Running Head: SERVICE ENCOUNTER REPORT 1

Service Encounter Report

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course Title

Date
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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to give an overview of my service encounters with MacDonald’s

(Fishponds Bristol) and Lloyds Bank (Fishponds, Bristol). MacDonald’s is a fast food restaurant

which is the largest restaurant chain in the world in terms of revenue. The restaurant is best

known for hamburgers, French fries and cheeseburgers but it also features breakfast items,

chicken products, wraps, milkshakes, soft drinks and desserts. The company has also added more

items on the menu such as fruits, smoothies, fish and salads. I was very satisfied with the service

I received from the restaurant and gave it a rating of 6 out of 7 using the marketing mix

technique. I gave it a rating of 6 out of 7 because of the decent packaging on the products, safety

and the beautiful environment and also adequate staff to make service and operations fast.

I chose the marketing mix technique because it best gives illustration of my experience at

MacDonald Fishponds in terms of products, people and physical evidence. The model is split

into two that the 4ps and 3ps making up the 7ps of marketing mix. In this report I did not apply

the 7ps because of the large car pack and the beautiful interior. I will apply physical evidence,

product and people because of how excellent the staff served me with high levels of patience

when making my meal orders. The meal was of high quality and met my expectations.

On the other hand Lloyds Bank is a company offering financial services such as banking and

serves over one million customers worldwide. My service encounter with this bank was

moderate and did not meet my expectations because I anticipated to get excellent service as

hyped in their website. I gave it a rating of 4 out of 7 using the service quality assessment

(SERVQUAL) model because despite providing good tangibles the personnel lacked

responsiveness, and the bank lacks employee reassurance. SERVQUAL involves five dimensions

that help to reflect the quality of service such as assurance, reliability, empathy, tangibles and
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responsiveness. Lack of proper engagement from the staff of this bank coupled by their lack of

responsiveness prompted me to use this model of analysis.

REVIEW OF THE COURSE CONCEPTS

1. The Marketing Mix technique

The marketing mix technique is a chain of marketing tools that an organization uses influence its

product’s demand and get a desirable response from its target market. The marketing mix

technique uses the 7 Ps of marketing such as the: product, price, place promotion, people,

processes and physical evidence. These tools were initially referred to as the 4Ps of marketing

and were first introduced in 1960 by E. Jerome MacCarthy.

The 4Ps of the marketing mix comprises of product, price, promotion and place and they are the

founding pillars on which a marketing strategy revolves around as explained below:

1. Product- is anything either tangible or intangible that can be offered to the market by a

company for purchase or consumption with aim of meeting customer needs and follows a

lifecycle after which its value declines.

2. Price: It is one of the most crucial element in the mix because it the one that finances the

company though the amount collected from sale of the company’s products and services.

A product should be priced depending on the customer’s perceptions of the product.

3. Place: is the distribution center of the products and services of the company. It defines

service or product availability ion the market. The product can only stand out if it is

positioned in a place that is convenient for the target customers.

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4. Promotion: it comprises of digital marketing, advertising, exhibitions and public relations.

The product promotion should communicate the features of the product and the perks to be

obtained from the product.

McCarthy marketing mix framework was expanded to include other 3Ps in addition to the

traditional 4Ps as explained below:

5. People: the reputation of the company’s product relies on the people handling the product

and therefore, staff are very vital in getting the company running. The staff are the one

who deliver the products and services and interact with the customers directly.

6. Processes: it is the flow of activities due to the interactions between the company and its

customers. It is necessary to ensure that the processes used by the firm are faulty-free

because the way the customers take delivery of the products matters a lot.

7. Physical Evidence: is everything that the customers see when interacting with the

company. It pertains mainly to the service domain and is used to show that a transaction

has taken place. Physical evidence boosts the confidence of the consumers in what they

are purchasing.

The 7Ps and their features are summarized in the figure below.

Fig 1: The 7Ps of marketing mix

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2. Service Quality Assessment (SERVQUAL) model

The SERVQUAL model is a multidimensional analysis model that is designed to capture the

perception and preferences of customers. It entails five dimensions that represent the quality of

service in a company which include: Reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and

tangibles. These dimensions help the customers to assess the quality of service they receive from

the company as described below:

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Reliability- refers to the ability of the company to perform the service accurately, credibly and

on time. It requires consistency service implementation and respect to commitments and

promises given to the customers.

Responsiveness- measures ability of the company to solve customer complaints and problems

fast, effectively and fulfilling their needs. If the companies fail to respond to customer

complaints and needs promptly without any possible explanation creates a negative customer

perception about the company.

Tangibles-involves images of the facilities, machines, equipment, staff attitudes, manuals and

information systems. It refers to the effect that these physical elements have on the customer. It

also refers the aesthetic of the company in all areas and how the aesthetic view of the company is

attractive to the customers.

Assurance- this depends on the ability of the employees to establish trust and confidence with

the customer. This dimension is characterized by four elements such as, respect for the customer,

attitude, effective communication, and competence of the employee. For the customers to believe

in the quality of service offered by the firm, the employees of the firm must portray the above

elements.

Empathy- this is determined by the ability of the employee to show concern, consideration, care

and best preparation of the clients to enable them to feel valued and welcome always at the

company. The employees should be approachable and sensitive to the needs of the customers.

Fig 2: Functioning of the SERVQUAL

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METHODOLOGY

I used qualitative approach in both encounters to investigate and gain deeper understanding of

the quality of service offered in the two companies. I used semi-structured interviews for the two

companies because that would enable me to get firsthand information regarding the quality of

service encountered in the two companies. I interviewed some of my colleagues and friends

whom I knew had visited the two companies recently to find out whether they had a similar

experience I had. My interview questions were based on the marketing and operational styles

they encountered while dealing with the two service companies.

For the case of MacDonald’s restaurant the interview questions I asked include:

 How was the physical atmosphere of the restaurant?

 How long did it take to get your order delivered?

 Were the service staff social and friendly when serving you?
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 How was the quality of the meals delivered to you?

 Was the service team enough to handle all the customers at the shortest time possible?

 On a scale of 1-7 how would you rate the level of satisfaction with this encounter where 1

is extremely dissatisfied and 7 is extremely satisfied?

For the case of Lloyds Bank I asked the following questions:

 Were the employees responsive and able to solve customer complaints fast?

 Does the bank provide good tangibles?

 Are the employees trustworthy and able to give assurance to the customers on the

services offered by the bank?

 Was your interaction with the staff friendly or not?

 On a scale of 1-7 rate your overall impression with the bank with 1 being extremely poor

and 7 being extremely satisfied.

RESULTS

The results obtained from the interviews on MacDonald’s restaurant showed satisfaction from

the service they encountered in the restaurant and they gave the following responses: the

operating process in the restaurant was quick because the service personnel was enough to cater

for all the customers, the restaurant has a safe and beautiful environment, the staff was friendly

to the customers, the meals were well packaged and of high quality, ordered were delivered fast

to the customer without any complains and they were generally impressed the quality of service

they encountered at the restaurant. On the other hand, the responses obtained from the colleagues

and friends who visited Lloyds Bank showed that the quality of service encountered at the bank

was not satisfactory despite the fact that the bank had good tangibles. The customers complained

of lack of employee assurance and responsiveness in the bank.

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DISCUSSION

MacDonald’s restaurant is a classic fast-food well known for its shakes, fries and burgers. After

checking on the company’s website, I found that the restaurant offers excellent services and went

there with high expectations about the staff, the service and the meals. When I visited the

restaurant I found out that the experience even beats the hype because of the strong physical

atmosphere in the restaurant with wide organized and secure car park which was well structured

that those who drive through would still have their route. The restaurant’s operation system was

designed in such a way that it would cut the long queues when ordering by introducing a self-

service system.

The staff who attended to me was quite professional, patient and friendly and she delivered my

order within less than 30 minutes of waiting. By using the 7Ps of marketing mix, it is worth to

note that the restaurant offers excellent and high quality service that is appealing to the customers

because the results show that it has observed at least 4Ps of the marketing mix that it the physical

evidence due to the beautiful nature of the environment, people due to the high quality service

offered by the staff and also product due to the high standard meals it offers as stated in its

website and other customer reviews.

Lloyds Bank on the other hand is a company offering banking and other services. I had great

expectations about the services offered by the bank when I visited it because I had explored its

website thoroughly and found that it is one of the few best banks existing in Bristol city. I was

warm-welcomed by one of the bank staff when I visited the bank to open an account with them.

The bank had good tangibles with beautiful environment just as stated in its website. Another

staff approached me to enquire about the service I needed to be assisted with by the bank and I

explained to him that I needed to open an account. He reviewed all my documents and agreed
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that I had all the necessary documents but my bank letter needed to be stamped and counter-

signed by the school.

My joy was cut short when I returned from school with all the necessary documents only to find

another employee who told me that my name had inconsistencies. I later on opened my banked

account but I was not satisfied with the service I encountered. I used the SERVQUAL model to

analyze my service encounter with the bank and also to find out the necessary steps the bank can

take to better its services. Using this model, I found out that the bank has good tangibles but its

employees lack assurance and responsiveness.

CONCLUSION

As previously highlighted MacDonald’s restaurant offers high quality service and it has a strong

internal marketing and operational system. Using the 7Ps of marketing mix it was clear that

MacDonald’s restaurant impressed and appealed to many customers according to the results of

the interview. The service encounter at Lloyds Bank was not satisfactory because the staff lacked

responsiveness and assurance despite having good tangibles. The bank should use the

SERVQUAL model to analyze and find out the challenges the bank has been facing to avoid its

downfall.

RECOMMENDATIONS

MacDonald’s restaurant should maintain or make its services better to avoid losing customers

and attract new customers. Using the 7Ps of the marketing mix the company should always

assess whether its marketing and operating system is strong enough to sustain and attract new

customers. Lloyds bank should use the SERVQUAL model to find out its weaknesses in service

delivery. The company should train the staff on all the services the bank offers to ensure that they
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give assurance to the customers and also to ensure they are responsive in all customer complaints

and concerns.

REFERENCES