Chapter 12
Customer Service
Chapter Objectives
1. Explain what customer service is and the qualities
necessary to providing exceptional customer service
2. Understand why service quality is important to sport
managers looking to maximize their organization’s
standing in the sport marketplace
3. Identify and describe ways to measure customer
service that are useful and easy to understand
4. Identify and describe the consequences of customer
service in a sport business marketplace
Defining Customer Service
• “A series of activities designed to enhance the level of
customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a
product or service has met the customer expectation.”
(Turban et al., 2002)
– Designed to create and maintain relationships
with your customers
Importance of Customer Service
• Measure of management performance
• Related to the positioning of the organization
• Key determinant of ultimate consumer behavior
variables such as customer loyalty
Customer Service Qualities
Customer Service Qualities (cont.)
Customer Service Qualities (cont.)
Relationship Marketing
• “To establish, maintain, enhance and commercialize
customer relationships so that the objectives of the
parties involved are met. This is done by a mutual
exchange and fulfillment of promises. (Gronroos,
1990, p. 5)”
• An on-going process that goes beyond short term gain
and extends to repeated usage
Improving Customer Relationships
• Conduct regular surveys with your customer
database to ensure that you understand the
current challenges and needs of your market.
• Integrate customer feedback as much as
possible in order to improve your products and
services.
• Understand the power of social media (yes,
even parks and recreation departments should
have a social media presence) and maintain
active profiles on the major social networking
sites.
• Have effective feedback systems in place.
• Use a reliable customer relationship
management strategy.
Improving Customer Relationships
(cont.)
• Conduct regular training sessions for all members of
your staff to ensure that proper customer service
practices are being used in every customer encounter.
• Stay on the cutting edge of new technologies in your
field.
• Embrace high-tech, but ALWAYS maintain “hightouch” by personally (not email, text, or social media
message) reaching out to your partners, vendors, and
customers.
• Strive for a high customer satisfaction rate.
• Consistently go out of your way to let your customers
know how much your organization values them
(beyond their financial contributions).
Ways to Measure Customer Service
and Service Quality
• SERVQUAL: Measures the service quality of sport
facilities and events
• TEAMQUAL: Measure the performance of ticket
takers, ticket ushers, merchandisers, concessionaires,
and customer representatives
• SPORTSERV: Assess perceptions of service quality
among sport spectators
– Tangibles, responsiveness, access, security, and
reliability
Ways to Measure Customer Service
and Service Quality (cont.)
• Scale of Event Quality in Spectator Sports (SEQSS)
– Game quality (C): Refers to fan perceptions about
the excellence of game performance (excitement,
drama, etc.) by the athletes/participants
– Augmented service quality (P): Refers to the
quality perceptions of the of the secondary
products offered in conjunction with the event (ingame entertainment, music, concessions, etc.)
Ways to Measure Customer Service
and Service Quality (cont.)
– Interaction quality (P): Focuses on how the
product or service is delivered
– Outcome quality (P): What the consumer receives
as a result of this interaction with a sport or leisure
organization (socialization, overall evaluation of
experience; can be tied to outcome of event,
enjoyment, etc.)
– Physical environment quality (P): Perceptions of
facility ambience, design feature, and quality and
use of signage/symbols
Outcomes of Service Encounters
• Satisfaction
– “The positive perceptions or feelings an
individual forms, elicits or gains as a result of
engaging in activities of their choosing” (Beard
& Ragheb, 1980).
– Five elements of personal satisfaction
•
Reliability
•
Tangibles
•
Responsiveness
•
Assurance
•
Empathy
Outcomes of Service Encounters
(cont.)
• Loyalty and repatronage
– Four stages of loyalty
• Cognitive stage
• Affective stage
• Conative loyalty
• Action stage