Byron Wheatley recently began teaching his tenth 2-hour wine-tasting seminar in the banquet hall of a restaurant that has a large and varied wine cellar. His class participants are complaining the class he is teaching is not what they expected. Some are leaving after the first hour without a word to Wheatley. No participant has ever taken another one of Wheatley's classes even though each class studies a different variety of wine. Which provider gap is causing Wheatley the most difficulty? List some possible strategies Wheatley can use to close or possibly eliminate this provider gap.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The question describes provider gap 1-not knowing what customers expect. Student answers will vary, but the following are some suggested answers. Wheatley has an inadequate marketing research orientation. He needs to do some marketing research to match his offering to customer expectations. He could survey the patrons of the restaurant. Once the research is complete, he must use it even if it does not agree with his image of the class. There is a lack of upward communications. Wheatley must make it easier for his class participants to give him feedback early in the class, so that he can modify it as needed. There is no indication that Wheatley has targeted any particular market segment--this might make it easier for him to match expectations and perceptions. Also, he doesn't seem to do anything about lost customers. He should focus on creating a service that attracts repeat customers. Finally, he needs to do some sort of service recovery strategy. Bad word-of-mouth from customers can kill any possibility of success unless he starts trying to make right what customers found so wrong. Students should have several possible strategies for this, such as refunds, apologies or a coupon good at the restaurant.