Most companies claim to provide a quality service and some will have procedures in place to measure ‘quality'. In many cases this in practice means that they are able to check when quality criteria have been or have not been met, and they will then react when the service or the product does not meet the required levels of quality. This tends to mean that they arrange for reviews of the process and a discussion with the customer affected to explain that they are doing so.

This is OK as far as it goes.

However, the point is that a company that genuinely embraces the quality issue will recognise that providing a quality service or product represents the single most important element of the company's way of working. Providing a quality service produces a feedback loop that drives the whole future of the company. Providing a quality service is not then just a business objective in its own right but a business philosophy that is seen as being fundamental to the growth of the company.

I define a quality loop that should significantly impact the company results and performance as follows:

If you provide a quality service, you as a company are faced with lower levels of rework. In turn this results in a lower level of costs which enables the company to be more competitive in their pricing structure. Other issues, of course also affect pricing levels such as the use of up to date technology, but all things being equal in a competitive market keeping levels of rework to a minimum will be significant.

Competitive pricing together with high quality means happy customers. Happy customers mean fewer complaints about the service being provided. And this then very specifically impacts your own staff. If they know that when they are at work they will not spend their time dealing with unhappy customers, fending off complaints and having to defend the company's service, they themselves will be happier at work. They will enjoy what they are doing and should develop a friendly relationship with the customers they deal with. All this means that they are much more likely to provide a quality service. This closes the loop as they should now provide a high quality service on an on-going basis as a normal outcome from their work.

The company still needs to check on a regular basis that their customers believe they are receiving a high quality service. Part of the account management process should include regular reviews with the customer base to check this is the case. Customer surveys of this type can then be utilised as a sales tool and further improve the new business opportunity.

By treating the provision of a quality service as part of your company culture it will help you employ people who you believe understand this concept. It will also ensure that new employee training and induction incorporates the provision of quality as fundamental to the job.

Quality becomes ingrained in the company ethos and I believe as markets become more and more competitive, and customers more and more demanding and discerning it will be those companies that do fully embrace quality as a business philosophy that will survive and prosper.