AA Mobile Battery Service in New Zealand

AA Mobile Battery Service in New Zealand

Introduction

Marketing service is quite different from product, due to the nature of the products, which are intangible, and require one to convince the customer more, and delivery is different (Lake, 2011). In this assessment, I will address an analysis of service marketing, giving particular relation to my employees, the AA company in New Zealand, and in particular, its mobile batteries services. The paper addressed the issues in the global market trend that affect the service industry the company is in, and in turn, look at how this translated to the company’s services of mobile battery services. In addition, in this assignment, I discuss the service offered by the company and its uniqueness. More so, I describe the characteristics of the service market in which the company exist, and the global trends in marketing that affect this market, as well as their effects to the company. Using some concepts such as a system, I describe the series of processes involved, and using a process concept I describe the operations of the company such as delivery and marketing systems. More so, the paper describes the targeted customers and the different selling point for the company.

Service market definition

“A service can be defined as any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another which is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything,” (Grönroos, 2000). The AA mobile battery service operates in the motor break down services where it provides battery services such as replacing old worn out batteries, reviving them, and heeding to the customer’s call, who might be stranded on the road probably due to battery problems. In the company we sell batteries, which in this assessment, are not considered as services since they are tangible things that a customer will gain. However, they are not excluded since the service that this assessment considers is the direct recipient who in this case is the car; hence, the service is fixing the car for the customer. The assessment addresses the services such as responding to the call of the customers, checking their car batteries, reviving them if they can, and offer fixing of the batteries to the customers. We use technicians to test the batteries for their customers, and after diagnosis, the problem is fixed.

In terms of classification, the service can be described as ‘service as a process’, since it is a tangible action on a physical possession which is the car. There is little contact between the service provider and the customer since the action is on the vehicle, unlike a doctor and a patient (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). In this service, it can be considered to have a little degree of tangibility if the customer will require a new battery, which the service provider is going to offer the customer a chance to own a tangible commodity. In addition, the company recycles the old batteries for the customers. The service varies with every customer, making it heterogeneous, since every customer’s vehicle may have different needs for fixing, a different location where the car is fixed since the company visits the customer at the particular site the vehicle broke down. More so, another way of describing service is perishability, where the production work happens as consumption takes place. The production in this case is fixing the batteries, while the consumption is offering this service to the customer. In addition, the services are perishable immediately, or cannot be stored; hence, the perishability of this service only lasts as long as the technicians are working on the vehicle, to fix the battery (Lovelock, Vandermerwe & Lewis, 1999). After we are through, the service is over, and cannot be stored for more than it takes to repair the vehicle, since it would mean keeping the technicians there, doing the job, which might not be possible.

Company description

The core business of the company is providing breakdown assistance for vehicles. Some of the supplementary services offered by this company include motorcycle services such as repairs and maintenance, rental road service cover services and other repair services that are not mechanical such flat tyres, lost keys and fuel delivery. In addition, the company offers international driving permits. The company also provides traveling services to its members such as travel guides for tourists and information about traveling free. The company has an insurance scheme that includes housing car insurance, travel insurance, and life insurance. The company offers finance services such as credit for car purchases to its members. These services have been developed with time since its founding in1903 in New Zealand, and have grown internationally, being a member of federation of international automobile and alliance international tourism, with which its members can receive services from other companies around the world.

Key features and benefits of the service

The unique selling point for this service is that it operates throughout the day and night, for the week round, ensuring that it responds to its customers’ calls. All the time, there is a group of its technicians on the road waiting to respond to a customer’s call, ensuring that customers are covered all the time. Another selling point is its ability to offer the services at any point or location, where a team of technicians is sent to provide help to the customer, irrespective of where they are. Most other companies do not have this type of service, and in case of a breakdown, a person might be forced to look for other means of solving the problem since other repairers will wait for vehicles to come to be brought to the service center. This could mean having to call for a breakdown service vehicle to pull it to the center, unlike the AA, which will fix the vehicle, allowing you to continue with the journey. Moreover, the company ensures to check all the possible problems that could cause the breakdown, and not just the battery (The Automobile Association Limited, 2011).

Some of the benefits of this service are that the motorist gets to continue with his or her journey after the vehicle has been fixed. In addition, the motorist gets advice about the battery, such as how long the battery is from expiry, and if out of charge, and the battery chargers are checked. The battery is checked by the technicians for any faults that might cause a breakdown in the future, as well as other mechanical problems. The benefits of the supplementary services are a benefit to the customer, such as free advice and information, tend to facilitate, as well as payment procedures that are well laid for the members, though not mentioned in the previous paragraph, where customers can pay on the spot using their spot mobile card terminals that do the transaction. Other supplementary benefits such as special assistance in checking the durability of the battery are supportive to the customer.

The service as a process

In this service, the process involves the call from the customer, until the battery is fixed. The first process is responding to customer call, which involves taking details of the location, and what has happened. The second process is taking the team there with the necessary equipment for reappearance. Thirdly, upon arrival the team diagnoses the problem of the car, to determine whether it is the battery that needs repair, after which, fixing will follow, where the technicians deicide whether to change the battery or to fix the current one, which is the last process of this service. The action of

In this service, the processes involve doing some tangible actions on physical assets, where the technicians replace batteries of the cars, as described in the third paragraph. The first process of this service is fixing the batteries, which involves recharging them. This is an intangible process on the vehicles, which first involves diagnosing the problem, which is a process itself, then fixing the problem. This is the first basic process of the service.

Service as a system

Systems of services are the technology and networks of an organization that aim to satisfy a particular need of a customer, which are designed to do so. It involves inputs put in place, processed and creation of elements that satisfy certain goals are achieved. Service delivery then comes when this product is delivered to the customer. In this service, several inputs have been put in place, in a well-designed manner, with the aim of satisfying the customer’s need for battery replacement. The system in this service includes the technicians, who are called to fix the vehicles, the machinery we use, such as the vehicle we travel in, and the machines and the devices we use for fixing the vehicle or batteries. Service delivery or the product, which is fixing the vehicles, occurs when the technicians visit the site to replace the battery. The team, delivery and their equipments are the system or the inputs put together to process and create a service production. The service is a medium contact service, where the main contact is on the vehicle, as described in the service description subheading. Contact with the customer comes when the technicians have to talk to the person, but the service is directed to the vehicle, which is fixed.

IT, Operations and Human Resource Functions

Today, services cannot work without involving both human and IT operations, since the world has advanced, and technology, especially telecommunication is a crucial part of services that human resource functions cannot do without. “There is no question that Internet-based collaboration tools will continue to change the way people communicate,” (Gospe, 2006). Today, in order to deliver services, organizations have to rely heavily on people, the operating system and information technology so that services can be delivered the bet satisfaction of the customers, including timely delivery, quality, and up to the standards expected by customers. In this service, operating with one of the three cannot be possible sine the service includes communication between the service provider and the customer, this already, is use of telecommunication, in information technology, since the customer does not call the particular technician who will respond to his call, but rather, calls the service provider who is in an office. It means then that the receiver of the call will have to communicate to the technicians on the road, which has to be immediate.

The technicians, who are the human resources, will respond to the call a directed by the person at the station. It is important to note that despite having technology advancement as this; human resource will have to be there for operations to take place, since the vehicles have to be fixed by the technicians. More so, the customer will be charged according to the service, and the type of payment used is the spot mobile card terminal, which are advancement in information technology, so that customers do not have to go to the station of the service provider to make his payment. More still, these machines will require human handling to operate, and to feed information so that we work as required. The IT is widely used for marketing in many organizations since it is a cheaper way of marketing, and in this service, it has been used for the same purpose, since the organization has a website in the internet that advertises its products. IT and human resources have worked together to provide this service, which would not be possible without the use of both. In fact, the service has been enabled by the incorporation of IT and human resources as well as operations, since without all, the service cannot be possible considering that it involves taking calls from customer and using the IT devices such as the paying cards to return the motorist on the road. Selling intangible products is quite involving and requires all the three function (Kotler, Cunningham and Turner, 2001).

Global trend impacting the AA

Today, it is very important for companies to keep up or adapt to the current trends in the market to ensure competitiveness. One of major global trend that is influencing the organization is the embracing of information technology globally, and people embracing advancement in technology as they come. Today, all organizations tend to involve information technology in most of their operations, and customer are more interested in the new technology that makes operations easier or reduces the amount of time it takes to perform a particular task. More so, due to improved technology, customers expect serves to be better, and timely, as well as customer oriented. The technology, especially information technology has made it possible for services to be offered globally by a company. With this technology, people have developed a demand for more services, and businesses are taking the advantage of using IT to deliver services. The AA has been influenced by the trend, and it has been to its advantage, since the business will grow more to cover for those who require them. The trend is influencing the business to keep current with the changing technology, but on the other hand, the trend is providing an opportunity for more business (Wisegeek, 2011).

 

References

Gospe, M. (2006). Communication Trends Require Marketers to Think in New Ways

What marketers need to know in 2006. Retrieved from

http://www.kickstartall.com/documents/KS_Articles/CommunicationTrends.htm

Grönroos, C. (2000). Service management and marketing: a customer relationship management approach. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley

Hoffman, K., Bateson, E. G. (2010). Services Marketing Concepts, Strategies, & Cases. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning.

Kotler, P., Cunningham, M. & Turner, R. (2001). Marketing Management. Canada: Pearson Education Canada.

Lake, L. (2011). Marketing a Service: Do It Effectively. Retrieved from http://marketing.about.com/od/strategytutorials/a/marketaservice.htm

Lovelock, C. H., Vandermerwe, S. & Lewis, R. (1999). Services marketing: a European perspective. Houston, TX: Prentice Hall

Mudie, P., & Pirrie, A. (2006). Services Marketing Management. Birmingham, AL: Butterworth-Heinemann.

scribd.com. n.d. Management of services. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/20490824/Management-of-Services

The Automobile Association Limited. (2011). Car Battery Replacement. Retrieved from http://www.theaa.com/battery-assist/

Wisegeek. (2011). What Is a Service Economy? Retrieved from

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-service-economy.htm

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]