How important is quality?

Would you prefer to drive a car that breaks down after a few miles or one that is reliable?

I know what I prefer and why. If I spend money on something I want it to last and represent fair value. To achieve this, I look for quality build, long life and quality maintenance - at a price I can just afford.

This goes for clothes/cars as well as retails screen. I have some shirts that I bought 25 years ago and still wear, wash and re-wear on a daily basis for example. I still own high quality woollen suits that I bought 30+ years ago that (amazingly) still fit me. This is only possible because I decided that buying a better quality product would be cheaper in the long run.

The ultimate objective for any business is to make money.However, the businesses that make the most don’t focus on the profits alone. They also consider the quality of the products and services they offer because they know how important it is to their customers. But why does quality hold so much weight?

Quality products help to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty and reduce the risk and cost of replacing faulty goods. Companies can build a reputation for quality by gaining accreditation with a recognized quality standard.

1.Meet Customer Expectations

Regardless of what industry you’re involved in, your customers aren’t going to choose you solely based on price, but often on quality. In fact, studies have shown that customers will pay more for a product or service that they think is made well or exceeds the standard. Your customers expect you to deliver quality products.

2.Quality is Critical to Satisfied Customers

If you fail to meet customers' expectation, they will quickly look for alternatives. Quality is critical to satisfying your customers and retaining their loyalty so they continue to buy from you in the future. Quality products make an important contribution to long-term revenue and profitability. They also enable you to charge and maintain higher prices.

Quality is a key differentiator in a crowded market. It’s the reason that Apple can price its iPhone higher than any other mobile phone in the industry – because the company has established a long history of delivering superior products.

3.Establish Your Reputation

Quality reflects on your company’s reputation. The growing importance of social media means that customers and prospects can easily share both favorable opinions and criticism of your product quality on forums, product review sites and social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. A strong reputation for quality can be an important differentiator in markets that are very competitive. Poor quality or product failure that results in a product recall campaign can lead to negative publicity and damage your reputation.

4.Manage Costs Effectively

Poor quality increases costs. If you do not have an effective quality-control system in place, you may incur the cost of analyzing nonconforming goods or services to determine the root causes and retesting products after reworking them.

In some cases, you may have to scrap defective products and pay additional production costs to replace them. If defective products reach customers, you will have to pay for returns and replacements and, in serious cases, you could incur legal costs for failure to comply with customer or industry standards.

In the end, product quality is Kerchan always emphasize. Creating quality products will continue to be the most important thing. In a world where it’s hard to predict the demands of customers, this is an important concept to master.