Services Marketing Strategy and Service Quality Training Course

Programme Summary

Services marketing strategy and service quality form the subject of this five-day training course for marketing directors and heads of service businesses at advanced level, culminating in a services marketing plan for one service line. A service cannot be stored or inspected before purchase, so product-marketing habits often misfire. The approach moves from positioning through the extended mix and pricing to quality and frontline delivery. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme in services marketing.

The Business Case

In banks, hospitals, hotels and professional firms, the promise made by marketing is kept or broken by processes and staff that marketing does not directly control. When positioning, pricing, capacity and service standards are planned together, the organisation stops overpromising, fills idle capacity at the right price point and gives loyal customers far fewer reasons to move to a competitor.

• Customer Retention and Lifetime Value: Rise as service quality gaps that drive defection are closed.
• Capacity Utilisation and Yield: Improve as pricing and demand management shift volume away from peaks.
• Perceived Service Quality: Strengthens as expectations set by communication match what is delivered.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Extended 7Ps Marketing Mix: People, process and physical evidence structure the service offer designed in Session 2.
• Gaps Model of Service Quality: Gaps between expectations, standards, delivery and communication frame the diagnosis in Session 4.
• SERVQUAL: Reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness guide the measurement of perceived quality in Session 4.
• Service-Dominant Logic: Value co-created with the customer underpins the value proposition work in Session 1.

Intended Participants

• Leaders who set marketing strategy and budgets for a service portfolio.
• Executives accountable for revenue, pricing and capacity of a service business unit.
• Senior managers who own the customer promise and the brand standards behind it.
• Heads of function who align frontline delivery with marketing.

The programme serves banking and insurance, healthcare, hospitality, telecommunications and professional services firms.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to construct a value proposition and positioning statement for a service.
2. Participants will be able to design a service offer across the extended 7Ps marketing mix.
3. Participants will be able to justify a service pricing approach that manages demand against capacity.
4. Participants will be able to diagnose service quality gaps using the Gaps Model and SERVQUAL evidence.
5. Participants will be able to evaluate physical evidence and frontline behaviours.
6. Participants will be able to prioritise actions in a services marketing plan with retention and quality measures.

Programme Structure

Day 1: Services Marketing Foundations and Value Propositions

What makes marketing a service different from marketing a product?

• Intangibility, Inseparability, Variability and Perishability
• Service-Dominant Logic and Value Co-Creation
• Customer Expectations: Desired and Adequate Service Levels
• Segmentation and Target Choice for Service Markets
• Service Positioning Maps and Value Proposition Statements

Day 2: Designing the Extended Service Marketing Mix

How is a service offer built so customers can judge it before buying?

• Core and Supplementary Service Elements
• Service Process Design and Service Blueprinting
• Distribution Channels: Physical, Digital and Partner Delivery
• Communication That Makes the Intangible Visible
• Service Brand Architecture Across a Portfolio

Day 3: Pricing Services and Managing Demand and Capacity

How can price and demand be managed when capacity cannot be stored?

• Cost, Competition and Value-Based Pricing of Services
• Demand Patterns, Peaks and Capacity Constraints
• Yield and Revenue Management Principles
• Queue and Reservation Strategies
• Price Fairness and Customer Perception of Fees

Day 4: Service Quality, Physical Evidence and Frontline Staff

Where does the delivered service fall short of the promised one?

• Gaps Model of Service Quality Diagnosis
• SERVQUAL Survey Design and Interpretation
• Servicescape and Physical Evidence Audit
• Internal Marketing and Frontline Employee Engagement
• Service Recovery and Complaint Data as Market Intelligence

Day 5: Building the Services Marketing Plan

Is the plan coherent, measured and ready to brief the executive team?

• Relationship Marketing and Customer Lifetime Value Targets
• Aligning Day 1 Positioning With the Day 2 Service Mix
• Applying Day 3 Pricing Rules to the Plan Calendar
• Closing Day 4 Quality Gaps Through Plan Actions
• Services Marketing Plan Completion and Measures Dashboard

Methodology

The programme relies on case analysis across sectors. Participants compare how a bank, a private hospital and a hotel group market and deliver their services, then apply each tool in turn to a service line from their own organisation, testing ideas in structured peer review with colleagues from other sectors.

• Suggested activity: Blueprinting a customer journey for a hospital admission or a bank account opening.
• Suggested activity: Setting peak and off-peak prices for a hotel or clinic facing uneven demand.
• Suggested activity: Interpreting SERVQUAL results to locate the largest quality gap.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a services marketing plan for one service line. It sets out positioning, the 7Ps design, pricing and capacity rules, quality gap actions, frontline standards and a measures dashboard. It is used to brief the executive team and set marketing priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the services marketing strategy programme suitable for heads of service businesses outside marketing?

Yes. It is set at advanced level for leaders responsible for revenue or customers in services, and assumes experience of running a service unit or marketing team.

Which models does the services marketing strategy course rest on?

It rests on the extended 7Ps marketing mix, the Gaps Model of Service Quality, the SERVQUAL instrument and service-dominant logic.

How is the plan from services marketing training used at work?

You can use it to brief your executive team, align marketing with operations and track retention and quality measures through the year.

How does services marketing differ from a course on customer service skills?

Customer service skills training focuses on staff behaviour. Services marketing shapes the whole offer, from positioning and pricing to physical evidence and quality standards.