Creating a consistent result for the customer
Jason St.Clair

One of the most important aspects of running a company is keeping the customer satisfied and returning is by creating consistent results every single time you have that interaction with the customer.

Having the knowledge that the product/service that they are paying for is the same high-quality product that they have been purchasing time and time again brings a sense of peace of mind to the customer. That peace of mind helps breaks down many barriers that the customer may have to make their purchase.

For the purpose of this article, I will give examples of a company that gives consistent results and a company that historically has not (At times).

The company that comes most to mind for me when it comes to delivering consistent results time after time is McDonald’s. I know that many of you will scoff at this example, however, I will like to break down why I used them. McDonald's has been around for 63 years. Over the last few years, their annual revenue has been hovering around the $20+ Billion dollar mark. That’s a whole lot of burgers and fries sold. Even with the growth of the whole foods industry, McDonald's is still king of the fast food restaurant industry and in many respects dominates the restaurant industry as a whole. Much of the reason for their success is offering a consistent product, over and over again. Same burgers, same fries, same service; almost without fail. Yes, there are times where the employees forget to put an item in the bag, however, overall they are absolutely consistent. The customer knows, if they go to McDonald’s, anywhere, they will get the same burger as the one 100 miles down the road. Consistency builds trust. Trust equals sales.

A company that has failed in the past to present a consistent product is GM. As many of the people who search to purchase vehicles that are reliable know that GM has a checkered past, to say the least. Lately, they have been spending tons of money convincing the masses that their product is of high quality now. However, for the most part, many of us know that many of their models in the ’80s, ’90s and many vehicles in the 2000s were not made exactly of high-quality standards. This led to many other companies gaining and taking away a large swath of their customer base by doing just the opposite. Creating a reliable, consistent, year after year product. This allowed companies like Toyota and Ford to surge ahead of them in sales. Chevy has made up great ground since the recession and the economic bale out. It would seem that they have to learn their lesson about cutting corners and taking advantage of their most loyal customers.

In short, consistency, consistency, consistency. In the next post, I will touch on how to exactly create that experience for your customers.

Thanks

-Jason