QUALITY AND CONSISTENCY-HALLMARK OF ANY BUSINESS

Copyright@kamleshsujata1

By Kamlesh Tripathi

By quality we generally mean standard of something, when it is compared to other things like it; and how good or bad something is. And, when we want to classify it we call it poor, good or even excellent.

Quality, to my mind is also deliverance of what you promise. For, quality is something that keeps evolving, and anything that evolves cannot become an ‘excellence’ overnight and so quality varies along the process of evolution of a product or service.

And sporadic quality here and there has little meaning unless it comes along with consistency. As once-in-a-while approach to quality appears, as insouciance dabble by any producer or marketer.

Recently, when I was in my hometown I visited ‘King of chaat’ (a street food joint) a couple of times in Hazratganj—up market of Lucknow, that I used to visit some thirty years back. And, since then this food joint has changed a generation and has grown exponentially.

But that apart, I was more astonished at the very fact, that each dish tasted just the same as it used to some thirty years back. And, in all probabilities many of their employees also by now, must have changed hands but the food joint has been able to maintain its foot fall only through its dictum of quality with consistency, I guess.

And this is not an example in isolation as in every city you will find similar street food joints that must have commenced with tasty quality, but those that have survived, and saw growth had the element of consistency in them and the rest packed off.

That brings me to the moot point that each business professional should also be like a street food joint that needs to consistently give quality output to grow in life. I am particularly comparing professionals with street food joint as they operate under the most difficult circumstances and are not as resourceful as big enterprises. And, apart from internal pressures they also take on fierce extraneous pressures to which they are often vulnerable.

And so, after having a good fill of chaat in ‘King of Chaat’ that day, and before leaving, I asked the current owner and son of the founder, his key to success and this what he had to say,

‘My father gave me three business tips. One, never be in a hurry when you get a chance to understand your customers taste. Two, quality without consistency is flippancy. Three, consistency without quality is stagnancy.’