Selling quality isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it.  Aside from having the advantage of working with an incredibly knowledgable team of QC professionals, I’ve discovered the most successful strategies are often also the simplest to employ.

Paul Borawski talks about selling quality in his most recent View from the Q post.  He asks if there’s an “essential answer” in pitching top decision makers.  This is an excellent discussion opportunity, and I’m looking forward to hearing from the other Influential Voices here.

My tried and true suggestions are as follows:

- Walk the walk -

Consider for a moment how quick we are to notice inconsistencies in people’s words vs their actions. “Walking the walk” establishes trustworthiness, which is a key contributor to our decision making process.  We can’t expect people to buy into something we don’t back up with personal action.  Consistency is also a key component here.  We need to live and breathe quality.  We need to be passionate about it

- It’s all about the benefits -

This is really the basis of any good marketing campaign.  Rather than scaring people with the realities of poor quality, focus on the positive effects that come with doing it right.  Talk about the improvements and back up the claim that “quality costs less, not more.” Increased profits, a happier and more productive workforce, brand loyal consumers and a positive public perception are just a few of the great things that happen when you support quality initiatives.  Also, as key decision makers, it doesn’t hurt to point out the positive effects of being a steward of such fabulous benefits.

- Know your stuff - 

The key decision makers I’ve talked quality with in the past have responded positively to my ability to back up claims of benefits or disputes to common misconceptions with facts, figures and/or case studies.  Many times, resistance to quality is a faulty foundation of knowledge that has lead the individual(s) to believe ensuring quality is too complicated and not worth the effort.  Of course we know that nothing could be further from the truth, but you’ll need more than your opinion to change someone’s mind.

- All the world’s a stage - 

Paul also asks about cultural considerations when selling quality, and I’m not sure that’s how I would frame it.  I think you have to consider your audience from a broader perspective and then adjust your strategy as necessary.  I talk about quality differently depending on my audience.  Personalizing the approach in this way establishes a relationship and keeps your key decision makers engaged in the discussion.

Raising the voice of quality can certainly be considered a way of “selling” quality.  By contributing value adding content to the industry, we educate and inform key decision makers.

The ASQ Audit Division did an excellent job with this.. Really…

Referenced Link

In his latest post, Paul Borawski urges the quality community to think about this year’s successes and disappointments.  He hit a big one by calling out the government and their failure to continue supporting the Baldrige program.  I would suggest the quality failure there is the result of a much larger issue that would make for an interesting post in itself!  But, I digress…

For this introspection, I took a more “micro” approach…  Reflecting back, what were my personal quality wins and fails for the year?

Pro QC’s Online Presence -

I feel really good about how Pro QC’s online presence has developed this year. This is a big win for me personally, because it always feels good to see ideas turning into results.  Through our social media efforts, we’ve solidified our position as a company that adds value to the quality community by adding informative, useful content.  I’ve worked hard to get the blog up and create content that people both new and seasoned to the industry can benefit from. I created our Facebook page as a way to primarily communicate with our team.  As a company spread across thirty countries, I wanted a way to connect with everyone outside of daily work email.  The photos and sharing of events and industry news has proven to be a valuable addition to our online presence.  It improves the quality of our team.

While this is an obvious win, it did also fail to meet my expectations to some degree. I’ll admit my expectations regarding involvement were much higher.  One of my goals for 2012 is to take a deeper look into what we’ve done so far, how it can be improved and figure out what new things can we try.  My biggest obstacle is time… there’s never enough it, and most people share in this observation.  But, I don’t think people in general truly understand the benefits of getting involved with social media and the limited time it really takes vs. the overwhelming benefits of being connected.  How do you get people engaged?  Where is the “on” button? How do I get people as interested in quality as I am?

Overall, let’s just say that I’m very pleased with the results so far and am excited to see how we’ll grow and continue reaching even more people with the importance of quality and the role we play in that process.  I wouldn’t be a true quality professional if I didn’t shoot for continuous improvement!

ASQ’s Influential Voices - 

Being a part of ASQ’s Influential Voices has given me the motivation I needed to “raise the voice” outside of my daily work activities.  It reinforced the idea that quality isn’t just what I do… it’s part of who I am.  And, it’s connected me to the larger quality community, whereas I’ve learned quite a bit!  One of my goals for 2011 was to increase my blogging content, and A View from the Q is a large contributor there.  I’m hoping to keep up the momentum and double my average number of posts this year.

While  I would definitely suggest the Influential Voices initiative has been a success, I think the program would largely benefit from additional cross-commenting and communications between bloggers.  I’m guilty of this… posting something and then failing to read all of the other follow-up posts.  I think it really comes down to the time issue again, but additional comments really would create more of a conversation.

And, the winner of the most significant quality event of the year goes to… 

I would be crazy not to mention my adventures in China a few months back.  How does that relate to a quality win for the year? Well, the adventure gave me some much needed perspective.  I needed to remember what production looks like and step into the work of others that I’m often so quick to try and improve or change.

Standing in front of people I’ve worked with for years and only knew via email was pretty cool.  And, my realization of how the Chinese culture interacts (or rather doesn’t interact) with social media in the same ways we do, really had an impact on how I need to get things done in the future.  It was an “ah ha” moment for sure!  From a marketing perspective, I suppose it was more of a “duh” moment…

Taking a video camera into the factories and producing content that gives others an idea of what it’s like to produce “stuff” and the role quality assurance and control play within that process has been interesting, to say the least.  A visual representation of the complexity was just the answer I was looking for.  My only regret is that I didn’t get enough video, but my hope is that I’ve planted the seed and will continue to get footage from our offices that I can edit and post on an ongoing basis.  It’s going to be great…

And, on that note, here’s to a quality 2012! May our successes always outweigh the disappointments… And, may we always learn and adapt when things fail to meet our expectations.

Today is the Great American Teach-In here in Hillsborough County.  SERVE, the county school district’s volunteer arm, presents the Teach-In each year to show students the importance of a good education.  In the spirit of World Quality Month, I decided to “raise my voice” and talk to the 2nd graders at Hunter’s Green Elementary about what it is I do and why I love it.

Let me just say that it’s amazing how much energy and enthusiam kids have! I asked them what they thought “quality” means and was received with some confused glares. You could see that they were really thinking about it and trying to put what they knew it was into words.  Finally, one girl identified it as “good”… <insert big smile>.

Fortunately, I decided to bring some LEGOs with me to discuss the topic.  We pulled down the map and talked about where LEGOs are made (Billund, Denmark) and how they are made. We talked about how the LEGOs would get from Denmark to Tampa, FL. The kids were totally engaged and you could just tell they thought it was pretty cool… they were floored that 1,000 LEGOs are made every second and by how long it takes for “stuff” to to get places.  Did you know that LEGO is the #1 tire manufacturer in the world?

Now, when I asked them how they would feel if they got a LEGO kit and found pieces missing, they used words like “bad” and “angry”.  Quality is good… poor quality is bad.  They got it! But, I wanted to incorporate an international trade component because that part of it is what makes my job with Pro QC so cool.  To do that, I used an activity that I picked up from my macro economics professor way back.  The activity builds value through trading… it gets students thinking about how free trade creates choices and lets us be more demanding for quality when there are more options.  Let me just say that 2nd graders are far more appreciative of “stuff” than the community college crowd! I left there feeling like a superstar having let them keep the traded items. And, when it was all over, they were more comfortable talking about what quality is and why it’s important… win!

Anyway, I’ve enjoyed reading the ASQ Influential Voices responses this month regarding World Quality Month and have really felt the love within the industry.  The quote Paul Borawski references from an old IBM sumes up my sentiments exactly:  “Here’s to National Quality Month and Eleven More Just Like It!”

Sidenote: I can hardly believe one year has passed since I joined ASQ’s Influential Voices program. I feel fortunate to be included among so many other passionate quality professionals.  I have no doubt that we have raised the voice of quality and will continue to do so!

Had to post this…