This document discusses applying marketing theory to surface treatment services. It notes that while classic marketing techniques developed for consumer goods can be effective, services require consideration of specific factors. It defines services as performances that are intangible, inseparable from their providers, variable, and perishable. To effectively market services, companies must "tangibilize" the intangible aspects, establish quality standards to address variability, optimize capacity utilization given perishability, and apply the "extended marketing mix" of 7Ps rather than 4Ps.

1. Services Marketing Theory Applied to Surface Treatment
by Amadeu de Paiva
Sales Manager – MetoKote Brazil
In developing strategic plans or creating plans to enhance customer
satisfaction, many service companies make the mistake of applying
marketing techniques incorrectly. I am not implying the classic marketing
techniques are not good. They are excellent. But in most cases they were
created to serve the consumer goods market. The services market,
including surface treatment, has specific considerations that need to be
taken into account to achieve more satisfactory results.
Defining Service
There are several theoretical definitions of service and how it is different
from product. These definitions vary greatly across different types of services available in the market,
where each one can be more or less linked to a material or product. This distinction is not always explicit
for it is virtually impossible to find an example of a pure product where the benefits perceived by the
client are not linked to an adjacent service; just as it is rare to find a "pure service" which does not share
or include the use of a product. For example when we rent a house or buy an airline ticket, its use is very
tangible, but we do not become owners of the house or the airplane. The ownership of the asset is not
part of the service, only your enjoyment.
An often accepted definition of service is, "… a performance, essentially intangible, which does not
result in the ownership of something. A service may or may not be connected to a physical product."
Companies offering surface treatment provide services in a given time and space that generate
customer value through processing or manufacturing; consequently, they fall into the classification of a
service rather than a product. And to offer services, we are faced with explicit solutions that require
specific management and marketing, as discussed below.
Features that Distinguish Goods and Services.
Services are: (1) intangible, (2) inseparable (or simultaneous), (3) variable (or heterogeneous) and (4)
perishable.
1) Intangibility
Intangibility is the most important feature of services. Pure services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard
or smelled before they are purchased. For example, suppose you go to the hairdresser to get your
haircut, you cannot see the resulting haircut before you purchase it. Or, when you buy a ticket for the
subway, it only has the promise of a quick and safe arrival to your destination.
Among pure products with little added services such as table salt, to pure services with less use of
material goods such as consultants or schools, there is range of possibilities as shown in the "Spectrum
of Tangibility” (Figure 1).
The more intangible the service, the harder it is for the customer to choose a supplier, since what they
are buying is a promise. The client will only know if the service was completed as promised after the
service occurs. To compensate for this lack of certainty, customers seek clues (or signals) to indicate
they will receive quality service. They draw conclusions about the quality of service from those things
they can observe like people, facilities, machinery and equipment, certificates, advertising and price.
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2. Salt
Refriderants
Detergents
Automobiles
Cosmetics
Fast Food
Intangible Dominance
Tangible Dominance
Fast Food
Propaganda
Airlines
Investments
Consultants
Education
Figure 1
Actions to Manage Intangibility
It is the job of a service company’s marketing manager to make these "impressions" reach the client.
This task will be accomplished through physical evidence, with efforts to highlight all concrete and
material aspects of the company through the best means possible, so it can project the desired image.
For example, if a client seeks agility and confidence in an insurance agency, they will need to see a
modern, well-organized store, whose layout is clean and functional, optimized for the flow of people, is
staffed with confident and well-dressed personnel, and provides publicity materials illustrating clear
evidence of these characteristics.
The same applies to a surface treatment firm. If a client sees a cluttered, dirty, confusing layout, with
worn equipment, incomplete and uncertain orders, and lines of trucks waiting on the street, this kind of
physical evidence implies to the client it will receive a similar poor level of service. On the other hand, if
a client sees a clean and functional layout, confident, motivated and unified employees, clear and
accurate orders, a good flow of vehicles and modern, well-maintained equipment and materials, a client
will likely conclude they will receive a high quality level of surface treatment.
This technique is called "tangibilizing" a service, i.e., making the invisible visible, putting focus on
physical evidence which hints at the features and benefits expected by the client. We must remember
these tangible elements of service are just as attention-grabbing and impactful as they are for physical
products. They fulfill the role of giving a first impression. But only the service itself, executed in a
satisfactory manner, can validate their implied promise.
2) Inseparability (or simultaneity)
Material goods are produced, stored, sold and consumed. More pure services such as doctors, schools,
or travel are first sold, then produced and simultaneously consumed. In the case of services, production
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3. and consumption are almost simultaneous. Services are inseparable from the entity which supplies it. An
employee of the service firm is part of the service. Because of this simultaneity, if that employee makes
a mistake, the customer receives faulty service. There is no time to catch the error. The customer is
immediately affected.
This strong supplier-customer interaction is a remarkable aspect of the services market, with both the
supplier and the customer, having an effect on the quality of service outcome. Additionally, in the
surface treatment market, practices such as Kanban and Just-In-Time, have resulted in an ever-
shortening of lead time, driving operations exceptionally close to the simultaneity of a pure service.
Challenges of Inseparability
Surface treatment companies begin their process after receiving the material to be coated. Typically
surface treatment is one of the last stages in manufacturing and the material requiring coating almost
always arrives with urgency. Consequently, the quality-of-care perception depends not only on the
interaction between customer and service provider through near minute-by-minute negotiation of
terms, but it can also be influenced by other customers, who are equally in a hurry and pressing for their
own material.
Because of this strong interaction between production and customer it's almost as if they co-produce
the service. Thus, the function of surface treatment executive management is to try to educate
customers, by thoroughly explaining how the process, cycle times, capabilities and limitations. Because
interaction is unavoidable, minimally, the client needs to understand how the process works in order to
interact constructively.
3) Variability (or heterogeneity)
Because services are performed by people, and almost always with the direct participation of the
customer, they tend to be much more variable than physical goods. Quality is strongly linked to those
who perform the service, as well as, when, where and how it is executed. Take for instance the
perception of service quality for a single employee of a global fast food restaurant with well-established
company standards. It will vary widely from one day to another, depending upon its disposal as well as
the humor and goodwill of the customer at the time of purchase.
In the business-to-business market where services can involve more technical aspects, such as in the
surface finishing industry, further challenges regarding variability can arise. Countless efforts,
techniques, and rules have been created to maintain standardization and uniformity in service but there
are few reports of successful cases.
Overcoming the Challenges of Variability
The perception of quality of service depends on several factors, from the client's capacity to express
their real needs, to the ability and interest of the service provider to meet those needs at that specific
time.
One way around this challenge of variability is to establish minimum acceptable standards of quality and
service performance. Then closely monitor the level of customer satisfaction at every touch point. At the
same time, take advantage of this variability by focusing efforts toward understanding the different
expectations of various customer groups, then customize and personalize the service according to these
differences.
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4. 4) “Perish-ability”
Services are perishable; therefore, they cannot be resold, returned or stored for future use or delivery.
They are provided in a certain time and place. This feature is another big difference compared to goods
which can be stored, returned or resold at another time.
Examples of service perish-ability in our day-to-day lives can be doctors’ office hours, classroom chairs,
or restaurant tables. If there is an inability to provide extra office hours, chairs or tables at times of high
consumption, and consequently service providers are unable to meet demand, the service opportunity
is irretrievably lost. When demand is uniform, this perish-ability feature does not cause major
disruption, but when that demand is buoyant, the problems cost can be serious.
Challenges of “Perish-ability”
Circumventing the challenges of service perish-ability may be the key to a good financial result. In all the
above examples, there will be moments of greater or lesser demand. What remains the same in each
case is a high fixed cost. The same is true for surface treatment services. Minimally, the company must
sell at its operating breakeven point. Proper demand forecasting with an operating plan that seeks an
optimum utilization of capacity is a guarantee of profitability. I speak here of optimal use not peak use.
Optimal use is the maximum demand volume a company can withstand before customers perceive
deterioration in the quality of service. An imbalance in this regard can result in both the inability to meet
excess demand, and therefore a loss of business, as well as having to bear the burden of high operating
costs without corresponding revenue. With this in mind, we can say the long-term profit for a surface
treatment operation is not directly connected to the maximum utilization of their production at peak
periods, but to keep a regular and stable demand. There are various techniques and strategies
suggested to get this balance between capacity and demand, but this issue is so complex it deserves a
separate article.
Product
Product
Physical
Price
Evidence
Classic Extended
Promotion Markting Price Markting
Mix (4 P's) Mix (7 P's)
Processes Place
Place People Promotion
When creating a strategic plan for consumer goods, the marketing manager needs to define individual
tactics to cover the “Marketing Mix” or better known as “The 4P's”: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
We conclude in the field of surface treatment, the specific service attributes listed above require the
marketing manager to work with what is called the "Extended Marketing Mix " or “The 7P's”: Product,
Price, Place and Promotion, plus the People involved in the service, the Processes, and the Physical
Evidence used to "tangibilize" the intangible service.
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