Deck 11: Regaining Customer Confidence Through Customer Service and Service Recovery

Question 1

Customer service does not really help the firm recover from failed service encounters.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Supplementary services,such as customer service,cannot be used to achieve a competitive advantage in situations where the core product is considered to be a standard commodity.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Customer service is sometimes referred to as a facilitating service.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

One benefit of proactive customer service is that it can be used as an input for making service design improvements.

Question 5

A significant function of customer service is to enable the organization to recover from failures that have generated customer dissatisfaction and complaints.

Question 6

In order to win customers,excellent customer service can compensate for a poor core product.

Question 7

An example of a customer service in a hairdressing service is a haircut.

Question 8

Customer service should be the responsibility of all service employees.

Question 9

Customer complaints or suggestions are often a valuable resource that can ultimately enhance customer relationships.

Question 10

Enlightened service organizations anticipate the need for service recovery.

Question 11

Since all customers are equally attractive,a lost customer is always bad for the service organization.

Question 12

The cost of retaining existing customers is estimated to be three to five times more expensive than it is to gain new customers.

Question 13

Many service organizations have comprehensive service recovery policies that are designed to restore customer franchise to its fullest.

Question 14

Customer service refers to all customer-provider interactions,including the proactive selling and the core product delivery,that facilitate the organization's relationship with its customers.

Question 15

A customer lifetime value approach is one way in which service organizations can predict the long-term cost of losing a customer.

Question 16

Enlightened service organizations devise plans to manage service failures.

Question 17

Service recovery is the effort an organization expends to win back customer goodwill once it has been lost due to service failure.

Question 18

Research suggests that reducing customer defections by as little as 5% can more than double an organization's profits.

Question 19

Even after elevating customer service to a strategic level,the information from dissatisfied customers is not considered to be a strategic organizational resource.

Question 20

Proactive customer service is a valuable information source for learning about customer needs.

Question 21

A moment of truth is any contact point with a service organization that the customer uses to evaluate the service delivery.

Question 22

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
A customer's __________ is the sum of all possible purchases over his/her lifetime.

Question 23

Empowered frontstage employees can be excellent buffers against the lingering effect of a poor service experience.

Question 24

Which of the following is a characteristic of a moment of truth?

A)Simple services have more moments of truth than complex services.
B)All moments of truth carry the same significance for customer satisfaction.
C)Each moment of truth possesses a single opportunity for failure.
D)All of these are characteristic of a moment of truth.
E)None of these is characteristic of a moment of truth.

Question 25

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
_____________ refers to all customer-provider interactions,other than proactive selling and the core product delivery,that facilitates the organization's relationship with its customers.

Question 26

Which of the following recommendations should a service organization consider when it wants to identify the need to engage in service recovery efforts?

A)Service organizations should facilitate complaining behavior by its customers.
B)Service organizations should empower their frontstage employees.
C)Service organizations should engage in management by walking around.
D)Service organizations should consider all of these recommendations.
E)Service organizations should ignore all of these.

Question 27

What should be the first step in the service recovery process?

A)Comprehend the reasons for customer dissatisfaction with the service
B)Correct the problem
C)Apologize to the customer
D)Compensate the customer for the organization's mistake
E)Check whether the organization's effort to win back the customer has been successful

Question 28

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
_______ is the effort an organization expends to win back customers' goodwill once it has been lost due to service failure.

Question 29

All five steps of the service recovery effort should be attempted whenever customer disappointment results in a feeling of

A)victimization.
B)annoyance.
C)Both victimization and annoyance.
D)Neither victimization nor annoyance.
E)There is not enough information to answer the question.

Question 30

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
____________ is any contact with a service organization that the customer may use to evaluate the service.

Question 31

Which service recovery step does a service organization use when it quickly acts to correct the service problem?

A)Apology
B)Urgent reinstatement
C)Empathy
D)Symbolic atonement
E)Follow-up

Question 32

Which of the following considerations is NOT a benefit of treating customer service as a strategic function?

A)Customer service can be used as an information source.
B)Customer service can be used as an input for service design improvements.
C)Customer service provides opportunities to enhance customer relationships.
D)Customer service enables the firm to be exceptionally reactive.
E)All of these are benefits of treating customer service as a strategic function.

Question 33

Which service recovery step does a service organization use when it attempts to understand why the customer is disappointed with the service?

A)Apology
B)Urgent reinstatement
C)Empathy
D)Symbolic atonement
E)Follow-up

Question 34

To be successful in overcoming customer dissatisfaction,all five steps of the service recovery process should be performed whenever a service failure occurs.

Question 35

Which,if any,is NOT a benefit associated with effective service recovery efforts?

A)Customer dissatisfaction can be turned into customer satisfaction.
B)Service recovery efforts can lead to improvements in the overall quality of service delivery.
C)Service recovery efforts can reduce the incidence of bungled moments of truth.
D)All of these are benefits associated with service recovery efforts.
E)None of these are benefits associated with service recovery efforts.

Question 36

Even if it fails,it is better for a service provider to make an effort at service recovery than to make no recovery effort at all.

Question 37

A service organization should encourage its customers to complain to the organization about its service failures.

Question 38

Service recovery cannot reduce the incidence of bungled moments of truth even if the information regarding customers' dissatisfaction is put to good use.

Question 39

Which of the following activities is NOT an example of a customer service?

A)The way a customer is treated before receiving a haircut
B)The customer's haircut itself
C)The handling of a customer's special request
D)All of these are examples of customer service.
E)None of these are examples of customer service.

Question 40

All moments of truth carry the same significance for producing customer satisfaction.

Question 41

You and your business partner own a local restaurant.Recently you became aware that a number of service failures are occurring at the restaurant.When you asked your partner about ways to recover from the failures,your partner simply said to ignore them.He said that customers expect occasional service failures and that there is nothing to worry about.What is your response? Explain your answer.

Question 42

A local service firm hired you to help it discover whether service recovery efforts are needed.What methods might you use to discover whether the firm needs to engage in service recovery efforts?

Question 43

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
_________________ is a gesture that is designed not to provide a replacement service but to communicate to the customer that the organization takes responsibility for his/her disappointment and is willing to pay a price for its failure.

Question 44

Describe the steps service organizations may use in their service recovery efforts.

Question 45

Is the complete service recovery process required to resolve all types of customer disappointments? Explain your answer.

Question 46

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
__________ occurs when a customer is upset about some aspect of a company's service delivery.

Question 47

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
Each ______________ is an opportunity for the organization to succeed or fail in its efforts to endear itself to the customer.

Question 48

What is meant by customer service?

Question 49

What are benefits that a service organization can realize if it takes a proactive approach to customer service (i.e. ,considers customer service as a strategic function)?

Question 50

What are the circumstances surrounding the moments of truth that affect the likelihood that service recovery efforts will be needed?

Question 51

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
___________________is the practice of having service managers spend time "in the trenches" for the purpose of detecting when service recovery efforts may be needed.

Question 52

Why is service failure inevitable,even for well-managed,customer-oriented service organizations?

Question 53

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
________ occurs when a customer is irritated by the organization's service failure itself.

Question 54

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Customer Service
Critical Incidents
Service Recovery
Management by Walking Around
Lifetime Value
Double Deviation
Moment of Truth
Annoyance
Victimization
Symbolic Atonement
__________________ refers to a circumstance in which a failed effort at service recovery is as bad or worse than no effort at all.

Question 55

What are the benefits that a service organization may realize through its service recovery efforts?