Do you wonder what is the value of taking care?
How often do you become annoyed when you discover that your new jacket had a button fall off before you could get it home?
How much do you take for granted that your 5-year-old dishwasher works perfectly, every time?
In both instances, we’re dealing with the value of taking care (aka, “quality control”). With your new jacket, that value is lacking. In the case of your dishwasher, the value is present but not acknowledged. That seems to be the way it is: the value of getting things right is noticed most when things go wrong.
Purchasers of products or services generally presume that things will go right, that the provider of a product or service is taking care. Online reviews, testimonials, and personal referrals assure potential customers that a particular vendor takes care that their product or service functions as intended. You can count on that.
The value of taking care applies to individuals too. Over the years, I’ve read many cover letters from job applicants. I’ve found it ironically amusing when an applicant claims to pay attention to detail in a letter marred by egregious typos. What’s the likely outcome for that applicant?
Take Care Now to Avoid Complaints
When things go wrong, customers typically complain to the customer service department. Increasingly, many businesses don’t bother taking care to get that right. They hide behind a complicated phone tree or excessively long wait times; or they simply make it impossible to contact a human being. Perhaps they could afford a modest customer service operation and reduce the frequency of refunds if they took greater care to get things right in the first place by emphasizing quality control.
How does your business take care of getting things right for your clients? Have you figured out a way to quantify that value? What seems to work for you?