High quality, fare price, and good selection are expected.  Being “first” could now be the next standard that separates you from your competitors.  By Gary Shotton #000039

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Speed and quality of service.  

By Gary Shotton

Today,  I’m going to talk about the subject of the speed of delivery.Most of us have watched the Olympics at some time in our lives. There’s one name that stands out among the rest, the Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt. Many times for many years he’s proven himself to be the fastest man in the world. Three different Olympics in multiple sports, nine gold medals. Amazing how fast he is, and how he was able to outdistance his competitors.  

Some considerations for when you need speed and high-quality to keep a customer.

Let me share a personal example. One time I had a customer with an urgent need. A need that was too big for me to do quickly by myself. So the question became, will I sacrifice some potential profit and sub out some of the work, in order to meet the deadline? It was a large order $89,000 worth,and then there was a second order that was for $110,000. so I had to consider could I do that amount of work in the time allowed and guarantee the deadline. We had a good reputation with this customer and I needed to keep it. The question was could I get all the work done in the time allowed and capture all the this potential profit, and keep the customer happy. The order came at a time when $100,000 order was a substantial amount of business for us, and we needed the work.

This job required that we make some special castings just for this job. We could’ve made the castings ourselves and saved a lot of money. Ultimately we decided that getting the job on time was more important than the immediate need for profit, and decided to subcontract to work out to a company that could get it done quickly. We lost some potential profit, but we met the deadline.We had to take a long-term view, as you often have to in business, in order to maintain our reputation for speed and quality.

Speed and quality converge at different points for different businesses.

There are some businesses were speed can take a higher priority than quality. not that quality is not important it just is assumed by the customer and they’re choosing you for your speed. Let’s give some examples. In a previous business,I was dealing with the general public, and we needed to be able to answer the phone quickly. In my opinion, on the third ring or sooner. Speed was of primary importance, because these people that are calling down the list of options they have, if I don’t answer my phone they’ll just go down to the next business on the list. That’s a no-brainer. I’ve got to be able to be quick and answering the phone and take care of the issues. Even in my current business speed is of utmost importance in different aspects of our business. For example, We want to be one of the first to come back with a bid. Giving a bid in a timely manner shows that we appreciate their work, want their business, and sets the tone for the type of service will provide. The buyer has a other people bidding on the project, so we need to be able to give back a quote in 24 to 48 hours. That’s a speed issue. 

Convenience and speed

We have a local convenience store that really understands the importance of Speedy’s service, they have mastered quick service. It’s called “Quik Trip.” They have applied this process to more than gas, cigarettes, and beer, that you find at a typical convenience store. They are now in the restaurant business. They realized their customers needed to get food quick, fresh, hot and be on their way. 

Sometimes I have a need for pizza as a quick alternative for lunch for different groups. One time, I needed three large pizzas. If I went to the regular pizza stores, I would have to order ahead 30-45 minutes. I learned I could go to this convenience store, and get my pizzas very quickly. I don’t have to pre-order and I can usually walk out the door in 15 minutes. They have my business. It’s a good pizza as well. So, it’s not a case of lower quality. 

So we’ve got to recognize that speed is something very important. So, I encourage you to consider your business, your service, your product. Quality? Given. Good price? Must have it. Able to maintain on-time delivery? Very important. If you gonna keep it competitive edge, you need to always be improving your speed of service.