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Keeping Customers Happy and The True Definition Of 'Quality'

by James Canada

Total Quality Management or TQM (noun): The continuous improvement of products and processes which produces customer satisfaction.
While this definition is brief for a dictionary entry, a lot of important messages are packed into this short, seemingly simple definition. Among those messages are:

- TQM is a continuous process. It is not a one-off shortcut to consistent quality.
- The focus is on the processes that you repeat over and over to produce a product.
- If you can improve a process, then you reap the benefit of that improvement every time you perform that process.
- Producing Customer Satisfaction is the primary goal.

However, even though Customer Satisfaction is the goal of TQM, Customer Satisfaction does not mean giving away the store to meet customers’ needs. You could simply offer your products or services for free and have the happiest customers in the world, but then you would soon be bankrupt. Instead, you need to work with customers to identify valid customer requirements and improve your processes to meet those requirements. Then, as requirements change, continue to hone your processes.

What happens when your customers are dissatisfied with what you do? They go to another supplier that can meet their needs. Even if your customers are satisfied today, you cannot become complacent. Someone else will eventually figure out how to serve your customers better, and you will lose them.

This simple truth is why Customer Satisfaction is the primary focus and goal of TQM. Quality is a matter of survival.

“Listening to customers must become everyone’s business,” writes Tom Peters in his bestselling book Thriving on Chaos. “With most competition moving ever faster, the race will go to those who listen (and respond) most intently.”

“Listening to customers must become everyone’s business,” writes Tom Peters in “Thriving on Chaos. “With most competition moving ever faster, the race will go to these who listen (and respond) most intently.”

James H. Canada is managing partner/CEO for Alliance Technologies LLC, ITEN mentor and author of “Corporate to Entrepreneur: Strategies for Success.” Contact Jim at james.canada@alliancetechnologiesllc.com, 636-734-2337 or
www.alliancetechnologiesllc.com.

Submitted 3 years 125 days ago
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