Don’t compromise for profit.
We currently live in a day where quality speaks louder than it ever has. To get an example of this, think of your favorite place to do business. It could be a shop, store, restaurant, or destination. Now expand your thought to their competition. You should be able to name six fairly easy. What makes that one place your favorite when you have so many options? It’s likely the quality of what they do/sell that helps draw you in. Lets look at some areas where quality is important.
Physical Quality
This is typically out of many people’s control, but it is still very important to us in the bigger picture. It goes from the type of card stock used on your business cards to ensure products are of the best quality. You’ll hear of businesses scraping a run of books before letting an inferior product reach their guests’ hands.
Experiential Quality
Guests today don’t just purchase products, they also buy an experience. This area is very much in your control as a leader. We’ve talked before about what separates brick and mortar from their online competition. Who you hire, their level of enthusiasm, training, and development all shape that experience. Your team alone makes the decision on the quality of the experience.
Visual Quality
We live in an aesthetic era. The way someone looks in an interview can help or hurt their chances in a job interview. You may not let your children play at the neighbors because the other kid’s appearance unsettles you. The truth is visual cues help guide our decisions on the quality of the person or place. This is why so many places are starting to place such a high visual standard on recovery and merchandising.
Personal Quality
As the world becomes more automated few things communicate excellence like a personal touch. This is another area where you have 100% influence in. How you do this is up to you, but two easy areas for this to impact are your teams and ship-out areas. Your personal touch with a guest means so much more than a cart icon on a computer. A little note inside a box with an order goes a long way as well.
Follow these guidelines and your guests will notice and become even bigger fans of what you do.
Make a better tomorrow.
-ZH
