Discuss about the Gym Service Industry Marketing.
Service industry includes businesses that work for customers and may provide goods but do not manufacture any products (Grönroos & Ravald, 2011). Businesses operating in the service industry must be extremely careful regarding the quality of their service. Since the offerings within the service industry are intangible in nature, the marketers must ensure that the experience of customers is up to or exceeding their expectations. This reports highlights my recent experience with a gymnasium. I took a three month membership of the gym in my area. I had seen various advertisements of the gym and I wanted to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Owing to long working hours and excessive work load, I started feeling that I wasn’t able to pay enough attention to my health. This is when I decided to join the gym near my area.
For the success of a gymnasium, it is important the gym is clean, open for longer hours and the machines are in great condition. Besides these, the gym trainers must be effective and qualified to train other members of the gym. The gym must also have basic first aid and the trainers must also be proficient in treating basic cramps and stretches that frequently occur in the gym. This report throws light on my experience with the gym which was really not up to the mark. Recommendations have also been given to address various flaws of their service.
In order to understand the complete description of the service, let us look at the 7 Ps of service marketing. These 7 Ps of service marketing help in gaining a deeper insight about the service offered by the gymnasium. The first four Ps of the service marketing are indeed similar to those of product marketing (Armstrong et. al., 2015). The 7 Ps of the gym that I joined can be elaborated as below:
Product / Service: This particular element of the service marketing mix throws light on the primary offerings of the organization (Ahmed & Rafiq, 2013). The gym advertised numerous services including kick-boxing, Zumba, personal training, fitness shakes and Pilates. However, after registering, when I enquired about the timings for Pilates, they mentioned that only two people have yet enrolled for the course and they need a batch of minimum 10 people in order to hire the Pilates trainer. This was my first source of disappointment from the gym.
Price: Pricing plays an important role in the success of any business (Kotler, 2015). All the services offered by the gym are charged differently. However, they have a platinum and passport memberships. These memberships are charged at AUD 27 and AUD 22 respectively. However, I and one more of my friends had visited the gym together and they offered to give us the passport membership at AUD 19 each. Generally, they adopt a price skimming strategy. This strategy involves introducing the product or service at a high price and then eventually reduce the price (Nagle et. al., 2016). This helps the gym in targeting a wider customer group.
Place: The reason why I preferred to join this gym was because it was located close to my house and in a centralized location. This was a positive aspect about the gym that compelled me to take membership in this particular gym.
Promotion: Promotion strategies are espoused by businesses to reach out to their customers (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). I reached out to the gym by encountering various billboards across the city. Their ads were published in newspapers and certain pamphlets were also distributed about the gym which enlisted all the offered services.
People: People related to the service play a critical role in establishing the quality of the service (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015). The people associated with the gym were trainers, receptionist and the dietician. This was another disappointing factor at the gym. Each trainer was giving personal training to over 20 people and this made it difficult to approach the trainers. Different trainers recommended different exercises for the same purpose. A couple of trainers were also rude if I approached them too many times.
Process: This element of the mix throws light on the basic blueprint process of the service offered. This blue print included targeting customers, getting them to register and then offering them services like weight training, strength training, Zumba and Pilates etc. and addressing their issues if any.
Physical evidence: The tangible elements of the service include the form a part of the physical evidence offered by the business. The gym was not always clean. I preferred to work out during the wee hours of morning. However, the cleaning lady visited after 10am. This means that I always found the gym dirty and no one was specifically hired to clean the gym during early hours.
There were various reasons behind why I felt disappointed with the service offered by the gym. I felt that the gym authorities had overpromised during their advertisements in order to create expectations among customer but truly failed to live up to these expectations. Pilates was one of the major reasons for me to join the gym and I had clearly specified that at the time of joining. However, while registering no one mentioned to me that they do not have a Pilate’s batch currently.
Secondly, the trainers were quite rude and the total number of gym members was so high that the trainers hardly found the time to pay attention to the members. This was the first time that I had joined a gym and hence I needed assistance with various exercises but I was truly disappointed at their service. I also observed that the cleaning lady came to the gym at 10am but I used to visit the gym early in the morning. Therefore, I often found the gym dirty and unclean.
The excessive crowd at the gym also created other problems. If a person goes to work out during peak hours, then the persona would have to wait for at least 15 minutes for every minutes which automatically leads to a lot of wastage of time. My overall experience with the gym was not at all how I expected. I am sure that I will not renew my membership with the gym. The gym advertisements were really fantastic and this is why I had decided to join the gym and take subscription.
For any organization within the service industry, the quality of customer service plays a critical role in the success in the organization. A good quality service ensures customer loyalty and repeat purchases. Since the tangible elements of a service are so few, it is the quality of the service that spreads a positive word of mouth and creates a beneficial positioning in the minds of customers.
Customer service also enables organizations to attain feedback from customers and hence improve upon the quality of their offerings by analyzing their shortcomings and working to mend them (Dabholkar, 2015). Customer service also helps in fully satisfying customers. For example, in a gymnasium, if the services offered live up to customer expectations then more people would seek the gym membership which would hence lead to enhanced revenue generation for the gym. These people would further attempt to promote the gym on their social media profiles and recommend the gym to their neighbors and friends. Therefore, more people would join the gym and hence lead to increased membership for the gym and improved positioning in the minds of customers in the neighborhood.
Customer service plays a significant role in ensuring the long term sustainability of the business (Kunz & Hogreve, 2011). This is why organizations of the service industry must understand that it is only their service that speaks volumes about the brand. Improved quality service will automatically result in the growth of the organization while poor service quality will result in loss of customers, meagre positioning and ineffective branding of the organization (He & Li, 2011).
In order to ensure service quality, service industry organizations must follow a RATER model. This model helps organizations in analyzing their service quality by referring to five important aspects that are extremely crucial to the organization. These five aspects are as below:
Reliability: The first important aspect of customer satisfaction that organizations must keep in mind is reliability (Choy et. al., 2011). All customers prefer that the service they avail must be reliable. The gym must ensure that the customers can rely on the gymnasiums. This suggests that the gym must deliver what is promised. In this case, the gym had promised regular classes and personal training which the gym failed to deliver. This reduces reliability on the gym.
Assurance: Second important element of customer service is assurance. This suggests that organizations must be able to assure customers regarding the quality of their services. The trainers at the gym do not have clear information. They do not keep track of individual diet charts and hence it is difficult for them to answer any questions regarding health. The answers would be generic which may or may not apply to individuals.
Tangible: This aspect of the service highlights the tangible elements of the service. In this case, it would be machines and the gym infrastructure. I was not happy with either of these. As mentioned previously, the gym often remained dirty at the time when I went. There was a queue to use every machine and out of seven treadmills only five were functioning. This led to even more inconvenience as the machines occupied space but did not serve any purpose.
Also, most of the gyms have motivational posters placed on their walls. Unfortunately, the gym does not even has that. Hence no form of external motivation for members. The gym does not serve any health supplements. In case, a member has to buy them, they have to go to a store nearby or order online.
Empathy: This particular parameter is extremely significant because it aims to understand if employees are sensitive to the needs of customers or not (Ahuja et. al., 2011). This is essential so that employees can build a better relationship with customers and ensure a long term relationship with them. In this gym, the trainers had no empathy towards customers. They were only behind earning extra money through personal trainings. Even the general trainers did not pay much attention and tried to push their own personal trainings to customers. The dietician has a single diet prepared which she gives to all the customers rather than making customized diet for individual members.
Responsiveness: This element talks about the agility or the willingness with which organizations are willing to resolve customer queries (Kim, 2011). The gym was highly responsive initially when I called to inquire about their services. They followed up on time and contacted me several times. However, after receiving the payment, they did not care at all about my problems. I mentioned that several exercises were making my back hurt but they paid no heed to it. I kept enquiring about the Pilates batch but they never had a clear response to my query but just asked me to wait till more people enroll for Pilates. They even told me that if I want the batch to start, I should get my own friends to enroll with the gym.
The RATER model aims to judge the service offered on five important parameters (Linoff & Berry, 2011). On all these parameters the gym failed miserably. And this has been my biggest reason behind being disappointed with the services of the gym that were offered to me. I am even furious because what they advertised and promised before registration was all false. Overall, I am deeply disappointed. I will surely not recommend the gym to anyone and I will not even renew my membership which expires at the end of one month.
There are several steps that can be taken to improve the quality of service offered at the gym. At present, the gym has a large area and is placed at a commercial and centralized location of the city. Therefore, it is possible that the gym can take advantage of these two factors and improve their service quality. The following steps will help the gym in enhancing the quality of their service and attracting a more loyal customer base:
Improve infrastructure: The foremost step that the gym needs to take is to improve the infrastructure of the gym. This includes repairing the machines that are not working, putting up motivating posters all over the walls of the gym in order to keep members motivated. The gym must be cleaned every few hours. Specifically the washrooms and steam rooms must be tidy at all times. Improving the gym infrastructure will motivate members to work hard and encourage new members to join the gym.
Trainers: Trainers at the gym must be well trained. There should be different trainers for personal training and general training. Members must be given an option to pay extra and get personal training but general trainers must be available for everyone. Trainers must be respectful and available for members. They must be specifically instructed to guide new members well since they are more prone to getting hurt.
Permanent staff: Since the gym advertises Pilates, Zumba and Yoga classes, the gym must hire permanent staff for these services. This suggests that the trainers would be there irrespective of the number of members interested in availing this service. These sessions must take place at a fixed time on a daily basis even if there is a single member. This would ensure that the gym authorities are not overpromising on their advertisements but actually have the resources to fulfill what is being promised during their ads.
Free trial: Gym authorities must offer a free two or three day trial to all new members. This would help them get a firsthand experience about how the gym would be. In the free trial, the members can understand the gym culture, structure and they can they analyze their level of comfort or interest in joining the gym. Trainers play a significant role in any kind of work-out form. This could be Zumba, Pilates or weight training. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the gym must offer two or three day trial service so that members can understand if they are comfortable training with the trainers of the gym or not.
Longer duration: The gym shuts down during after-noon and opens again in evening. Then again the gym shuts down by 10pm. The gym opens at 6am in the morning. But I felt that many times when I went at 6am, I had to wait for a few minutes before the gym opened. There are various gyms which are offering 24 hour facilities. In order to compete with them and enhance their level of service, the gym must at least increase its working hours.
Service industry marketing unit has largely helped in understanding and evaluating various services that I encounter in my everyday life. The course has taught me majorly about various factors that are essential to keep customers satisfied. Service industry’s offerings are intangible and perishable in nature. This is why it is important to make sure that the quality of the service is maintained in the manner that keeps customers satisfied. I always found service marketing a very complicated subject owing to the delicate, unpredictable and intangible nature of the service. For example, in a restaurant also, the same food might be tasty for one person but not for the other. This is why it was a difficult subject. But through this course, I learnt about the importance of customer service and delighting customers based upon their customized needs.
Service marketing is highly important to make sure that various services are marketed in the right manner (Wilson et. al., 2012). I also learnt about the RATER model. This taught me that services offered by the organizations are reliable, can provide assurance, are tangible in nature, have empathy for customers and are responsive to the needs of customers. This has helped me analyze services in greater detail as now I understand various factors that I must notice in services that I avail.
This course also made me aware about how can I become an aware consumer of the service industry. By analyzing different services, I have learnt about the aspects that I need to look for as a consumer when I am availing a service. This has made me an aware consumer. When I avail different services, I try to keep my learnings from this course in mind. Also, as a consumer, now I try to read reviews of different services and then based on that, I analyze exactly which service I must avail. These reviews help me gain awareness about the service before paying for them.
The overall course has been highly helpful. I have learnt various facets of service marketing which I am sure will help me in the future too. As a working professional, if I get a job with an organization in the service industry, I would certainly make sure that I truly understand the importance of quality of customer service and that I deliver the same.
References
Ahmed, P.K. and Rafiq, M., (2013), Internal marketing. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Ahuja, M., Mahlawat, S. and Masood, R.Z., (2011), ‘Study of Service Quality Management with SERVQUAL Model: An Empirical Study of Govt. /Ngo’s Eye Hospitals in Haryana’. Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies? ISSN, 2229, p.5674.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., (2015), Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. India.
Choy, J.Y., Lam, S.Y. and Lee, T.C., (2012), SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND CONCEPTUAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT. International journal of academic research, 4(3).
Dabholkar, P.A., (2015), How to improve perceived service quality by increasing customer participation. In Proceedings of the 1990 academy of marketing science (AMS) annual conference (pp. 483-487). Springer, Cham.
Grönroos, C. and Ravald, A., (2011), Service as business logic: implications for value creation and marketing. Journal of service management, 22(1), pp.5-22.
He, H. and Li, Y., (2011), CSR and service brand: The mediating effect of brand identification and moderating effect of service quality. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(4), pp.673-688.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., (2014), How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer, New York, NY.
Kim, H.J., (2011), Service orientation, service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty: Testing a structural model. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20(6), pp.619-637.
Kotler, P., (2015), Framework for marketing management. Pearson Education India.
Kunz, W.H. and Hogreve, J., (2011), Toward a deeper understanding of service marketing: The past, the present, and the future. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 28(3), pp.231-247.
Linoff, G.S. and Berry, M.J., (2011), Data mining techniques: for marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. John Wiley & Sons.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., (2015), Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Nagle, T.T., Hogan, J. and Zale, J., (2016), The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: New International Edition. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D., (2012), Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm (No. 2nd Eu). McGraw Hill.
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