List three steps that service firms can take to increase quality control over services and reduce variability.
Three steps that service firms can take to increase quality control and reduce variability in services are:
a. Invest in good hiring and training procedures: Recruiting the right employees and providing them with excellent training is crucial, regardless of whether employees are highly skilled professionals or low-skilled workers. Better-trained personnel exhibit six characteristics: competence, courtesy, credibility, reliability, responsiveness, and communication.
b. Standardize the service-performance process throughout the organization: A service blueprint maps out the service process, the points of customer contact, and the evidence of service from the customer's point of view.
c. Monitor customer satisfaction: Service firms can employ suggestion and complaint systems, customer surveys, and comparison shopping. Customer needs vary in different areas. This allows firms to develop region-specific customer satisfaction programs. Firms can also develop customer information databases and systems for more personalized service, especially online.