Selling Quality: A Quality Professional’s Guide to Surviving the Corporate School Yard

Abstract: From an operational standpoint, there are four categories of labor: functions that make the money, necessary functions that cost money, necessary evils that cost money, and those that just cost money.  Quality usually falls in the latter categories. because customers do not specify quality, they expect it.  They won’t pay explicitly for QA, so QA is considered overhead.   So when quality professionals attempt to change processes or behaviors, we must convince customers of the importance of this change. Our general attitude and approach to fostering quality sets the tone for our customers.  

To succeed, quality professionals must acquire skill sets in negotiation and compromise.  And though our profession emphasizes innovation, we should also be emphasizing creativity and intuition that complements innovation.  We can master the latest version of MS BI to identify improvement and SharePoint automation to be the instrument. Quality professionals must MAKE them WANT to care.  In this presentation, I will provide examples on how to best convey the importance of QA to customers and show how proper implementations translate into successful outcomes. 

About the Speaker: Michael G. Ben, currently working in a QA Engineer role in Defense, spent his previous 15 years in quality in medical devices and aerospace.  From managing the QMS and inspections of small shops with less than 20 employees to working in a supplier quality engineering role for multinational companies, he has experience working in a variety of environments with a variety of products.  He currently lives in Miamisburg with his fiancée, two cats, and one pit bull. 

This event will be free to ASQ members.  Please email rsteiner@memberleader.asq.org if you plan to attend.