Services Marketing | CMKT 401

Why study services marketing? The world economy is dominated by services. In the U.S. approximately 75% of the labor force, 70% of the GNP, 45% of an average family’s budget, and 32% of exports are accounted for by services. This course will address the distinct needs and problems of service firms in the area of marketing.

The primary theme of the course is that service organizations such as banks, educational institutions, hospitals, hotels, professional services and transportation companies require a distinctive approach to marketing strategy, both in development and execution.

The course will build on previously learned marketing concepts to make them specifically applicable in the service industry settings. We will shed some light on the role of services in manufacturing companies and find out what they can do to gain a competitive edge.

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

  1. Get an in-depth appreciation and understanding of the unique challenges inherent in managing and delivering quality services. Participants will be introduced to and have the opportunity to work with tools and strategies that address these challenges
  2. Develop an understanding of the “state of the art” service management thinking
  3. Promote a customer service-oriented mindset
  4. Understand the importance of customer experience as a source of competitive advantage
  5. Integrate the customer experience at the heart of a Service Strategy
  6. Explore the key drivers of customer experience
  7. Promote a customer experience-oriented mindset
  8. Understand the unique challenges involved in marketing and managing services
  9. Identify differences between marketing in service versus manufacturing organizations and understand how service can be a competitive advantage in manufacturing organizations
  10. Identify and analyze the various components of the services marketing mix (three additional P’s) as well as key issues required in managing service quality
  11. Appreciate the role of employees (and often customers) in service delivery, customer satisfaction, and service recovery
  12. Appreciate other key issues in service businesses, such as managing supply and demand, the overlap in marketing/operations/human resource systems, and relationship management
  13. Build upon important workplace skills such as cooperation, teamwork, meeting deadlines & report writing through active learning activities and other classroom exercises
  14. Become better, more aware, and possibly less naïve services consumers

Enrolment is now open for January, April, July, or October. Please contact us for more information.

Course Name | Code: Services Marketing | CMKT 401
Pre-requisite: CMKT 302 | Selling & Sales Management
Course Fees: $775
Delivery: Virtual Instructor-Led
Platform: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or similar
Duration: 11 weeks / 42 hours / 11 weekly sessions / 4 hours per session

This course is one of the eight required courses to obtain the International Marketing Management Diploma. more

Course Outline

SessionTopic  Outcomes
1New Perspectives on Marketing in the Service Economy—Trends and Opportunities* Macroeconomics, Trends, and Opportunities
* Distinctive Marketing Challenges Posed by Services
* Categorization of Services  
2Consumer Behavior—Managing and Understanding the Service Experience* The Three-Stage Model of Consumer Behavior Applied to Services
* Customer Expectations The Service Delivery System
* Theatre as a Metaphor for Service Delivery
* Role and Script Theories Applied to Services  
3Marketing Mix I: The Service Product* Key Steps in Service Planning
* Core and Supplementary Services The Flower of Service—Adding Value via Supplementary Services
* Branding of Services
* New Service Development
4Marketing Mix II: Distributing Services – Marketing Mix III: Pricing of Services and Revenue Management  * Distribution Channels for Services
* Type-of-Contact as Determinant of Channel Options
* Global Distribution Systems
* Objectives and Foundation for Setting Prices
* Cost-based, Value-based, and Competition-based Pricing
* Revenue Management
* Ethical Concerns and Perceived Fairness of Pricing Policies
5-6    Marketing Mix IV: Communications Mix for Services* Communication Strategies for Services
* Branding and Communications
Midterm
7– Service Delivery I: Designing Customer Service Processes – Service Delivery II: Crafting the Service Environment* Blueprinting as a Basic Tool for Understanding and Managing Service
* Processes
* Service Process Redesign
* Increasing Customer Participation
* Balancing Demand and Capacity
* Minimizing Perceptions of Waiting Time
8Service Delivery III: Managing People for Service Advantage* Importance of Service Personnel
* Conflicts in Boundary—Spanning Roles and Implications of Role Stress
* The Cycles of Failure, Mediocrity, and Success
* Selection, Training, and Motivation of Service Staff
* Service Leadership and Service Culture
9Marketing Implementation I: Managing Customer Loyalty LTV, Loyalty Programs, and CRM* The Economics of Customer Retention
* Managing the Customer Pyramid
* The Wheel of Loyalty
* Loyalty Programs
* Customer Churn Diagnostics and Retention
* CRM Strategies  
10– Marketing Implementation II: Complaint Handling and Service Recovery – Marketing Implementation III: Improving Service Quality and Productivity   – Project Presentation* Defining and Measuring Service Quality
* The Quality Model: Diagnosing Service Quality Failures
* Tools for Analyzing and Addressing Service Quality Problems
* Return on Quality
* Defining and Measuring Service Productivity
* Improving Productivity
* Consumer Complaining Behavior
* Principles of Effective Service Recovery Systems
* The Power of Service Guarantees
* Organizational Learning Through Effective Customer Feedback Systems
* Analysis of Complaint/Compliment Letters and Managerial Implications, Service Encounter Analysis—Drivers of (Dis)Satisfaction, How to Get Loyal Customers  
11  Project Presentation (cont’d) 
Final Exam

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