Impact Of Perceived Service Quality On Customer Satisfaction And Brand Loyalty
[A CASE STUDY OF HONEYWELL FLOUR MILLS PLC]

Problem Solving/Complaints Resolution
A car owner who is experiencing a problem in his/her car is happy if he/she drives into a garage and the problem is quickly identified and repaired. Few car owners are prepared to leave their car parked and instead board public transport. That's why a repair garage in the U.S that offered to service cars at night, when car owners are asleep, and deliver the cars to their owners in the morning for use to work became an instant hit. Data collected by Technical Assistant Programmes for the U.S. Dept of Consumer Affairs also show a close link between resolving a customer's problem on the spot and the customer's intent to repurchase. When customers experience minor problems, 95% say they will repurchase if the complaint is resolved speedily. If the resolution process takes even a little time, the number drops to 70%.
Convenience
Whatever a consumer needs to purchase, he/she prefers to get it with the least of inconvenience. That is why technology is a major tool. Telephones, fax, computers are today sine-qua-non for any business enterprises to facilitate work and communication. Bank customers, for example, want to be attended to fast, to cash money or deposit in a jiffy and go about other businesses.
Individuality
For a long time in the past, organizations were inclined to see their customers as a group: same rules or trade terms applied in the same way to all. Some customers usually got infuriated, dissatisfied in this way. People are individuals and want to be recognized for what they are - in their achievements or contributions. So, today, wining organizations that believe in service quality are bending rules to suit individuals and solve personal problems.
Responsiveness
This refers to willingness of employees to serve, to be helpful to others in a positive way. In service conscious/prone organizations, employees are trained and educated to see customers as the most important assets of the organizations, to realize that without customers, no organization needs employees. Therefore employees should see attendance to enquiries, calls, complaints, visits or orders of customers as the business, which should be handled with dispatch, professionalism and enthusiasm. Conversations and face-to-face interactions should be polite and laced with smiles, empathy, apologies if necessary, and "thank you", at the end, said with sincerity. Customers should see and employees should show that they enjoy their work.
To keep a customer happy could mean millions in revenue, (in any currency). To lose a good and loyal customer could be a monumental loss in terms of the business lost, cost of replacement and cost of curing damage done to the business.
Reliability
Reliability refers to consistency of performance, dependability, continuity of service. It is no good for a guest to have a warm and timely welcome at the hotel reception only to be let into a dirty or an unmade bedroom or to be served rotten or tasteless meal in the restaurant. It is similarly unproductive, dissatisfactory for a customer to be suavely attended to by a salesperson but be ignored or abused by the cashier, when he/she (customer) comes to pay.
Reliability or consistency of service does not just mean on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis but all the time and across all departments. Leach (2005) emphasizes that quality depends heavily upon consistency. Service consistency cannot be maintained without continuous measurement against established standards and customer expectations.