The Square Shape of QUALITY

I needed some few electronic gadgets for my apartment and was talking to a friend on the phone. My friend used a separate high street store from the one I was used to purchasing from and I have really enjoyed my shopping with this outfit. My friend tried to convince me into embracing his own store and had described them as a specialist in electronics. I encouraged him to educate me about them and he went ahead to say he had bought all his gadgets from them and they  remained in good shape ever since. I agreed with his comment save the same goes for me and even more, I used the store credit card which provided me with the grace of instalment payment, a condition that my friend was not aware of. When the call was over, I ran few searches online to compare the two stores and realised they were both supplied by the same brands by the same company. In other words, it is safe to say they sold the same qualities from the same brand. However, while my store issued credit card with affordable credit of payment tenure was not exceeded, my friend's store allows finance option at sales point. Two stores but different customer service strategies. 

In most developed countries of the world, there is one consumer protection law or the other that stipulates the condition to be met by merchants and service providers prior been licenced to offer their products or services to the market for public consumption. Even then, there are diverse agencies and government authorised channels that allow independent service or products complaints to be made and assessed for trials against the service providers or products manufacturers. Under such arrangement, the standard of quality is thus guaranteed to be met by service provider or products manufacturers prior going into business. Even when the consumer or clients demanded for acceptance criteria, it is not enough that such acceptance criteria is met as the equal level of quality if it leaves out the balance of legislative standard so the consummate standard of quality instructs the service provider or the product manufacturer to tick all the boxes to avoid the heavy hands of penalty in law which might as well remove their continuity in business if they fail those legal stipulations.

With the absolute demand for quality which includes standard laid down by government and the cost of failing it when customers notice it comes the situation that makes it hard for any merchant to sell in market without quality standards that even transcends the acceptance criteria of consumers. Under this regulated condition, quality has become so guaranteed and common that stores and brands find it difficult to prove that their improvement exceeds the quality of the other.   To market a service or products as a quality that transcends the other stores of the same magnitude would be disregarded as exaggeration because consumers are aware of regulations about the products or services as well as the consumer rights they have in law to make redress if quality is not met. This situation leaves quality standards out of the competition and even a lesser quality would not be marketed out of services and product descriptions.

If absolute stipulation of quality in products and services have left quality out of competition then the question is where then is rivalry of market control since this is a natural attitude of market obvious to all? The answer would in any day tilt towards customer services. It has been said more often that there is nothing new under the sun. Ideas should be as novel as they can for any entrepreneur to consider it for the benefit of marketing but even then, it would be a best marketing effort for anyone to think that his idea however principal it leads to qualitative service or product could be rivalled at any point. It is for this reason that any entrepreneur should consider market leadership by extending the idea of quality to the best customer service practice. The best customer service strategy  is one place competition is left among service providers and products manufactures.

To return to high street stores as examples in the market, I would like to bet on the fact that in the British economy as example;  90 percent of what is sold in one store would be available in another store. Another example would be in the British banking industry which is licenced by the same regulatory bodies and those banks market almost the same products and services with the similar platforms as licenced by regulatory bodies. That been the case, competition is left to customer satisfaction and how to sustain it to maintain traffic. Customers are not always right but the continued growth of the capitalist market has described the customer as a king and the better part of market wisdom is left in four statements which are:

• Gather information about the consumer acceptance criteria and make effort to exceed the criteria or at least equate them.
• Consult the regulatory bodies for your services and products and consider it a safe bet to benefit to meet trading or manufacturing standards.
• Device the best customer service system that presumes that the consumer is a king such that when complaints are raised you can be protected.
• If your market goes wrong with any of your consumers, make space for a company customer service process that allows a compensatory redress for the consumer even if it comes at a cost.

The reason for the statements above is that its only by an effective customer service that you can secure and maintain traffics to your market. Though  it may come at a cost, the trust earned at your outfit would encourage your patronage in such way that your loss could be restored over time. Quality customer service is worth the substance and remember to persistently innovate and improve on it. 

'Yemi Daramola

Managing Consultant.
Jason Folds Group