University of Colombo Management.
To move ahead with our day to day lives, services provide a high degree of aid. With the development of the global economy and technology the quality of services delivered has improved immensely when compared to the history. Marketing the services is a giant stepping stone in capturing a competitive edge against rivals. Therefore marketing fundamentals play a major role in this circumstance. In services marketing, recognition should be given to the fact that there are fundamental differences between products and services; hence the marketing of a service assumes a different emphasis.
Coping up with the Intangibles
Sri Lanka is a well-known holiday destination for tourists, rich of seductive beaches and tempting water sports, magnificent landscapes, fertile wetlands and many other attractive natural resources. After the end of the civil war, now the whole nation is looking forward towards prosperity and growth of the economy. A greater emphasis is given towards tourism. Therefore Sri Lankan Airlines, the National carrier of Sri Lanka, is highly focusing on this developing segment because travelling for holiday making is one of their main sources of income.
- Challenges
According to Mr. Chinthaka Kullatilleke, Manager, Services- Sri Lankan Airlines; their service receiver (the passenger) is a participant in the service process. He states that the service delivery process is inseparable from the customer, whereas environmental surrounding of a service operation needs high degree of attention. Therefore they are very much concerned about it. They always focus on the interior décor and the cleanliness of their air busses. Their main focus is to make it a pleasant atmosphere for their passengers because it is the passenger who undergoes the service process, and it is vital that he/she should be delighted with the services provided.
In addition to being inseparable, services are also perishable; if there are no sales on Monday it cannot be sold on Tuesday (unlike a bottle of juice): that sale will be lost forever, also it cannot be returned after purchase. Therefore, Mr. Kullatilleke states that the consideration must be given to differential pricing. For example, seats left unsold during off seasons are discounted hours before the flight. Their Frequent Flyer Program ‘Flysmiles’, special online offers & promotions play a major role in this circumstance. Thus he states that the availability of enough opportunities for service delivery at relevant times is important for service managers.
Sri Lankan Airlines also focuses on tangiblizing their services. The intangible nature of services makes communication more difficult. This leads to customer having high level of perceived risk. Mr. Kullatilleke stated that they are the actors in the airline industry of Sri Lanka and their customers are the audience. Therefore he stated that it is of greater importance of recognizing the feelings and emotions of the services receiver. Different marketing tactics are used in this circumstance. Sri Lankan airlines conducts attractive advertising campaigns and uses touching slogans that runs in to the insight of the passengers’ mind such as; Home away from home, build an entire career on smiles, You are our world, that personalizes their service offering.
Another argument that comes in to the play is of variability (Heterogeneity) of services. It is mainly the difficulty in maintaining a particular standard. Whereas services are people oriented and characteristic of workforce determines the effectiveness of the services. The implication is that attention must be paid to key human resourcing issues such as recruitment and training. It is why Sri Lankan Airline’s International Aviation Academy caters to manpower requirements, airports, travel agents, and other aviation industry organizations.
A disadvantage of intangible nature of services is the inability to be experienced prior to the delivery of the service. Sri Lankan Airlines had been able to provide physical evidence of their services provided by publishing comments of their clients on their website which provides assurance about their services to their potential clients. Therefore Sri Lankan Airlines could be identified as a company that deliver services in an appropriate manner to build an image in the passengers’ mind that they are an efficient and a customer friendly institution.
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