What is customer service

It has been suggested that the role of customer service Is to provide time and place utility In the transfer of goods and services between buyer and seller. Put another way, there Is no value In the product or service until It Is In the hands of the customer or consumer. It follows that making the product or service available Is what, In essence, the distribution function of the business Is all about. Availability Is In Itself a complex concept. Impacted upon by a galaxy of factors which together constitute customer service. These factors might Include delivery frequency and reliability, stock levels and order cycle time, for example. Indeed It could be said that ultimately customer service Is determined by the Interaction of all those factors that affect the process of making products and services available to the buyer. 

In practice, we see that many companies have varying views of customer service. LaLonde and Zlnszer In a major study of customer service practices suggested that customer service could be examined under three headings  

The pre-transaction elements of customer service relate to corporate policies or programmes, e.g. written statements of service policy, adequacy of organisational structure and system flexibility. The transaction elements are those customer service variables directly involved in performing the physical distribution function, e.g. product and delivery reliability. The post-transaction elements of customer service are generally supportive of the product while in use, for instance, product warranty, parts and repair service, procedures for customer complaints and product replacement. 

In any particular product/market situation, some of these elements will be more important than others and there may be factors other than those listed above which have a significance in a specific market. Indeed the argument that will be developed later is that it is essentiai to understand customer service in terms of the differing requirements of different market segments and that no universally appropriate list of elements exists each market that the company services will attach different importance to different service elements. 

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