Your Customers' Perception of Quality: What It Means to Your Bottom Line and How to Control It

Features

• Presents a new and vitally important concept in customer centricity
• Introduces and explains a new model that provides quantifiable information to show the impact of customer perception of quality on your bottom line
• Shows how to develop an effective business case to demonstrate how the problem may be impacting any individual organization
• Provides templates, checklists, and examples to kickstart implementation efforts
• Includes a strategic model for achieving long-term benefits, as well as the hands-on tools required to make the necessary tactical changes

Summary

Providing the insight and tools needed to improve the perception your customers have about the quality of your product or service, Your Customers' Perception of Quality: What It Means to Your Bottom Line and How to Control It introduces a ground-breaking model for measuring the impact of quality perception on your bottom line. Allowing you to look at quality from an outside-in, truly customer-centric perspective, the authors pave a concrete connection between enhanced customer perception and increased profitability.

The book introduces cutting-edge concepts in customer-centric quality—explaining exactly how to identify, plan, cost justify, manage, and deliver consistent improvements to the factors that matter most to your customers. Helping you harness the power of the universal set of tools, techniques, and methods at your disposal in the field of quality, the book:

• Unveils a model that provides quantifiable information for determining the impact of customer perception on your bottom line
• Details a strategic model for attaining long-term benefits—including the tools required to make the necessary tactical changes
• Includes a wealth of customizable tools to help kick-start implementation efforts

The text clearly illustrates how to implement methods proven to improve operational efficiencies, foster customer loyalty, and drive increased revenue through positive word of mouth. Complete with helpful checklists, templates, tools, and detailed instructions on how to tailor them to your company, the authors guide you through the path of evaluating, analyzing, and implementing the value-adding adjustments needed to drive profits and boost customer loyalty.

Table of Contents

WHY PERCEPTION OF QUALITY NEEDS YOUR ACTIVE ATTENTION

The Neglected Frontier of Quality in Today’s Qualitysphere
Beyond the Quality Department
Actual Quality Matters
     Quality Assurance, Quality Control, and Testing
Customers’ Perception of Quality: The Neglected Frontier
Why Are We Neglecting customers’ perception of quality?
Additional Evidence
Understanding Customer-Experienced Quality
Even More Proof of Neglect

Why Customer Perception of Quality Is So Important
Customers’ Perception 
     Kaizen 
     Poka-Yoke
     Constraint Management
     Six Sigma
Capability Maturity Management Integrated (CMMI)
     International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
     Other Standards
New Product Introduction

Demonstrating the Return on Investment in Customer Perception of Quality
Fear Factor Causes Action Paralysis
From the Rags of Data to the Riches of Intelligence
Toward a Business Case for Customers’ Perception of Quality 
The Ten Commandments of Customers’ Perception of Quality
Creating the Business Case for Customers’ Perception of Quality
     Step 1: Gather Supporting Data
     Step 2: Articulate the Specific Problem Statement Quantifying the Problem at Hand
     Step 3: Create the Drama
Sample Slide Presentation to Garner Leaders’ Support.

CLINICAL ACTIONS THAT YIELD TANGIBLE RESULTS

Garnering Support and Gaining Endorsement
Selecting the Sponsor and Steering Committee
Practical Steps
Steering Committees

A Framework to Derive the Right Investments
Getting Started
     Surveys
     Sales Representatives
     Trade Shows
     Lost Customers
Data Analysis
     Root Cause Analysis
     Analysis
     Example
          Data Gathering
          Prioritize
          Root Cause Analysis
          Analysis

Managing a Journey of Continuous Improvement
Customer-Driven Continuous Improvements
Six-Step Continuous Improvement Approach
An Actionable Agile Program Management Framework
Common Challenges and Possible Resolution Strategies
     Organizational Structure
     Horizontal Sponsorship
     Skills Gaps
     System Constraints
     Senior-Level Resistance
     Encouraging Creativity
When Do We Know We Are on the Right Track?
     Positive Signs
     Warning Signs
Communications Management: The Boon of Your Customers’ Perception of Quality Initiatives
Governance

HARVESTING THE REWARDS AND CONTINUING THE JOURNEY

Metrics That Prove the Worth of the Initiatives
Data Rich, Yet Information Poor
Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
Conceptualizing Business Operations and Metrics
Classical Quality Performance Indicators
     "-Ilities" in the World of Software Architecture 
          Functionality
          Usability
          Maintainability
          Scalability
          Availability
          Security
     Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
Quantifying Customers’ Perception of Quality
Loyalty Measurement Models
     Method 1: Measuring and Increasing Customer Perception of Quality
     Method 2: Measuring and Increasing Customers’ Perception of Quality

Delivering a Capability to Sustain a Customer Perception of Quality Function
The Process
Data-Gathering Phase
Analysis Phase
Documenting the New Process
Piloting the New Process

Common Hurdles That Plague Customer Perception of Quality Initiatives
Goals of This Chapter
Leaders Who Walk the Talk
Common Challenges
     Lack of Management Commitment
     Inadequate Resources, Budget, and Time
     Lack of Information, Monitoring, and Measurements
     Resistance to Planning
     Reluctance to be Proved Wrong
     Lack of Corporate Objectives, Strategies, Policies, and Business Direction
     Lack of Knowledge and Lack of Appreciation of Business Impacts and Priorities
     Resistance to Change and Cultural Change
     Poor Relationships, Poor Communication, and a Lack of Cooperation between Business Units
     Lack of Tools, Standards, and Skills
Critical Success Factors
Common Risks

Conclusion: Letter to a New Champion of Customer Perception of Quality from the Authors
Appendix A: Sample Questions
Appendix B: Multivoting Exercise
Appendix C: Iterative Nature of the Process
Bibliography
Index

Each chapter concludes with a Summary & Checklist

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