Introduction
Nowadays, millions of people are involved in discussions about business opportunities, effective entrepreneurship, and employment challenges. In the majority of cases, the theme of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on business relationships and services is raised. Many organizations have to solve current problems like price changes, unstable supply chains, and isolation restrictions (Gerdeman 2020). At the same time, some people are interested in the development of new services or strengthening the already offered ideas. Citizens of different regions, including Europe, America, Asia, or Australia, need traveling for their work purposes, entertainment, vacation, or family affairs. As a result, they have to leave their houses and need to find a person to keep a house.
Therefore, the promotion of house sitting services is always fashionable and necessary for society. In this strategic service vision report, a house-sitting organization will be discussed through the prism of its target market segments, service concept, and implications to understand how to improve the quality of services. The pandemic provokes an unprecedented situation around the globe, and it is important to follow a strategic vision and success in service provision.
Organization Overview
In the current fast developing but challenging economy, all services to customers have to be properly evaluated and clarified. In this report, the company “Safe Housing” is introduced to provide people with house-sitting services. When a person is away, there is usually a necessity to have a person at home to look for a house, take care of pets, plants, or other subjects that need regular observations (Parode, 2018). Due to the current coronavirus situation, many pet sitters lose their jobs and money because of the necessity for families to stay at home, postpone their travels, and restructure their business affairs (Bence, 2020).
They try to protect their business and jobs by a variety of means, using unemployment benefits and charges. However, a number of solutions and options are offered to deal with the pandemic crisis and stabilize the economy in countries. People have to work hard to cover losses and social changes, and house-sitting services will be in high demand.
The main idea of the company under analysis is to provide society with house-sitting help. Workload, unplanned or planned travels, unpredictable decisions, and family situations have to be properly manipulated. One of the core services of the organization is to train young employees on how to assist people in keeping their houses until they are away. On the one hand, a team of workers should understand what families or individuals expect when they hire a house-sitter.
Therefore, training programs and courses play an important role in this company. On the other hand, potential customers are eager to know what they get when they pay for house-sitting services. In most cases, help includes feeding and playing with pets, checking on and watering plants, collecting mail, and making the view of an occupied house to predict break-ins. Today, there are many independent house sitters, whose services remain personal, but never professional. “Safe Housing” is a company for house-sitters and those who are in need of their services. Cooperation, communication, and trust are the basic elements for this team and its strategic service vision.
Target Market Segments
To succeed in providing high-quality services, the company under analysis has to understand the basics of strategic management and constructs that matters. According to Prakash (2018), service quality expansion depends on the implementation of multiple strategies, including service profit chain, interpersonal competence, and strategic service vision proposed by Heskett at the end of the 1900s. There are four elements in the framework – target market segments, service concept, operating strategy service, and delivery system (Poeppelbuss and Lubarski, 2019).
The purpose of a target market segment is to define a group of customers and their characteristics to be appropriate for a specific service. As soon as this segment is thoroughly studied, the leader of the company in cooperation with its managers is able to decide on who to address services and if there is a potential for capitalization on the chosen idea. A target market segment is unique because of the possibility of identifying customers who share similar interests and needs. Therefore, it is expected that marketers to develop specific criteria and clarify how to approach these people. The analysis of demographics, lifestyles, and personal preferences will help to achieve positive results.
In case of “Safe Housing” company, the main customers are single workers aged between 25-35 and families with young children. The reasons to focus on single workers vary, depending on their styles of life and preferences. As a rule, many single individuals find it necessary to have a cat or another pet not to feel lonely when they come back home. They like the idea of communicating with a living being and sharing their thoughts. At the same time, these individuals are interested in job promotion and spend much time at work. They drive for personal achievements in their careers compared to married employees and could work irregularly or choose night shifts (Suk Ha et al., 2018). Therefore, they may need additional help to keep their houses or visit their pets to feed them.
Working families with young children may also be a critical group of customers for housing-sitting services. Despite the fact that many mothers find it necessary to spend some time at home, taking care of their children and keeping their houses, some parents continue working. Still, to underline the importance of family values, it is normal for people to plan their vacations and travel with children, promoting joy and relaxation (Chang, 2019). To stay focused on their vacation, families are in need of back-up, and the choice of house-sitting services is an option. Parents should know that there is a reliable person who looks for a house, following all confidentiality aspects.
Current and Future Implications
The promotion of services for people is not an easy task, and many recommendations and guidelines have to be followed. In addition, there are many issues that could influence the work of the organization, including current and future implications. Today, the coronavirus crisis is a major challenge for many companies because it is hard to predict its growth or control its outcomes. One healthcare issue, the lack of pandemic management techniques, has to be identified as an influential recent factor for the company’s progress.
Within a short period, a virus that was originated in China has changed the quality of life in many European countries and the United States, causing about 70,000 deaths and 1.2 million confirmed cases (Renda and Castro, 2020). Therefore, today, house-sitting services are restructured, focusing on distant help that can be offered to families.
The second issue is connected with human resources and the necessity to provide people with guarantees. Students have to continue their education distantly, neglecting the basics of real communication and team cooperation. Independence and self-education turn out to be two core aspects of skills development and improvement. In other words, people become less dependent on organizations and regular incomes. “Safe Housing” has to support potential employees and explain how to cooperate with people, who cannot leave their houses but have to walk with their pets or buy pesticides for their plants.
The company has to consider the current demands of the population and think about its future implementations – like the development of professional skills, contact with people, and high-quality services promotion. The factor of interested stakeholders should not be underestimated because the growth of house-sitting services depends on how many people want to participate and work for a company.
Finally, the future implication of the strategic service visions has to based on professional online support. Today, millions of people prefer online services and communication instead of visiting the nearest shop or company to receive services. Therefore, properly developed software platforms and a number of technicians who are responsible for online connection are required. Attention to recent information technology discoveries is recommended (not to miss such an opportunity as drones to walk with dogs). The COVID-19 crisis may become a great opportunity for companies that offer everyday house-sitting services for the population to reconsider their priorities and find new approaches for cooperation in the future.
Service Concept
Another element of strategic service vision is a service concept, the goal of which to describe the way of how a company is able to anticipate its services and distribute them among customers and a working team. House-sitting services are not new for American or European customers. Many working parents, single employees, and other individuals may be in need of additional (professional) help. The development of service concepts helps to recognize and address customers’ needs in the most effective way (Poeppelbuss and Lubarski, 2019).
In the current situation, house-sitting services may not be actual in terms of supporting families, the member of which have to leave their houses. Therefore, it is high time for the company to apply a new method of work with customers. Distance communication, online support, recommendations on how to protect the house, and services that can be offered to families are the main aspects of the work.
Today, many parents have to go to work and leave their children without supervision. Many babysitting organizations take responsibility for child care, education, and entertainment. “Safe Housing” promotes its service concept in terms of caring for houses and everything in it (pets, plants, children, and subjects). This company is not a home security organization that applies modern technologies to protect property. It is not a babysitter service where attention is paid to child care, feeding, and control. It is a combination of services, with the help of which a person may stay calm about home. The company gives guarantees about the quality of the work done, establishes professional relationships, and proves that business can be a personal issue with a unique approach to care. Sometimes, there is a burning need to find a person and trust in the home for a moment, and “Safe Housing” chooses the best people for this job, following the principles of target market segments and service concepts.
Conclusion
In general, the establishment of business relationships and the analysis of services influence the choice of customers and the goals of operational procedures. There are many frameworks that can be offered to organizations to make decisions and understand the idea of cooperation. In this report, the service concept and target market segments were investigated within the frames of a company “Safe Housing” that aims at providing house-sitting services under the coronavirus crisis. These elements are a part of the strategic service vision that can be applied to the organization under consideration. In addition, there are two more factors, current and future implications, that could influence the business with time. Business decision-making is never easy, and this report shows how to choose customers and define the core service concept.
Reference List
- Bence, S. (2020) ‘I’m a pet sitter whose business has been decimated by COVID-19 – here’s what I’m going to protect myself and stay afloat financially’. Business Insider. Web.
- Chang, E. (2019) ‘How to stay calm and travel on with your adult children’. The Washington Post. Web.
- Gerdeman, D. (2020) How the coronavirus is already rewriting the future of business. Web.
- Parode, N. (2018) Should you hire a house sitter?
- Poeppelbuss, J. and Lubarski, A. (2019) ‘Modularity canvas – a framework for visualizing potentials of service modularity’, 14th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik. Association for Information System, Siegen, Germany, 24-27February. AIS eLibrary, pp. 706-720.
- Renda, A. and Castro, R. (2020) ‘Towards stronger EU governance of health threats after the COVID-19 pandemic’, European Journal of Risk Regulation, 9, pp. 1-10. Web.
- Suk Ha, G. C. et al. (2018) ‘Do single and married females have the same standard of work–family balance. case study of frontline employees in Macau’, Journal of Tourism & Hospitality, 7(356). Web.