If you have only $10,000 to improve your business, should you pour it into a marketing initiative or a performance initiative? I vote for improving performance every time. The long-term payback will be extraordinary.

The quality you provide to customers is the value that they receive from the performance of your products and services.

In a manufacturing process, quality refers to number of mistakes per million parts. It also refers to the refreshing taste of a dessert at a frozen custard stand, the speed with which a pizza is delivered, and the friendliness of a hostess at a local restaurant. Your marketing theme will soon be ridiculed if the actual performance doesn’t live up to the promises made.

Performance enhancement or marketing splash?
Quality builds the brand. Here’s a phrase-association game. What do you think of when you read the following?:

“An amazingly well-designed, user-friendly computer…”

“Entertainment for all members of the family…”

“A cup of coffee so delicious it feels like a reward…”

Apple, Disney, and Starbucks first created extraordinary quality, and then they became known for that quality. Notice: High quality first, great brand second. The brand attracts and keeps lots and lots of great customers, but you can’t successfully advertise what doesn’t exist.

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