Investing in Quality Initiatives

Get Revolutionary Results from Simple Shifts in the Hidden Side of Quality

Are you frustrated because your customer service people are STILL busy, even though you’ve invested a lot of time and energy in quality initiatives?

The problem is that you’ve been going DEEP in the manufacturing process to drive quality, when what you need to do is to go BROAD, across the value chain.  Why?  Because just 5 categories of costs account for 80% of the profit leaks coming from costs that shouldn’t be there.  One of those categories is referred to as “Tangibles” – these are the obvious physical defects that conventional quality initiatives are supposed to catch and eliminate.  That one is probably off your list, unless you still have a lot of re-work issues.

If rework isn’t an issue, then you’ve already gotten most of the “efficiency” boosts to profitability that you can get from conventional quality approaches.  It’s those other 4 categories of issues that are the ongoing source of your profit leaks AND your biggest opportunity to have significant impact on profits.  Unfortunately, they’re sprinkled across the rest of the value chain, beyond your manufacturing operations.

Here are just a few examples:

  • Recurring issues that have been band-aided instead of fixed for good
  • Metrics that are driving the wrong behaviors by your well-intentioned customer service staff
  • Shortfalls in the Customer Experience that are leaving a bad taste in your customers’ mouth… and leave them just looking for reasons to complain.
  • And more…

These types of essential-to-resolve issues creep into EVERY organization over time, and well-intentioned staff often just keep fixing the issue every time, instead of fixing it for good.

Fixing everything for good sounds logical and sounds simple, but it’s not.  First you have to identify the patterns and frequency of the incidents that are causing the majority of your profit leaks, otherwise, you’ll bury yourself in a mile-high To Do list trying to be perfect, and achieve exactly the opposite of your goals.  Your people will be mired in busy work instead of taking a surgical approach that delivers results.

If you’re ready to shine a spotlight on the 5 categories of issues accounting for 80% of your costs-to-serve and get that sludge out of your system, just send me a quick note.  I’d like to help you create a flywheel effect in your business by sharing the approaches that I’ve used to drive a 16-38% increase in profitability for my clients.

#1 Bestselling Author, International Speaker, and Accelerator Anne C. Graham is on a mission to help 5 million business leaders and their teams double their profit per employee – or more – in less than one year, in less time per week than they’re spending on email per day. Her new book Profit in Plain Sight includes the 5-step proactive P.R.O.F.I+T Plan to do it.  Connect with Anne on Twitter and LinkedIn.