Quality, Quality, Quality!

Quality, of course, is a broad concept. It's almost like a work of modern art - difficult to define because it means radically different things to different people. Basically, however, quality means products that are efficient and durable. Quality means a toaster that browns both sides of the toast, and a washer that gets rid of ring around the collar.

For a lot of people quality also means convenience. Witness the growth of mail-order catalogues and the popularity of shopping on-line. Quality means an airline that gets you to your destination before the seasons change. And it means the hope that you will some day meet your luggage.

It also means service with a smile if something goes wrong with a product. If anything mechanical breaks down, people want the manufacturer honour his guarantee. The consumer knows that while the company is correcting its quality problems, at least he is not liable for the expense. That is what we in the industry call quality of service after the sale.

Our customers work hard for a living and we take a portion of their disposable income in exchange for a product which we assure them will provide years of service. If it does not live up to their expectations, we would expect to hear about it - loud and clear.

In the real estate business they say the only things that matter are location, location, and location. In our business it is quality, quality, and quality.

We know who decides whether we have the best product or not - and that is the customer. He or she is the referee in all of this. Nobody else counts. CONSUMER REPORTS may have its opinions on who has the best product. We have our own opinions. But the only guy with a vote is the customer - because he is the one who buys the product. You listen to him carefully or you go out of business.

The customer may not know all that goes into a quality product, but he sure understands what comes out. He may not know a bit from a byte, but he knows what satisfactory and unsatisfactory mean. He knows what quality is. And he sure knows what reliability is.

And one thing you can bet on. The customer is never neutral on quality. It is either a great computer system or it is a lemon. There is not much in between.