Services marketing expert
Description
A specialist in the management and marketing of services in companies. This specialist manages service provision processes or factors related to the marketing and identification of the market segments and of the potential demand for these services. A specialist is required in the field of services. Unlike goods, services are intangible products and processes of production, distribution and consumption in the majority of cases are simultaneous in time and coincident in the space. The provision of services almost always requires user presence and co-partnership.
These and other characteristics of services and of the nature of service provision pose specific management problems and are different enough to those of the management of activities of production of consumer goods or equipment:
- Services, being intangible, cannot be stored. Therefore, adjustments between supply and demand cannot be managed via stocks.
- User participation in the process of service provision requires a very special design in the customer interraction processes.
- The intangibility of services makes customisation of products by unit much more difficult, and also hinders the measurement of productivity and service quality. Service evaluation and quality guarantee criteria are substantially different from that of tangible goods.
- The simultaneity of service provision and of consumption also hinders external control by means of quality inspections and the establishment of guarantees.
- The presence of the human factor in service provision makes these difficult to standarise and therefore difficult to benefit from economies of scale.
Tasks
- Managing the characteristics of the service: contribute to the development of the service concept, the basic services package (essential, facilitating services and goods, support services), and the accessibility of the service, etc.
- Managing the provision of the service: aim to optimise productivity, costs and quality of services, contribute to organising internal resources for provision of the service.
Managing external marketing: identify and select market segments and betas; determine the right marketing mix, manage the client base, ensure client satisfaction, manage image and communication. - Managing the service staff: create and foster a service culture, design effective incentive schemes.
