Human needs change over time. Until recently, the service was not particularly important. But now the demand for services is increasing every day. Satisfaction of needs and is engaged in service activities.
Service activities mean services designed to meet the needs of the client. Human needs are divided into short-term, permanent and periodic. Accordingly, the service activity provides similar services. The provision of services must be complete and have their final cost.
Distinctive features of service activities
There are features of the provision of services from other activities. First of all, it is intangibility. The client cannot see, touch, look at the service until it is completed. Therefore, feedback from previous customers is especially important. For the most part, it depends on them whether a new client buys the service.
The impossibility of storing the service. It is also impossible to transport the service. It is provided simultaneously with the consumption of the client. In this case, the client himself acts as a participant in the process of providing the service.
Variability in the quality of services provided. Service activity depends not only on the qualifications of the employee performing the service, but also on his condition. The service cannot be performed in exactly the same way several times. There will be some differences all the time. In some cases, these differences may be subtle and invisible.
The services cannot be performed without the participation of the consumer. A distinctive feature of the service is that it is addressed to a specific client every time. Focused on his personal wishes and preferences.
The quality of service activities is determined by several criteria. It is very important that the service is completed in due time and at the proper level. But along with this, the attitude of the employee who performs the activity with the client is especially important.
It is difficult to determine the demand for certain types of services. But there are certain methods to help manage the demand for any kind of service activity.
Classification of services and service activities in scientific analysis
The criterion "degree of mass character" divides all services into:
- massive;
- non-mass (exclusive).
There is a service classification model adopted in the USA and Canada, which includes the areas of service activities, which can be called its most important areas:
- transport (freight and passenger by various modes of transport);
- communications (telephony, radio, television, etc.);
- socially useful services (electricity, water, gas supply to the population, etc.);
- mass activity;
- insurance and financing - this includes work with real estate;
- the service itself (services of a personal nature);
- other types of service.
