Study Plan

Services Marketing - Session 8

Implementing Profitable Service Strategies
Step 1: Review Chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15 from the Services Marketing textbook. I have
listed below specific pages in these chapters that you should focus on.
Step 2: Review Case #15 (Accellion Service Guarantee) on page 621 in your textbook.
Step 3: Prepare to discuss the case in class, using the questions below as a guide. The
oral quiz and class participation will be based on your analysis of this case.
What to focus on in Chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15:

Lifetime value of a (loyal) customer (Chapter 12, pp. 351)

Relationship marketing (Chapter 12, pp. 352-354)

Developing loyalty bonds (Chapter 12, pp. 362-367)

Principles of effective service recovery systems (Chapter 13, pp. 384-385)

Service guarantees (Chapter 13, pp. 388-392)

Table 15.1 Four levels of service performance (Chapter 15, pp. 448)

What to focus on in analyzing the case:

1. What is the marketing impact of a well-designed service guarantee?
2. What aspects should be considered in designing a service guarantee?
3. Evaluate the design of Accellions guarantee.
4. Do you think customers might take advantage of this guarantee and stage service
failures to invoke the guarantee?