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Thirty years ago, I wrote "Big Ideas in Services Marketing[1]", which was published in the inaugural issue of The Journal of Services Marketing (Berry, 1987). When the current editors invited me to write a retrospective essay on this article, I first reread it to refresh my memory of the ideas I had proposed then. Frankly, I was surprised to discover how well these ideas have stood the test of time. After all, the world in general and the market place in particular have changed dramatically since 1987. And I have learned and developed as a services researcher.
Nonetheless, the seven ideas I proposed in the original article remain relevant, and I continue to teach more fully developed versions of them. With the exception of recasting one of those ideas, the biggest difference were I to rewrite the article today would be to add rather than to subtract concepts.
The original list
Briefly, the seven ideas in the 1987 paper include:
Distinguish between the marketing department and the marketing function . In services, marketing is a line function, not just a staff function. Providers who perform the service for customers are marketers; a key staff marketing department role is to teach and enable the providers who interact with customers to be effective marketers.
Leverage the freedom factor . Service providers need the freedom to "custom-fit" the service to customers. Service organizations need to thin the rulebook and capitalize on the customization opportunity that provider-to-customer interaction offers.
Market to employees . Service organizations improve their capability for satisfying the wants and needs of external customers by first satisfying the wants and needs of the providers who serve them; in services, internal marketing paves the way for external marketing.
Market to existing customers . Excellent services marketing requires innovation, quality service and relationship building after customers become customers, not just before. Marketing effectively to existing customers can increase market share by generating positive word-of-mouth, expanding the relationship and improving retention.
Be great at problem resolution . Service failures occur in the best of organizations. Service excellence means not only delivering the regular service well but also the recovery service well. How organizations respond to service failure is the acid test for service quality.
Think high tech and high...