customer Service Champ”. The employee who is rated highest in satisfaction by his customers can
be given the badge mentioning the same. This can be reviewed on monthly basis and transferred to
another employee of he is the best performer in a given month.
18. The product feedbacks received through service feedback forms must be compiled and sent to the
product development division. In case the problem is serious or is occurring in many vehicles then
it can investigated by actually meeting up with the customer to improve the product quality and also
show concern towards customers’ issues. Such an approach will delight customers and help in
enhancing satisfaction of future customer due to product quality improvements.
19. Special attention must be given to new car owners by deputing the best staff to attend them as they
are quite sensitive to the product and service. Even a small lapse may make them irate. They usually

are very particular even about minor issues and go into smallest of the details. If they are taken due
care of in the initial phase of ownership of the vehicle, they may tend to ignore minor shortfalls in
the future due to a positive bias towards the workshop.

Delighters
To enhance customer satisfaction, focusing on consistency in systems and procedures is necessary but
not sufficient. It is essential to keep delighting customers from time to time. Delight is achieved when
there is an element of surprise packed in the delivery.

35

As delight enhances customer satisfaction, it also has a positive effect on the loyalty and advocacy
intentions of a customer. As per the bar-graph above, the highly satisfied customer are those having CSI
above 881 i.e. who rated more than 8.8 out of 10 on an average.
As we can see from the graph, there is a huge difference between the behaviour exhibited by customers
whose experience is average (score between 694 and 881) and those who had an excellent experience
(score above 881) at a dealer workshop.
Thus it is essential to have high levels of customer satisfaction which can be achieved only by delighting
customers. The only thing to be remembered is that the activity done to delight customers must not be
predictable.
Below mentioned are the delighters recommended (against the customer expectations) to be tried/
used intermittently.
S.No. Attribute/ expectation Ways to Delight
1 Vehicle returned clean 20. Room freshener can be sprayed inside the passenger cabin to remove
the odour of polish and have a fresh pleasant fragrance.
21. Minor stains on seats (if any) can be removed by shampooing and
interior cleaning.
22. Removing seat covers in presence of the customer during delivery of
the vehicle.
2 Explanation of work prior 23. Showing & explaining the comprehensive Periodic Maintenance
to service Checklist before initiating the service.

3 Reasonable charges for 24. The hourly labour rate and time taken can be shown to the customer
servicing on the bill.
25. The MRP printed on the packing of spare parts can be shown to the
customer and amounts matched with the bill.
4 Addressed appropriately 26. The customer’s name can be identified through the registration
number as soon as his vehicle enters the workshop premises. The
customer name can then immediately be found out and he/she can be
addressed by his/her name with proper salutation.
5 Completed all of the work 27. The demonstration of problems while leaving vehicle for service must
requested be done by the customer and the customer must be insisted to verify
resolution of the problem though joint inspection in the same manner
as it was tested before.
6 Waiting area clean 28. Lounge cleaning schedule can be displayed prominently with clear
checkpoints.
29. An attendant can be dedicated for the upkeep of the lounge.
7 Work done right first time 30. Confirming with customer about whether the problem is new or old.
In case the customer is confused and thinks that a new problem is
related to the old one even though it is not, then some time must be
spent to educate the customer on this.
31. In case a customer comes for a repeat repair, then the same must be
done upfront free of cost.
8 Service personnel neatly 32. There must be a separate grooming room with mirror and deodorant
dressed for usage by all service personnel within workshop.

36

9 Vehicle ready when 33. Keeping vehicle ready half an hour before what is promised to
promised customer and informing him the same to request him to come to
workshop and collect his vehicle.
10 Reasonable time for 34. Explaining the comprehensive checklist to make the customer
servicing understand the volume of checks and repairs to be done on his vehicle
for eg. Paid Service involves around 40 checkpoints and not just oil
and coolant change. Hence, it is essential to tangibalize the service.
35. Hourly update, through SMS, on the progress of work on the vehicle.
11 Informed when vehicle 36. As soon as job-card is opened in computer system an automatic
would be ready personalized SMS can go to the customer mentioning the cost
estimate and promised delivery time.
12 Explanation of work after 37. Explaining the work done by showing the actual technician’s checklist
service is completed of Periodic Maintenance Schedule.
13 Informed when service was 38. Sending SMS to the customer once the vehicle is completely ready
completed apart from making a phone call.
39. Vehicle’s work progress tracking provision for the customer through
website.
14 Reasonable wait at service 40. Providing internet browsing facility in the waiting lounge.
center 41. Keeping latest novels/ books apart from magazines and newspapers.
42. Having small cafeteria within workshop to offer snacks and beverages
to waiting customers.
43. Small jukebox with MP3 songs and headphone can be provided so that
customers can listen to their choice of music without disturbing

others while waiting.
15 Service charges explained 44. The hourly labour rate and time taken can be shown to the customer
on the bill.
45. The MRP printed on the packing of spare parts can be shown to the
customer and amounts matched with the bill.
16 Informed when to schedule 46. Fixing a sticker on the vehicle to remind customer of the due date and
next visit mileage of the vehicle for the subsequent service.
17 Contacted after service 47. Enquiring about service through an SMS survey or sending service
satisfaction survey questionnaire through email for ease in filling/
giving feedback.
18 Notified for service 48. Reminding for service thru SMS in an unobtrusive manner if the
customer is not responding over phone.
49. An estimate with recommendation based on vehicle history can be
sent through post to the customer to prepare him for the service
requirements of his vehicle.
19 Repair order provided 50. Job-card and bill can be emailed to the customer for easy reference in
before service the future.
20 Open on weekends 51. Special offers/ differential pricing can be done to encourage
customers to visit workshop on lean days.
21 Open during late hours 52. Providing overnight service wherein a customer can leave his vehicle
in the evening after work for service and get the vehicle back in the
morning before going to work.

37

22 Estimate provided before 53. As soon as job-card is opened in computer system an automatic
service personalized SMS can go to the customer mentioning the cost
estimate and promised delivery time.
24 Transportation provided 54. Free transportation can be provided to the customer (in the next
bigger vehicle than he owns) within 5 kms of workshop. Beyond that
it can also be provided on chargeable basis. For eg. if customer owns
Maruti Alto then he can be offered transportation in WagonR/ Swift.
55. If customer has to travel longer distance or go to airport or railway
station than taxi-on-call can be arranged.
56. The transportation vehicle should be with AC.
23 Loaner car provided 57. Free standby vehicle must be give if the customer’s vehicle is held up
in the workshop due to internal issues like delay in diagnosis or non-
availability of parts.
58. If customer desires, then he can be given a standby vehicle to be self-
driven on a daily rental basis. The charge can vary depending on the
model.

Few more activities are also suggested below which can delight a customer:
59. For new first time customers an orientation programme can be organized within the workshop to
familiarize them with the workshop facilities and also the high tech tools and equipments kept in the
workshop.
60. For first time car owners, a training programme on taking care of basic maintenance like checking

engine oil level, other fluid levels, wiper washer top-up and emergency activities like changing
spare wheel, checking fuses can be organized within the first month of car ownership.
61. Children who accompany car owners who visit for servicing can be offered toffees and chocolates
by the front office manager.
62. As drivers usually get tired of driving the whole day and they wait in workshop to collect the
vehicle after completion of service, they usually do not feel comfortable to sit even on comfortable
sofas. Separate small room/ dormitory with beds can be arranged within workshop for drivers to
sleep and relax while waiting to collect back their vehicle.
When undertaking activities which delight a customer, we must realize that it is essential to innovate
and find new ways of delighting customers. This is due to the reason that today what is a delighter will
become an expected service tomorrow.

Strategy

Customer
Systems People

38

Hence, a team of innovators must be formed who closely study customer’s evolving needs and also keep
a track of developments in other service industries and technologies to continuously keep evolving new
delighters.
The conclusion from our analysis in this report and the recommendations is that in order to excel in
customer satisfaction, not only should the strategy, systems and people be customer oriented but the 3
aspects should also be coherent to have a strategic fit between various activities.
Also, it is essential to continuously keep measuring and closing the various gaps in the service quality to
meet the customer’s expectations. This is necessary to excel in customer service as highly satisfied
customers are far more likely to remain loyal as compared to merely satisfied customers. The ultimate
aim of customer satisfaction activities is to increase customer loyalty to improve business top-line and
also bottom-line by retaining customers. Customer satisfaction is a critical element for growth and
sustainability of any business.

REFERENCES
1. Services Marketing – Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm (4th ed. SIE) by Zeithaml, Bitner,
Gremler, Pandit.
2. Information on JD Power India Customer Satisfaction index (CSI) Study:
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/?process=search&k=india&i=Automotive
3. Are You Being Served? - Kenneth R Deans, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, University
of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand and Sandy von Allmen, Science Library, University

of Tasmania, Private Bag 67, Hobart, Tasmania
4. How to Delight Your Customers – Barry Berman – California Management Review, Vol. 48, No. 1
Fall 2005
5. Why satisfied customers defect – Thomas O.Jones & W.Earl Sasser Jr. – Harvard Business Review,
Nov-Dec 1995
6. Carnation Auto (multi-brand car service) - http://carnation.in/ServiceDifferentiators.php
7. Maruti Suzuki – www.marutisuzuki.com

39

Service Marketing Management - Managing Customer Satisfaction at a authorized car service station

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Service Marketing Management - Managing Customer Satisfaction at a authorized car service station

Recently uploaded

Service Marketing Management - Managing Customer Satisfaction at a authorized car service station