All retailers provide services. Even though the customer might be coming for the product, the purchase includes consulting and delivering. Some retailers—such as appliance repair shops and financial advisors—primarily sell services, with any dollars that result from product sales being almost an afterthought.
Because of the universality of services in retailing, recognize how your customers evaluate your services. Based on research findings from Chinese University of Hong Kong and Nankai University, I recommend that you place the highest importance on showing attentiveness, friendliness, and empathy towards services customers. Surprisingly, those three service relationship factors influence customer satisfaction to a greater extent than do service outcome factors, such how well the clothes dryer works after being repaired, if the cruise ship vacation met expectations, and even the extent of financial returns on investments.
This is not to say that the outcomes of services are unimportant to consumers. But with many consumer services, it's difficult to tell how good the outcomes really are. The consumer pays for a lube and oil change on the family car, but how do they know if the extra-cost safety check was done properly? The patient is relieved that the dental work is over, but how can she know if things would have been less painful if she'd gone to a different dentist?
Once we've found a reliable service provider, we usually don't continue to shop around. The service provider is pleased to have us keep coming back, and the consumer is pleased to have a service provider to come back to.
Attentiveness, friendliness, and empathy become even more important when the outcome of the service is obviously bad. Customers will be less dissatisfied and less likely to blame the service provider for the problem when the service provider has demonstrated they care.
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