Are You Ready For Flower Of Service?

There appeared through the literature many orientations and types for the idea of service, among them is the concept of supplementary service which refers to the secondary services which are presented to the customers after the acquisition of the item/service/product. According to Goyal when it comes to service; there are two types of services, the core service which refers to the results and consequences of purchasing a certain item that a customer expects for the charges of the item, like for example when a customer purchases an answering machine the end used (customer) expects from the machine to take messages and store them; on the other hand there is the other type of service which is the supplementary service referring to the group of services which either facilitates or enhance the use of the core services Flower of service is a visual framework for understanding the supplementary service elements that surround and add value to the core product.

Flower of service is introduced by Christopher Lovelock that distinguishes between facilitating and enhancing supplementary services. These different supplementary services can be classified into eight petals.

Flower of service marketing

1. SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES Additional services provided by the organization to augment the core product/service.

2. Supplementary services enhancing supplementary services facilitating supplementary services

3. INFORMATION Warnings, reminders, notifications of change etc. ORDER TAKING Applications, order entry, reservations etc. BILLING should be clear, accurate and complete. PAYMENT Form of cash or credit cards. FACILITATING SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICEs

4. CONSULTATION Customized advice, personal counseling etc. HOSPITALITY Pleasure at meeting new customers, greeting old ones etc. SAFE KEEPING Coatrooms, child care, pet care etc. EXCEPTIONS Special requests and problem solving. ENHANCING SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES

5. To create value to the customers additional services are required. Petals arranged in clockwise direction. 8 clusters are arranged as petals of a flower.