The Quality-Ready Advantage

Remember playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors?” The basics of the game consist of each player shaking a fist a number of times (priming) and then extending the same hand in a fist (rock), out flat (paper), or with the index and middle fingers extended (scissors).  Each of these is referred to as a throw, and which one wins is dependent upon the opponent’s throw.

• Paper wins against Rock (paper covers rock)
• Rock wins against Scissors (rock smashing scissors)
• Scissors wins against Paper (scissors cut paper)

Under close examination many companies may find they are using a rock, paper, scissors business strategy. You know - prime the market with new product features, throw out a marketing campaign hoping to rock your prospects with creative copy, cover your defects with patch releases, and then cut your development time so you can do it again - only faster.

Your new product features might be on target, and your entertaining marketing copy may rock; however, your customers may still cut-out your business faster than you can scream “don’t run with scissors” if poor quality impacts their customer experience.  Research shows that your reputation for quality affects sales in three ways.  It will:

1. Reinforce the confidence of previous customers
2. Win new customers
3. Induce customers of competing brands to switch

The cost of quality may seem high, but the cost of poor quality is still higher.  If you take steps to protect your reputation for quality you will be sure to win no matter what your competition is throwing.