Setting product standards

It can be helpful to incorporate the expected standards and actions into a checklist. The less complicated the better – a simple table can work well.

Remember that if you introduce checklists you need to follow through and ensure they are used consistently by all staff, otherwise they will be meaningless.

How often you carry out checks will likely depend on your business type and what you are checking. What you should consider is how “success” is measured – in other words, what outcome tells you that the standard is being continually met?

Measuring success

If you can’t measure the outcome, how do you know when standards have fallen, or indeed when you’ve raised standards to new heights?

Some outcomes will be relatively quick to check, while others may take longer and involve comparing standards across a set period. It is also true that some standards need to be checked more frequently than others.

Examples of measuring success could involve:

• Cleanliness being checked daily by a member of the management team. Success in this instance might be that all required actions are found to have been done at every check over a set period, eg a week or a month.
• It could be that you compare your online review ratings before and after the introduction of set service standards. A comparison like this may need you to wait longer to see the impact of standards.
• If you operate a ticket office, or reception then success might involve the phone being answered in a set number of rings with a defined greeting – this kind of standard can be checked frequently, but at different times of day.

Where standards are not being met, think about how you might correct this. Is further staff training required? Several members of the team not achieving the standards required might indicate a wider issue - perhaps the actions are impractical, or unclear. Don’t be afraid to revisit, ask for feedback from staff, and adjust the standards or the process if need be.

Consult your customers

When you’ve introduced a different way of operating or perhaps an entirely new product, it’s worth seeing what your customers think too, as ultimately, they are the people you are trying to impress.

• Observe and listen to customer reactions on-site.
• Monitor your online reviews - you should also be proactively trying to maximise the amount of feedback you receive particularly if you’ve changed something.
• Consider using surveys to ask your customers for feedback on your products and services.

For more information take a look at:

• how to manage customer feedback
• how visitors plan and book
• improve user experience of your website

Celebrate successes

This should be carried out regularly with the whole team as well as ad-hoc recognition of great individual performances. This will boost morale and increase the team’s support for having these standards in place.