AM6217 Services Marketing Management: CRM & Quality Case Study

This case study provides advice to Mr. Smith, who recently acquired a restaurant, on various aspects of service management. It includes a service blueprint illustrating customer interaction points, five customer relationship management strategies to enhance customer satisfaction (collection of custo...Read More

Running Head: SERVICE MARKETING 1
Service Marketing Management

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Service Blueprint....................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Customer Relationship Management Strategies...................................................................................5
2.1 Collection of Customer Data..............................................................................................................5
2.2 Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction.............................................................................6
2.3 Offering Excellent Quality..................................................................................................................7
2.4 Effective Marketing and Promotion of Services.................................................................................7
2.5 Personalized interaction with Customers..........................................................................................8
3.0 Customer Satisfaction Questionnaires...................................................................................................8
4.0 Service Delivery Standards..................................................................................................................10
4.1 Greetings to customers at entrance................................................................................................10
4.2 Serving food on time.......................................................................................................................10
4.3 Response to mails and telephones..................................................................................................11
4.4 Developing a friendly and attractive environment..........................................................................11
4.5 Cleanliness.......................................................................................................................................11
4.6 Presenting the guests with the food menu......................................................................................11
4.7 Taking the order..............................................................................................................................11
4.8 Presenting the food bills..................................................................................................................11
4.9 Take Away Service...........................................................................................................................11
4.10 Feedback of customers..................................................................................................................12
5.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................13

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1.0 Introduction
Service management is a significant managerial discipline that is totally focused on the
customers and service (Scarborough, 2016). For any service organization, it is very important to
manage the services by adopting effective strategies. The primary objective of this report is to
provide advice to Mr. Smith on different aspects and concepts of service management. Recently,
Mr. Smith has just acquired a 50 seat restaurant which offers a varied mix of bistro style food
and a wide range of beverages. To advise Mr. Smith, this report focuses on different concepts of
service management. Firstly, it discusses about the service blueprint that states on which position
customers came into business’s contact. Further, there is the discussion about five customer
relationship management strategies which Mr. Smith can implement to enhance customer
satisfaction. Then, it includes a questionnaire which can assist to understand needs and
perception of customers. At the end, it entails ten hard or soft service delivery standards which
can help customers to measure the quality of service of Smith’s restaurant.
1.1 Service Blueprint
A Service blueprint is a diagram which presents all the associated parties in service delivery
process of an organization. It is a major tool that is used to design a new service or to recreate
current ones. It is recommended to Mr. Smith that to develop service development and
innovation, a service organization must draw its service blueprint customer centric (Hossain,
Enam & Farhana, 2017). The below-given diagram depicts the service blueprint diagram for the
processes of a restaurant. This service blueprint has made of three horizontal lines i.e. line of
interaction, line of visibility and line of internal interaction that separate different processes and
activities. Among them, first line parts customer perspective from interaction of front desk
employees. The place between horizontal and vertical line indicates where the front desk staff
and customers interact with each other. For instance, when the employee serves the food or drink
as per customer’s order and customer receive his/her ordered food or drink.
In this, the second horizontal line is the line of visibility that separates the front desk employees
who can be looked and cannot be looked. Further, the third line draws when the waiter takes the
order from kitchen and this is the activity that cannot be seen by the customers. It can be stated to

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Mr. Smith that service processes created as per the perspective of customers is the best because it
fulfills the needs and demands of customers and satisfy them (Jauhari, Dutta & Jauhari, 2017).
Parking Restaurant Drinks Food Crockery Cash Counter (Bill)
Area Environment Menu and
Appearance Food Taste
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
The.
Physical
Evidence
Consumer
actions
Customer
arrival
Contact at
reception
Check out
the menu
Order the
food
Order
received
Leave the
outlet
Request
for bill
Contact employees actions
(front desk staff)
Interact and
take order
Serve food
and drinks Take the
order
Food
serving
Generating
the bill
Check the
Reservation if
table is
booked
Convey order
to Kitchen
staff
Food
preparation
Billing
counter
Invisible Visible
Supporting process
(back office staff)

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In the service blueprint of restaurant, Mr. Smith needs to make emphasis on below-discussed
components:
Customer Actions
In the service blueprint, this part includes the activities of customers arriving at restaurant. As
shown in above blueprint, first step is the arrival of the customer. The customer arrives to the
restaurant’s outlet and places an order for food and drinks. The person on reception greets
him/her and generates two bills i.e. one for delivery counter and one for customer. This aspect of
blueprint is very important as satisfaction level and customer perception of Mr. Smith’s Café’s
services and facilities measure the restaurant’s success. After receiving the order, the customer
eats the food and leaves the restaurant after making the payment. Mr. Smith needs to manage the
process according to actions of customers.
Physical Evidence
Physical evidence has a major influence on the service quality and productivity of organization.
Under this, Mr. Smith needs to ensure that his restaurant is located in a strategic location where
customer can reach easily. They need to decorate the restaurant and its ambience in a manner
which attracts the customers (Joshua, 2015). Restaurant needs to make the customers feel better
when they intake the food. Additionally, Mr. Smith needs to focus on other physical things like
food menu, crockery, themed and comfortable seats etc.
Contact Employee Actions
This aspect is very important for effective service quality and performance of a service
organization. In the service blueprint, this component shows both visible and invisible activities
of employees. A welcoming and warm reception can give a quality impression to the customers.
Also, there are various employees who engage with the guests but they are out of visibility line.
Under this, it can be advised to Mr. Smith that management should aim to provide training to
employees on etiquettes to attend customers.
Support Process

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This aspect of blueprint shows all non-contact staff that provides other support services to ensure
the quality of services. Mr. Smith needs to emphasize of these supporting processes like billing,
food processing, parking facilities, supply of raw materials, lodging facilities etc. It will assist the
organization to provide quality food and fulfill the needs of customers.
Thus, Mr. Smith can develop a service blueprint that can track the customer interaction with its
restaurant business.
2.0 Customer Relationship Management Strategies
In today’s competitive business environment, people prefer to choose the restaurant by
considering different factors like good taste, attractive ambience, higher quality etc. This is also
determined on the basis of some other factors like Assurance, Reliability, Tangibles,
Responsiveness and Empathy. These are the major factors the service delivery. In the
introduction of new restaurant, Mr. Smith needs to emphasize on managing effective
relationships with their customers (Greve & Schlüschen, 2018). First, the management of
restaurant needs to know about the demands of customers and take their feedback towards
restaurant services. Mr. Smith has purchased a new restaurant in Courtney Place Wellington and
there are various restaurants which are already operating their business in this area (van der
Deen, Pearson, Petrovic & Collinson, 2014). It will be very threatening for Mr. Smith and there
will be need of various efforts to get success in the market.
There are some specific strategies which can be used by Mr. Smith to develop good relationships
with the customers. Five customer service relationship management strategies are discussed
below:
2.1 Collection of Customer Data
For a restaurant organization, it is very important to develop effective customer relationship
management strategies. One of the major strategies is to gather the external and internal data in
the firm. Under this, internal data includes customer feedbacks, restaurant sales and details of
employees. Apart from this, external data can be social media pages, profile of customers,
complaints of customers and competitors’ actions. To develop relationships with the customer,
Mr. Smith should identify the related data and use this in his organization. It will assist his
restaurant to survive among competitors, gain profits and revenues and fulfill the needs of

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customers accordingly. Social media has become the major tool to gather interesting facts about
the customers (Hillebrand, Nijholt & Nijssen, 2011). Mr. Smith can track their social page
profiles and note their choices and preferences. Most significantly, the organization needs to get
into two-way communication where customers can entail their opinions and views on the basis of
real time. To understand the importance of this strategy, the example of Starbucks can be taken
into consideration. Recently, this organization has implemented an offline and online platform
that strengthens its relationship with clients by involving them in an exclusive manner.
Service marketing theory states how the customers use different types of information to select
the most appropriate restaurant. The management of Mr. Smith’s restaurant should focus on all
the factors and strategies which can assist in understanding the needs and wants of customers
towards restaurants and food choices. Additionally, it can make changes in the food menu
considering the customer reviews, reward program, competition and customer satisfaction
survey. It will have positive impact on the perception of customers that restaurant values them
(Wiid, Cant & Prinsloo, 2015).
2.2 Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction
It is one of the most important customer relationship management strategies that can be used by
Mr. Smith in his restaurant. First, the organizations need to focus on employee satisfaction as a
satisfied employee can lead to a satisfied customer. By focusing on the employees first, the
restaurant can meet the promises made to its customers. Mr. Smith needs to understand that
employees play an important role in providing satisfaction and loyalty among customers. Firstly,
it should make efforts to satisfy its employees by providing them incentives and other benefits.
Generally, customers respond how the employees behave with them. They are the major players
who can create a comfortable environment in the restaurant. In this process, the first step should
be to develop trust and loyalty between employees and managers. The organization needs to
engage its staff in decision making process (Khodakarami & Chan, 2014). Mr. Smith can place
its staff first by making changes in restaurant’s environment and developing policies for work-
life balance. It can make efforts to handle the issues of employees. If employees will be satisfied
with the organization then they will focus on satisfying the customers arriving at restaurant.
In this context, institutional approach states that when the staff of an organization is pressurized
for its own profits, then its productivity will be affected. It can be overcome by combining its

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HRM and marketing strategies. While hiring the employees for his restaurant, Mr. Smith needs
to recruit qualified employees so that they can develop better relationships with its customers.
The employees should be trained in a manner that they put customer service on the first priority
and behave with the customers in sophisticated way.
2.3 Offering Excellent Quality
There are various factors like cost, taste, ambience, quality, food serving etc. which customers
consider before choosing a food restaurant. Quality of service is major factor that have positive
impact on customer perception and it supports the organization to boost its productivity. There
are various service organizations which believe that quality of service lead them towards profit
maximization. In his restaurant, Mr. Smith should emphasize on offering excellent quality of
food ingredients and overall service to its customers. In any food outlet, the food is cooked and
consumed at same place. So, chef and servers are also important part of service. Mr. Smith needs
to ensure that quality of food and service is equal as overall service quality has impact on
customer perception (Calabrese & Corbò, 2015).
Service marketing theory can be applied to emphasize on the quality of service. This theory
assists the organization to understand the needs of customers towards service quality. Offering
excellent quality of service can assist Mr. Smith to increase the repeat intention of customers. If
it will provide higher quality, then customers will visit the outlet frequently. It will be profitable
for Smith’s restaurant. Thus, it is very important for Mr. Smith to understand that offering good
quality can lead it to develop better relationships with the customers (Kumar, 2016).
2.4 Effective Marketing and Promotion of Services
Marketing and promotion are the most appropriate strategies which can help an organization to
develop and maintain the relationships with customers. Apart from above strategies, this strategy
plays a significant role in establishing an effective CRM system. Considering the needs and
demands of customers, Mr. Smith needs to focus on formulating and implementing effective
marketing strategies so that it can approach and retain its targeted customers. This strategy can
assist Mr. Smith to deliver its brand message among its customers. There are various modes of
marketing like online media, offline media, broadcasting media etc. through which Mr. Smith
can advertise its restaurant services to its customers (Cook, 2017). E-mail marketing is one of the
major channels that can be used in promoting the restaurant. In order to manage relationships

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with customers, the employees of his restaurant can communicate with the customers via mail or
text messages. They can send the messages related to the discounts and offers on food menu.
To survive and stay competitive in the market, Mr. Smith needs to apply marketing theory. He
should place the service quality standards on the priority. By using different technologies and
processes, his restaurant can connect with the customers and manage relationships with them.
The restaurant can create a mobile application where people can share the images of food and
post the comments regarding the services (Cross, 2018).
2.5 Personalized interaction with Customers
In addition to above CRM strategies, Mr. Smith can use this strategy to make better relationships
with its customers. Personalized interaction with the customers can have a significant impact to
not only but also to post-purchase relationship. Under this, it is necessary to approach the
customers on a regular basis so that business can increase the value of its services. Mr. Smith
needs to make personal communication with its customers (Kumar & Reinartz, 2018). It can
contact with customers by sending text messages on their special days like birthdays,
anniversaries. The restaurant can develop a CRM software so that they can store the required
information about their regular customers like contact numbers and e-mail id’s. Additionally,
Mr. Smith’s restaurant should take the feedback of some of its initial customers so that they can
make changes in its food menu accordingly. Using this information, Mr. Smith can adjust its
follow-up techniques accordingly.
Thus, these are the major strategies which Mr. Smith can adopt to manage service relationships
with its restaurant’s customers.
3.0 Customer Satisfaction Questionnaires
Mr. Smith can form as template of questionnaires that can assist him to analyze the satisfaction
among customers towards restaurant’s services (Palmer, 2014).
Hi All,
Help us to improve our services,
It is good to make improvement in the services considering the feedbacks of our valuable
customers. Please spend a minute to complete this small survey. The data which you will share

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with use will help use to enhance services.
1. How often do you eat outside?
 Rarely
 2 to 4 times
 5 to 8 times
 10 plus
2. How frequently do you visit this restaurant?
 First time
 1 to 2 times every month
 3 to 5 times every month
 Others
3. How long it take to give you a food menu?
 Instantly
 2 to 5 minutes
 5 to 10 minutes
 10 to 15 minutes
4. How was the speed of service?
 Same As I estimated
 Less than I expected
 More than I expected
5. Did you like the seating arrangement?
 Yes
 No
6. Food items have an appealing appearance
 Yes
 No
 Not applicable
7. Was served food fresh and tasty?
 Yes
 No
8. The availability of utensils and napkins were sufficient?

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 Yes
 No
9. Are you satisfied with the services of our restaurant?
 Yes
 No
 Other (Mention if specific ______)
10. Would you recommend our services to your friends and family?
 Yes
 No
11. Other Suggestions for improvement________________________________________
Thank for filling the survey!!!!!!
4.0 Service Delivery Standards
There are two types of service delivery standards i.e. hard and soft standards. Hard standards are
the standards which can be calculated upon and measured via professional audits while the soft
standards are documented by the use of perceptual measures (Havant Borough Council, 2018).
10 service delivery standards are discussed below:
4.1 Greetings to customers at entrance
It is very important for the restaurant staff to greet the customers at entrance and seat them at the
desired table or at the waiting area if there is no space. Mr. Smith needs to hire the staff
accordingly (Lusch & Vargo, 2014).
4.2 Serving food on time
Serving food on time is very important for a successful service encounter at any restaurant.
Generally, a food restaurant takes 15 to 20 minutes to serve the food that is ordered by
customers. By reducing food serving time can assist the organization to entice more customers.
Kitchen staff takes 10 to 15 minutes to prepare the food and front desk employees take 3 to 4
minutes to serve the food on customer table. Mr. Smith needs to ensure that their team is making
efforts to serve the food on time (Gummesson, 2014).

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4.3 Response to mails and telephones
This service standard needs to emphasize on responding to the telephones and mails of
customers. It might be possible that customers are calling to know about the availability of seats
or reserve their table in advance. The employees should answer the calls and mails of customers
instantly otherwise they will get frustrated.
4.4 Developing a friendly and attractive environment
This service standard indicates that restaurant needs to develop an attractive and friendly
atmosphere so that customers can feel very comfortable. Temperature should be according to the
season (Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011).
4.5 Cleanliness
Cleanliness of restaurant is a significant standard to attract more customers. Today’s people are
very much concerned about the cleaning (Lee, Hallak & Sardeshmukh, 2016). So, restaurant
needs to focus on cleaning of table, environment, crockery, toilets, wash base etc.
4.6 Presenting the guests with the food menu
After some time, the waiter presents the guests with the food menu and they should wait for 5
minutes before receiving the order. They can suggest some special and best dishes of the
restaurant.
4.7 Taking the order
Taking the order without time lag is a good service of restaurant. The employees of restaurant
should approach the customers in next 5 to 10 minutes so that they can spend total half an hour
to have the food (The Restaurant Times, 2018).
4.8 Presenting the food bills
When the customers are free with the food, it is the responsibility of accountant or receptionist to
generate the bill for the order. The staff will present the bill without any delay. If the accountant
gives the wrong information in the bills then it can impact the brand image of restaurant.
4.9 Take Away Service
Normally, all restaurants have the take away service. In any restaurant, if any customer order the
food and tell to pack for take away service. The employees should make efforts to prepare the
order within 15 minutes. The packing materials should be very clean and attractive.

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4.10 Feedback of customers
Receiving the feedback of customers is one of the major standards that each and every restaurant
needs to take. It will give a feedback form the customer while they are leaving. Then, it will
make the changes in products and service offering accordingly (Lovelock, Patterson & Walker,
2015).
5.0 Conclusion
In the limelight of above report, it can be concluded that Mr. Smith should use the above
strategies and standards to offer the services effectively. The restaurant should implement the
above customer relationship strategies so that it can retain the existing customers and create new
customers. As mentioned above, training and teaching employees can assist the organization to
offer quality services to the customers. Mr. Smith can improve the service quality by using
different processes and technologies. There are some specific service standards which each and
every restaurant should follow to attract more customers towards its services.

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References
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implementation in service organisations. Total Quality Management & Business
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https://www.ngdata.com/what-is-customer-relationship-marketing/
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