The perishability of services has often presented numerous challenges to various marketers. The concept is basically used in describing the manner whereby the capacity of services cannot be in any way stored, returned or even resold upon being used. This basically presents enormous challenges to marketers since finding a balance between supply, as well as, demand is extremely hard. For instance, demand for the products offered by marketers is seasonal i.e. in times of day and business cycle. As the fluctuation of demand is being experienced, marketers may have an inherently rough time in maintaining product quality. Another challenge for the marketers is the fact that relevant processes, systems and also resources associated with services can only be assigned for delivery in a particular period. As a last challenge for the marketers, upon the delivery of a service, it vanishes and as such becomes irreversible. It may thus become hard in proving the ability to provide the service in case a client demands the proof of authenticity.
Retention of the existing customers is fundamental to the service marketers because of the ever increasing client acquisition costs. As a result, the service marketers should assume and also innovate various proactive roles in the retention of their clients. Some of the strategies that can be effectively utilized encompass the following:
Setting customer expectations- this element assists in eliminating uncertainty concerning the level of service delivery that should continually be offered to clients to maintain their happiness. (Beard, 2014)
Being the expert- In spite of the sector occupied by the service marketer, being an expert in whatever service being offered will assist in the retention of clients.
Building trust by emphasizing on relationships- trust is fundamental for the marketers since it will help in garnering the trust of clients.
Implementing an anticipatory service- through this aspect, the service marketers would not wait for problems to arise but would eliminate them before their occurrence.
REFERENCES
Beard, R. (2014). Customer Retention Strategies: 9 Tactics for Companies. Client Heartbeat Blog. Retrieved 18 June 2016, from http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/customer-retention-strategies/
