Marketing Ergonomic Services: The 4 Is

The first time you walk in to see a new doctor, how do you know if you will receive good services?  When you visit a new hair salon, how do you know you will be satisfied with the outcome?  In both of these cases, the customer is unsure of the level of service they will receive or whether they are getting good value for their money. 

This is an inherent obstacle that most service providers, including Ergonomic service providers, must address to overcome and be successful. It also reflects a fundamental difference between goods and services.

This month’s Ergo Tip adapts the 4 Is model, developed by Professor John Branch, Ph.D. from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, summarizing differences between goods and services in four categories: Intangibility, Impossibility, Inconsistency and Inseparability. 

This information may provide you with insight into some of the challenges of successfully promoting and marketing Ergonomics services, either within your organization or to outside customers, in addition to providing some tips to help you overcome these obstacles and challenges.

Intangibility

Services, by definition, are intangible. This makes it more difficult for customers to compare one service provider’s product to another prior to purchase, unlike with tangible goods such as toothpaste or frying pans.  Additionally, because services are difficult to compare due to intangibility, service providers have more difficulty showing that they are providing a greater value for their customers than their competitors.

Impossibility

The customer becomes an integral part of the service consumption process.  Unlike producers of manufactured goods (which can make products regardless of whether the customer is in the factory or not), Ergonomic service providers need a customer to bring them a process or product to be analyzed.  While the Ergonomic Services are being provided, there is likely an information flow between the Ergonomist and the customer and vice-versa (e.g. questions about the process, clarifications on results from an analysis). 

Since the customer plays such an important role in the service consumption process, service providers need to be aware of the interactions with the customer and ensure they have processes in place to facilitate effective communication as the service proceeds.

Inconsistency

Both the customer and the service provider are human. As a result, the potential for a gap between customer expectations and the service provided exists. This inconsistency can lead to either an unsatisfactory service experience for the customer or an inability to provide a good level of service to the customer. 

Inseparability

Due to the intangible nature of services and the key roles played by the customer in the service consumption process, both the animate and inanimate parts of the service environment play a part in the customer’s satisfaction with the service provided. 

The inanimate part of the service environment covers both how the service environment looks, the servicescape, (i.e. are the offices clean and professional looking), and how it ‘feels’ to the customer, the atmospherics (e.g. smells, noises, lighting, etc). If you are performing an analysis at the customer site (e.g. an assembly plant) this might not be under your control, but when customers visit your facilities it will affect how they view the services provided. 

The animate parts of the service environment are the people in that environment. As the service provider, awareness of the impression you/your employees give to customers, both in appearance and in communication, is key. You may also want to understand how potential customers may interact with each other if they are waiting in your offices.  

TIPS to Address the 4 Is:

• To combat Intangibility, the objective is to “make the intangible tangible.” In other words, you must provide some tangible aspects to the services to help give customers a better way to measure the value of the services rendered.  Examples of this include; providing written reports detailing Ergonomic analysis and detailed plans for resolving Ergonomic issues, etc.
   
• With regard to Impossibility, try mapping your current processes and identifying where there are interactions with the customer and points where information is shared.  For the interactions with the customer, focus on how can you make these interactions as beneficial as possible to both your processes and your customer. 
  
  When viewing the process as a whole, look to streamline the process, removing redundancies and waste, thereby providing results to the customer faster and reducing your costs in producing those results.
  
  For example, provide customers with a checklist and examples of what information you need to perform an analysis. This will inform the customer of what you expect from them and will reduce the amount of time required during the data-gathering phase.
   
• The key to Inconsistency is ensuring that you have clear processes and standards in place so that the type and level of services rendered are standardized throughout the firm.  Additionally, it will help to inform the customer about your processes and their expected role in these steps, ensuring there are no surprises or misunderstandings at a later date.
   
• For addressing Inseparability, provide a good environment for both your customers and your employees. Ensuring that facilities are clean, well lit and conducive to doing business will go a long way in this aspect.
  
  When your employees are going to a customer site, it is key that they dress and act in a manner that fits well with the customer site. For example, if the ergonomist is going to perform an analysis at a weld shop, they should not appear wearing a brand new business suit

To help reduce apprehension and instill confidence in your customer you will want to understand your customer's needs and make sure that you are providing results that are valuable to them.  Understanding how you will interact during the service experience will help eliminate potential gaps which may lead to customer dissatisfaction. 

By studying how your processes can be streamlined and optimized for customer interactions, you can relieve your customer’s anxiety and enhance the perceived value of your Ergonomic services rendered.