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 8/21/2006 |
Product Quality
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I’m sure you’ve got personal experience with product quality in an organization.
When we think about product quality, we tend to think of things like camshafts, breakfast cereal, automobiles, televisions, underwear, and other things that you can touch.
But product quality goes beyond that, into areas we generally don’t think of as a product.
As an example, one time, you call up your credit card company with a question, and a helpful, caring person answers your questions, deals with your problems, and puts your mind at ease.
The next time you call that company with a similar problem, a shrill, uncaring, unfeeling zombie on the other end of the phone line makes you so angry that you cancel the credit card entirely, and scream at the TV whenever that company’s advertisements come on.
What’s the credit card company’s problem? Well, at its root cause, it’s bad hiring, but in the long run, it’s inconsistent product quality.
What is the core product of an organization? In the credit card company’s case, the core product consists of a two-fold product: one: money; two: service. The customer relies on both parts of their product line – and yet it’s something we would rarely consider in terms of product quality.
In many selling organizations, companies spend a lot of time on motivation, but rarely do they consider the product quality they have to offer. How’s the experience from the customer’s point of view? Like the credit card company, the selling organization needs to look at the quality of both sides of their product – the item the company is selling, and the way it’s sold. Companies need to look at both parts of the equation when determining product quality.
Ultimately, what’s the key to product quality? It’s developing a product in the best possible way, and then delivering that product in a consistent, quality manner.
If you buy a car, you want to know that car has been engineered in a quality manner and built in a consistent, quality way. You want to know that the factory that built that car built it well, even if it was 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.
How do you ensure that consistent product quality?
First off, you develop the standards to live by – what product quality means to you. In manufacturing, product quality includes fit, finish, manufacturing tolerances, and assembly, while in organizations that deal with the customer, it includes the customer “experience” – how the customer is greeted, how well the customer is listened to, how well the solution offered fits the customer.
Second, you experiment on how to reach those standards. You test, develop, train, and then adjust, until the standard of quality is reached.
Third, you practice an unending practice of constant improvement – after all, when you stay in one place too long, you tend to get run over.
In today’s day and age, product quality is essential – it’s the standard we are judged by. Today’s consumer has too many alternatives for us to cut back on product quality – if we don’t deliver a quality experience, someone else will.
Whether you’re making widgets or making sales, it’s essential to have a quality product, delivered in a quality way.
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