Survey Results – Quality Matters Most – Economic Downturn Hurts Profits – Opportunities for Improvement

SURVEY RESULTS  FEBRUARY 26th, 2009   

BUSINESS PROCESS HEALTH SURVEY

WHATABOUTQUALITY.COM

 

In a recent poll, conducted by Whataboutquality.com of 89 partner organizations representing a diverse mix of service, product, profit, non-profit, geographic regions, employee count, revenue, income, several interesting results were revealed.

 

Trends / Indications

 

The first fact that was clear: we are indeed a service society, with 40% of the participants represent purely service and the entire balance of firms representing both product and service provision.

 

 

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The next unfortunate result is that more than 75% of all organizations surveyed have confirmed that the economic downturn is affecting their bottom-line profitability, and 50% of all firms reporting said those negative effects were significant.

 

When respondents were asked what few key characteristics defined quality, in the eyes of their customer, the most popular response was:  the product or service met my requirements.  The next two most popular responses were:  it worked like I expected and it was a good value, worth what I paid for it. 

 

These three characteristics represented how 80% of customers define quality.

 

 

 

When asked how the respondent would describe the quality of their service, the predominant response was: best in class.  Obviously firms believe their offerings to be superior in quality.  All responses were at least: above average.  No firm believes there to be issues with the quality of their service or products.

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When asked if there was room for improvement in their operating costs, 60% of those responding said yes, and 40% said they felt their costs were under control.

 

40% of the firms surveyed said they were struggling to maintain income and 20% said they were profitable, but concerned. 

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Overall, Delivery and pricing were not as important or as much a concern or issue as Quality.

 

 

Actual Data

 

Do you offer product(s), service(s) or both?

 

40%  services

60%  both

 

How much is the economic downturn affecting business?

 

50%  significantly

25% slightly

25%  none

 

How would you define QUALITY in the eyes of your customer?

 

40%  met my requirements

20%  good value

20%  it worked like I expected

10%  competent staff

 

5%   on time delivery

5%   competitive price

 

As far as the QUALITY of your product or service, would your customers describe your QUALITY as:

 

60% best in class

40% above average

 

As far as the DELIVERY of your product or service, would your customers describe your ON-TIME DELIVERY as:

 

40%  best in class

20%  above average

20%  average

20%  unimportant / n/a

 

As far as the COST of doing business, would your Owner / Management Team describe your COST of doing business as:

 

40%  above average

60%  opportunity for improvement

 

As far as the PRICE of our products or services, would your Customer describe your PRICES for products or services as:

 

80%  above average

20% average

 

How would your describe your firm’s financial performance (INCOME) situation?

 

40%  struggling

20%  profitable but concerned

40%  profitable, not concerned

If you’re ready to regain profit through quality and business process improvement contact Mike Weekes at WhatAboutQuality.com today.

on the web at http://www.whataboutquality.com

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get our latest book, EVERYTHING IS A PROCESS

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CONTACT US at info@whataboutquality.com or call us at 941 356 9434.

 

 

 

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About Michael R Weekes

With more than 25 years experience in business process improvement, Mike Weekes is known as the couch-potato-turned-marathoner. Mike helps organizations in the NFP, manufacturing, healthcare, government / education domains to save more than $200,000 a year in operational expenses using a simple philosophy: EVERYTHING IS A PROCESS.

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