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Problem

Critique this statement: “A key dimension of success in services marketing, as opposed to products marketing, is that operating personnel in the service firm play a critical selling and marketing role.”

Step-by-step solution

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Step 1/2

Service is an intangible good that a firm offers to the customer to satisfy their needs and wants. Services are different from products and have unique marketing challenges and benefits.

Step 2/2

It is true that one of the key dimensions of service success is that the service personnel plays a vital role as a selling and marketing tool. The service and the service providers are inseparable and the person himself can play the role of sales and marketing tools. His behaviour and performance what is tangible instead of the service. Personal interaction stimulates and persuades the customer to make purchase decisions. In the case of product, sales and marketing are not personal in nature. Advertisement and product itself do not communicate with the customers and thus, stimulation and persuasion are low in the case of product. However, in the case of the service industry, the person who provides the service through his or her performance in-person plays the role to promote not only the service but also the firm as a whole. These are delivered on a real-time basis and thus it is called real-time marketing. The sales occur at the point of contact with the service provider (personnel) and the customer. This maximizes the possibility of closing the sale successfully than in product marketing. The marketing tool uses for the product is not real-time but in service, it is interactive and real. Thus, the critical element in the service sector is the personnel interaction with customers that stimulates actual service delivery at the point of contact.