The quality of your product/service is what will keep people coming back to your business. Your financials and marketing can be top-notch, but without a quality offering, you will not have a viable business. This doesn't mean that you have to produce the most expensive, premium product available; by quality, we are referring to an offering that is satisfactory to the target market. A low-cost product can still be of high quality, and you should always try to attain the maximum level of quality for your production spending.

A number of frameworks have been developed to address the issues of quality control and efficient production in a business' operation:

Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of these frameworks, and was designed to improve products and services through application of a "quality-first" approach to all the processes of operation in a business, from beginning to end, throughout an organization. It emphasises using continuous feedback and constantly refining processes to improve whenever possible, creating a culture of perfection.

The TQM framework tends to apply more to larger manufacturers that have many areas of operation than it does to small businesses. Others include the Six Sigma process, Kaizen (or lean) production, and using Quality Circles. All of these frameworks are different variations on the same theme: Putting an emphasis on quality and, improvement, and striving for excellence.

The Cheap Guy - Customer Relationship Management