A Customer-oriented Manager for B2B Services

12Marketing the Tangibles

12.1. Tangible elements of the service

Valarie A. Zeithaml and Mary Jo Bitner provide a broad definition of the tangible elements of service:

The environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of the service (Zeithaml and Bitner 1996, p. 26).

This definition implies a great variety of tangible elements and refers to a double function of these elements.

12.1.1. Nature of tangible elements

12.1.1.1. Two realities

The definition of the tangible elements of the service makes it possible to distinguish two key dimensions: a place, the one in which the service takes place, and the various tangible elements necessary for the realization or the communication of the service.

Beyond the place, such as a building, an agency, an office or a meeting room, we will find a heterogeneous set of tangible elements ranging from equipment to vehicles, including documents or the website. All these tangible elements are not necessarily contained in the place of service. Several realities of tangibles in B2B can be found:

• – A hotel that receives both B2C and B2B customers in the same place. We are close to the issues traditionally discussed in the literature and addressed by B2C companies on the importance of location in customer evaluation and satisfaction.
• – A digital service company that creates a website for a client. The notion of physical location ...