Maintaining Operational Excellence

Maintaining Operational Excellence: Business success depends on the consistent provision of the highest quality services and products that respond to the specific needs of your customers. You really need to stand out in this respect, particularly when there are so many competitors claiming to be capable of delivering the same. In order to achieve and then maintain operational excellence, it’s vital to develop a solid and effective quality control management process. Here are a few insights.

Standards of Quality

Listen as your customers define their expectations. Do your research to understand the demands that are on them and what their concerns are. It’s vital to understand their pain points in detail as it becomes your job to eliminate them. When you know exactly the level of quality and service necessary to overcome these challenges, you know what your standard is, and you’ll know what you can never compromise on.

Customer Satisfaction

Listen to your customers’ experiences. Find out their satisfaction with the product or the service you have just provided by picking up the phone and having a chat or through feedback forms and surveys. You must be open to constructive criticism, it’s the only way you know how to up your game in the future. Monitoring customer satisfaction is critical, are they happy with the quality? Efficiency? Speed of delivery? Communication? You can’t claim operational excellence until your customers are completely satisfied in each of these areas.

It’s all about leadership

Since acute understanding is central to good delivery, it’s important to empower your team as much as possible by encouraging them to take ownership of their projects. When someone has a vested interest it invariably inspires them to produce greater results. At the same time, proper teamwork is vital, and this relies on effective internal communication, as well as clear communication with vendors. Always encourage an open dialogue as this facilitates mutual understanding. When people are on the same page, a lot more work gets done. Make sure that proper guidance and tools are in place to ensure your products and services are consistently meeting (if not exceeding) your customers’ expectations.