To be successful in business today you must be the best. You must offer the highest quality products and services every day just to stay ahead of the competition. Whether you have a storefront, in-home consulting business, or a Web site you must provide total quality in everything you do. If you ask any business owner the single most important factor to success they will tell you that it is providing total quality. Unfortunately, most businesses talk about this critical element to business success but so very few actually deliver it. Providing total quality in all your products and services requires that you and all your employees have a special mindset because it involves every aspect of your business. Every person in your business must understand and practice this special mindset. This is especially important if your business relies on vendors. For example if you if you are an affiliate of other Web sites and need to make sure that their products and services are of the highest quality because it reflects back on you. Here are twelve important rules that you must follow to ensure that your business is providing total quality. 1. Price alone is not enough to keep a customers business. Your lower price may tempt or even motivate some prospects to start using your product, but without quality and service, youll quickly lose customers. No matter how fair and competitive the price, your business will suffer unless you deliver an excellent product and provide first-rate, reliable service. 2. You must continue to render excellent service at all times. Many businesses are very attentive to their customers needs on the first one or two orders, the honeymoon period. However, when the honeymoon is over, the service and attentiveness begins to slip. Studies show that most consumers will give one warning when they receive poor service but if it happens a second time they take their business elsewhere. 3. Always have a high level of integrity. Nothing is more important in a business relationship than honesty and integrity. There are no second chances if a customer feels that your business is being dishonest with them in any way. Were all human and mistakes are made. Most people can forgive a mistake or an occasional oversight in performance, but they insist on being told the truth. Once a customer looses faith in your honesty and integrity, youve lost their business. 4. Live up to every promise. When you make a promise to your customers and keep it, you look good but when you fail to honor your commitment, you create problems for your business which customers are not willing to tolerate. It all comes down to being honest. There will be times when you will be unable to deliver on the date promised. When these things happen you need to let the customer know in advance of the scheduled delivery date that there is a problem, what the problem is, and when the product will be delivered. 5. Never offer excuses to your customers. When a customer orders a product or service from your business thats not delivered as promised, theyre not interested in your problems with suppliers or employees. They want to know what your solution is to get their product delivered within the time frame you promised. 6. Never tell the customer his or her order is delayed because youre too busy with a bigger order. You customer only cares about his or her own order. It is insulting to tell your customer that his or her job is being pushed aside to handle a larger order. You must always deliver as promised and make every customer feel important. 7. Value excellence in all areas of your business, even those that are unrelated to your primary product or service. If youre sloppy or negligent in one aspect of your business, you customers begin to think that youre sloppy in other areas as well. For example, if you send a conformation letter or email out that has typos in it, your customer is going to wonder about the quality of the product or service he or she has just purchased. If you cant invest the time proofreading your correspondence, why should your customer believe that youll effectively service his or her account. 8. Return all phone calls and answer all emails as soon as possible. Whey you dont return a phone call or answer an email from a customer, youre telling him or her that you arent interested in their business. If youre busy and cant return a phone call or answer an email right away, have someone else in your office call or write to let the customer know when he or she can expect a call or correspondence from you. Customers will appreciate your diligent efforts to help another customer, if someone takes the time to explain it. What a customer wont tolerate is being ignored. 9. Learn as much as you can about your customers business. Customers will respect you for taking the time to learn more about the business or field theyre in. Understanding what your customer needs will put you in a better position to meet his or her requirements and it will enable you to sell more of your products and services. 10. Always go the extra mile for your customers. This is plain and simple: do more than you are paid to do. Start believing in the Law of Sowing and Reaping that says what you give to others and the way you treat people will eventually come back to you. Always do a spectacular job and a little bit more. It will pay dividends in the long run. 11. Always offer a complete guarantee. People today are afraid of making a mistake so when you take the fear out of the transaction it makes it much easier for them to buy from you. Offering a guarantee plus is a powerful way to ease a prospects buying anxiety. For example, you could say; if the customer is not 100% satisfied they will get their money back in full and receive something else for free because of having to go through the inconvenience. 12. The cheapest advertising is a satisfied customer. How many referrals do you receive from existing customers? The number of referrals you receive is an important indicator as to how well your business is doing and how it will grow in the future. You should be asking your customers in person, by letter, or by phone to recommend you to others. Youll find that most of your satisfied customers will be happy to recommend you, if you will just ask them. Providing the highest quality at a higher but still reasonable price is something your business must do to survive and prosper in todays highly competitive business world. Quality is a mindset. It cannot be faked or forced. It is something you and everyone in your organization, including your vendors must want to do. When you have a total quality mindset there is no competition. |
