Customer Drives Quality

I read the other day that a well-known mega-retailer is entering the “reality” genre by holding a competition for shelf space. Post the best video pitch, offer the best new product, win the most votes from consumers, and you might just win an Internet plug for your company … and the right to sell your stuff at “select” stores.

It’s a cool idea. When you look closely at why it works, you realize that it’s built around a very simple concept: listening to the customer. This is essential.

Listen to your customers!

Your customers must drive your quality. The second you stop listening to them, you become vulnerable.

You don’t need to build a fancy contest to get your customers to help you improve quality. What you do have to do, though, is build listening to the customer into your organization.

Nissan (one of our clients) has turned listening to the customer into a science. For years, they’ve used a network of Field Quality Centers to do one thing: use direct feedback from customers to improve the features and the quality of their vehicles. They never stop listening; never stop asking customers what could make the experience of owning and driving a Nissan better. That’s a never-ending process for this company … and it shows.

The real test of whether you have listened well enough to your customers is pretty simple. Are your customers out there promoting your brand for you?

Take a look at the video below, and you’ll get a sense of just how close the “customers drive quality” rule has gotten Nissan to its market.

This is what happens when you make listening to the customer a strategic priority for your enterprise!



LINKS:
AdAge: Move Over, ‘American Idol’: Walmart’s the Next Reality Giant
Nissan: Quality Initiatives