RainToday Note: This is part two of a two-part series. In part one, Cynthia introduced the challenges of services marketing and discussed the aspects of intangibility and inseparability. Now, she will discuss the aspects of variability and perishability in how they apply to services marketing.

Variability

Sometimes called "heterogeneity," services quality and consistency are subject to great variability because they are delivered by people, and human behavior is difficult to control. Personal performance and quality can vary by time of day (people get tired), time of month or year (during tax time for CPAs), workload, experience, attitude, knowledge, and other factors.

Maintaining client trust during lapses (which will happen) is critical. Additionally, variability is why it can be risky to have one person make the sale and establish the relationship, and another deliver the service. The original contact person is the one who reduced risk for the client; when someone else delivers the service, the client may become agitated or wary.

The Marketing Response.

Services marketing professionals can overcome variability by developing special service packages. For example, the level of quality to be received can be deliberately limited. IT maintenance contracts frequently offer a range of service packages (e.g., from “basic” with response in 4-6 hours, to “premium” with immediate, on-call support).

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