Service Heterogeneity : How To Maintain Superior Service Quality

Service heterogeneity: When the quality of service changes each time it is delivered to target customers or when service quality doesn't remain constant

Now before getting into "how to reduce service heterogeneity" to deliver consistent, seamless quality service to your target customer to reap the benefits of highly satisfied customer, (According to a study 64% of customers in USA has pointed out lower service quality or quality not up to the expectation as major cause of dissatisfaction. Now 64% represents a big chunk in any niche and you surely don’t want to be the one among those, for whom major cause of their customers dissatisfaction is lower or inconsistent service quality ⁽¹⁾) first let’s consider a real life parallel to a quality service.

Quality Service & Special Forces

Ever wondered, why Navy Seals, Green Berets, SAS, Spetsnaz are considered the best among the armed forces, the elite of the armed forces ?

Well, you know right ? Because 

1.      They are best trained
2.      They have awesome gear
3.      Full support (tangible and intangible) from their higher ranks
4.      Considered the best, portrayed as the most brave, courageous, lethal etc with honor, respect, admiration and appreciation (In other words Branding)

Now consider this, what if your service provider aka front line employees are

1.      Best trained (in terms of job description and requirement, customer dealing, behavior, attitude etc)
2.      Have awesome tools (tools that enhances service quality, get the job done effectively and efficiently)
3.      Full support (tangible and intangible) from the higher hierarchy
4.      Branded as the best service, service providers in terms of quality across all customer touch points.

That’s it, you will have the best service quality (consistent and seamless) with the best men delivering the best service effectively and efficiently.

Remember that as in Special Forces training plays essential role, as we know without effective training, nothing would make them the elite force, neither the gear nor the full support or branding.
  

The same goes for front line employees or service providers, not to mention that customers perception of the service brand depends on the behavior of front line employees ⁽²⁾. In other words if you want your customers to consider your brand in a good way, having a good impression of your brand then you need to have your employees behave in best possible manner when it comes to dealing with customers.

And according to another study, customers’ expectation about a service brand can be sustained through employees performance ⁽³⁾ , clearly all these points are strongly reemphasizing the importance of front line employees training.

Along with front line employees centric approach, you can also reduce service heterogeneity by standardizing for instance standardizing outlet exterior/interior, setting attire standards for your front line employees and automation of service where possible so on and so forth.
  

That’s it, over to you guys, what else you think would reduce service heterogeneity and improve service quality ?! Comment box is just under :)

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References:

1.       wwwDOTaccentureDOTcom/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Global-Consumer-Pulse-Research-Study-2013-Key-Findings.pdf
2.       Cadwallader, S., Burke Jarvis, C., Bitner, M.J. and Ostrom, A.L. (2010), “Frontline employee motivation to participate in service innovation implementation”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 38, pp. 219-239.
3.       Ind, N. (2004), Living the Brand: How to Transform Every Member of Your Organization into a Brand Ambassador, 2nd ed., Kogan Page, London.