The reputation of your moving business and the strength of your brand depend on the quality of the services that you offer. It is based on that quality that customers will differentiate your company from the rest and choose to return to it. And understanding the core principles of quality management is something that can definitely help your moving company maintain a high standard. In this article, Movers Development is looking to bring closer to you the importance of ISO standards and managing the quality of service that your business provides.
What is Quality Management?
As we just mentioned, quality management is commonly associated with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). What this organization does is create and maintain business processes that serve to regulate the standards of products or services that a business provides. Of course, the principles of quality management revolve around the customer. So, for a business to follow those regulations, it has to be able to meet customer requirements while following pre-determined processes.
Why should you care about this?
Because showing interest in quality management demonstrates a desire to satisfy the expectations of your customers. And it shows that your brand cares about your customers. As a result, it helps you develop your brand and attract more audiences to it.
What are the core principles of quality management?
According to the ISO, there are seven quality management principles that are necessary to ensure the constant growth of your business:
- Customer focus
- Engagement of people
- Process approach
- Relationship management
- Leadership
- Evidence-based decision making
- Improvement
Customer Focus
Moving companies are customer-centric businesses by nature. Due to the delicacy of the services offered, it is important to not only win over but also maintain the trust customers have in your brand. And the best way to establish a strong interaction and long-term connection with customers is to link the core values of your company with the needs of your customers.
It comes down to creating services that will convey your brand message but in a way that will meet the expectations of your customers. After all, what would be the point in coming up with a product that you personally would enjoy but others have no use for? Aiming the focus at your customers is one of the core principles of quality management because it helps establish relationships with customers. One of the ways for your to tackle customer focus as a value is through responsive web design and SEO. By investing in the UX of your website, you can identify and predict the behavior of your audiences.
Engagement of People
The manner in which you engage with your staff is another indicator of the quality of your company as a whole. Simply put, properly engaged employees will outperform those that have little to no interaction with their company. And by engaging with each member of your team, you motivate them to transfer that attitude to customers.
As one of the core principles of quality management, engagement of people boosts productivity through work ethics and passion, increasing revenue as well as overall collaboration within your moving company. By introducing tools for your staff to work with and goals that you expect them to fulfill, you offer a great starting engagement point. The desire to then acknowledge and reward those same employees when they exceed your expectations awakens a strong connection with your business.
Process Approach
As every professional mover knows, planning is half the battle of executing a successful relocation. And the same principle applies to your internal company processes as well. Process Approach comes down to identifying your key processes and then defining a standard for each of them. That way, you can effectively monitor the success rate of each process and explore ways to improve each of them over time.
There are different ways for companies to implement process approach as one of the principles of quality management. One of the most efficient and simplest ways to accomplish this is through the implementation of project management software solutions. To put it more precisely, having a moving company CRM software in place offers a clear overview of internal processes and the results they produce. Remember that processes are just a way to make your results more predictable. When you clarify actions in your business, everyone reaps the benefits.
Relationship Management
Another way for moving companies to nurture quality is through the relationships they establish. We already explored part of this aspect through Customer Focus and Engagement of People. However, in addition to the relationships with customers and employees, there are other types to explore as well:
- Business partners;
- Suppliers;
- Third-party agencies;
- Vendors;
- etc.
Learning how to properly manage all your relationships guarantees long-term success. And at the core of that knowledge is the ability to reach common goals and values with all parties. The focus always falls on the satisfaction of the customer, of course. However, a lot rides on the ability to resolve conflicts with other stakeholders. So, you need to clear the path for future success by making today count. And you can only do that by being on the same page with everyone involved.
Leadership
There is a common misconception that quality starts from the bottom of the structure and works its way up. The truth is that it’s the other way around. Quality comes from the top – from the business owners and managers that are tasked with leading and organizing others around them and motivating them to keep the vision of the brand alive. That is why leadership is among the core principles of quality management.
It takes a leader to take a vision and implant it in the eyes of others. And you do that by empowering those under your wing with knowledge, training, resources, and authority. Caring for the social, psychological, and physical health of your people is what ensures a consistent flow of quality in all aspects of work.
Evidence-based Decision Making
The ability to make the right business calls can influence the overall performance of your business. And so, decision-making does play a significant role when it comes to quality management. However, simply making decisions based on intuition or experience can’t be the accepted norm. Instead, the principles of quality management point us in the direction of evidence-based decision making.
You need concrete facts and reports to justify the business decisions you make. And with the various analytics tools and data gathering solutions, you can have that. One example of this can be found in predictive analytics, where you can use the data you gather to predict the outcome of the decision that you will make. And having logic and facts to back your decisions makes it more plausible for your moving business to grow.
Improvement
The ability to take your products/services and to constantly improve them is what drives the development of your moving business. And the reasoning behind this is simple:
- Improvement allows businesses to overcome obstacles, adapt to changes, and discover new opportunities.
- Improvement helps companies stay ahead of competitors by constantly pushing new limits.
The best way to comprehend and implement improvement is through your ability to gather feedback and listen to others. By understanding the potential flaws or soft spots in your business plan, you create space for improving those parts of your business. And the thing to remember about improvements is that even the small ones can make a large difference in the long run.
