TRANG 58 GỬI WA MAIL:quynt2303@gnail INTANGIBILITY Because services are essentially intangible, customers cannot sample—taste, feel, see, hear, or smell—services before they buy them. This feature places some strain on sellers. Salespeople must concentrate on the benefits to be de¬rived from the service, rather than emphasizing the service itself. An insurance sales¬person thus may stress service benefits such as guaranteed payment of a child’s col¬lege expenses or a retirement income of so many dollars per month. AT&T salespersons discuss how business users can cut selling costs by using AT&T’s long¬distance calling system. INSEPARABILITY Services often cannot be separated from the seller. Moreover, some services must be created and dispensed simultaneously. For example, dentists create and dispense almost all their services at the same time. From a sales standpoint, inseparability frequently means that a direct sale is the only possible channel of distribution and that a seller’s services cannot be sold in very many markets. These characteristics also limit the scale of a firm’s operation. One person can repair only so many autos in a day or treat only so many medical patients. As an exception to the inseparability feature, the services may be sold by a per¬son representing the creator-seller.Travel agents, insurance brokers, and rental agents, for instance, represent and help promote services other institutions produce. HETEROGENEITY A service industry, or even an individual seller of services, can¬not standardize output. Each unit of the service is somewhat different from other units of the same service. For example, an airline does not give the same quality of service on each trip. All repair jobs a mechanic does on automobiles are not of equal quality.The difficulty of judging the quality of a service is an added complication. (Of course, we can say the same for some goods.) It is particularly difficult to forecast quality in advance of buying a service. For example, a person pays to see a ball game without knowing whether it will be an exciting one, well worth the price of admis¬sion, or a dull performance. PERISHABILITY AND FLUCTUATING DEMAND Services are highly perishable, and they cannot be stored. Unused electric power, empty seats in a stadium, and idle me¬chanics in a garage all represent business lost forever. Furthermore, the market for ser¬vices fluctuates considerably by season, by day of the week, and by hour of the day. Many ski lifts lie idle all summer, and in some areas golf courses go unused in the win¬ter. The use of city buses fluctuates greatly during the day. Some notable exceptions to this generalization regarding the perishability and storage of services exist. In health and life insurance, for example, the service is pur¬chased and then held by the insurance company (the seller) until needed by the buyer or the beneficiary.This hold constitutes a type of storage. The combination of perishability and fluctuating demand creates product- planning, pricing, and promotional challenges for service company executives. Some organizations have developed new uses for idle plant capacity during off-seasons. Thus, during the summer, several ski resorts operate their ski lifts for hikers and sight¬seers who want access to higher elevations. Advertising and creative pricing also stimulate demand during slack periods. Ho¬tels offer lower prices and family packages for weekends.Telephone companies offer lower rates during nights and weekends. In some college towns, apartment rates are reduced in the summer. A TOUGH SELL Selling services is the most challenging sales job you could have because of the characteristics of services. Intangibles are often difficult for many prospects to understand; these include insurance, financial investments, car repairs, and health services such as surgery.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 03:32:36 +0000
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