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QUALITY MANAGEMENT

IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY

With so many options available to customers, you may be wondering whether or not quality still matters. The answer is a resounding “yes,” and quality isn’t just about offering a product or service that exceeds the standard, but it’s also about the reputation you gain for consistently delivering a customer experience that is “above and beyond.” Managing quality is crucial for small businesses.


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.

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.


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.

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.

If your business consistently delivers what it promises, your customers are much more likely to sing your praises on social media platforms. This not only helps drive your brand awareness, but it also creates the much-desired FOMO effect, which stands for “Fear of Missing Out.” Social-media users that see your company’s strong reputation will want to become part of the product or service you’re offering, which can boost your sales.

Meet or Exceed Industry Standards

Adherence to a recognized quality standard may be essential for dealing with certain customers or complying with legislation. Public-sector companies, for example, may insist that their suppliers achieve accreditation with quality standards. If you sell products in regulated markets, such as health care, food or electrical goods, you must be able to comply with health and safety standards designed to protect consumers.

Accredited quality control systems play a crucial role in complying with those standards. Accreditation can also help you win new customers or enter new markets by giving prospects independent confirmation of your company’s ability to supply quality products.

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.

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