The Project Management Service Encounter

Both primary and secondary Project Management services, like all services, can be said to be performed within the context of a Service Encounter between the buyer and seller. The Service encounter defines the characteristics of Service Quality and it is a useful construct in establishing Service Standards (Zeithaml & Bitner 1996). Service Quality is reflected by the physical evidence of the service which Zeithaml and Bitner call the “Servicescape” (1996). They note:

“physical evidence is particularly important for communicating about credence services, but also for services dominated by experience attributes." (Zeithaml & Bitner 1996).

A servicescape is the complete envrionment in which project mangement services are provided. It not only includes the immediate physical environment of the transaction, but it also extends throughout the client's virtual experience with the brand. All of the elements in the servicescape should reinforce the positioning strategy.

Other experts and scholars are invited to submit comments and articles that deal in more depth with the topic of positioning project management. For the time being, it can be said that term "positioning " refers to the oversimplificaton and repetition of a marketing message so that it becomes synonomous with the actual brand in the consumer's mind (Ries & Trout, 2001).

Let's say that market research findings indicate that a certain segment of project management services buyers seek to improve intra-project communication. An example of a brand position taken by a seller of project management services operating in this hypothetical scenario might be "crisp communication". Given these parameters, it would be appropriate to ensure that all the elements of the servicescape supports crisp communication. For example, one would expect any written communication to be clear and to the point, grammatically correct, and free of spelling errors. Likewise, It might also be inadviseable to staff a receptionist position in such a company with a non-native speaker or with a speech impaired person. Taking this example one step further, it may also be important to train the on-site personnel to always be accessible and to provide them with tools and techniques to support effective communication.

A servicescape that is aligned with the company's positioning strategy promotes a good first impression and can help to reassure a buyer that his needs will be satisfied. In selling project management services, it is especially important to ensure that the entire service encounter works to support the chosen position. This is due to the fact that most buyers of services spend more time evaluating the performance and quality of a given service, such as project managment, than they spend making the initial purchase decision (Zeithaml & Bitner 1996).



REFERENCES


Ries, A. and Trout, J. (2001). Positioning, The Battle for the Mind. 20th Anniversary Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill

Zeithhaml, V.A. and Bitner M.J. (1996). Services Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.