Hello,
Quality comes first among the requirements of the customers, to who we also fall into. All other product requirements pass into the background.
Quality is also a sought after characteristic of the service, although the definition of "a service of high quality" is sometimes understood differently by those who offer the service and the user of that service.
While the quality is more readily to define by the customers for the products (goods), for the service it is not.
If you can define a product as "of high quality" by its physical characteristics, the definition of "quality" is highly subjective in the service.
This also makes it difficult to measure it. It is difficult to derive criteria for assessment from the customers against which it can be measured with minimized subjectivity.
Appropriately selected criteria for assessment by the users are of particular importance to the company because they are part of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the company.
Unfortunately, there is no universal formula to evaluate, and accordingly determine, the quality of a service. This should not stop us. The customers' opinion about the quality of our service is very important to us!
What are we going to do? As I like to say- We get to work!
To begin with, we can start by setting criteria by putting ourselves in the point of view of the customer and determining what would matter to us as a customer to say that a particular service is of high quality.
We must focus on the specific service and not in general on service. The service offered vary greatly by type and it is wrong to apply the criteria to one type of service to another type of service.
Once we have determined these criteria, let's look at what competitors are offering- as far as we can. It is good to compare with them but taking into account our capabilities.
Finally- to summarize the criteria and set their assesment.
Appropriate criteria for assessing the quality of service are: speed of service, comfort (defined in relation to the specific type of service), emotion, duration of operation of the device or car after the repair, etc.
We may also include questions with open answers (no more than 2-3) and thus we will receive additional information from the customers themselves, what is important for them for the quality of our service.
Be prepared to receive feedback also from dissatisfied customers- the assessment of the service quality is highly subjective. This should not despair you.
Analyse these results and, if necessary, adjust the criteria or the assessment, according to the requirements of your customers and the capabilities of your company.
Successful business!
Filipa