Steve Jobs once said, “When you ask a random person on the street which products have the best reputation for quality, most will say Japanese.”
Yet Japanese companies rarely use the word “quality” in their marketing. American companies are the ones that constantly use the word “quality.”
Steve Jobs is right—1000%. And still, most companies use “quality” in their marketing.
Even if your product wins awards and certifications from various institutions, what’s the point if customers don’t feel the quality?
Quality is subjective
- For a hobby farmer, a tractor with good basic features may feel like a high-quality product.
- For a large-scale professional farmer, a tractor with premium features may feel like a high-quality.
In today’s world, almost every manufacturer and top brand is producing products with solid functional quality.
So what happens if we still use the word “quality” as the differentiator in our marketing or sales conversations?
Even if you try to convince a B2B client that your product quality is better than competitors—and even if it’s true—there’s often no strong motivation to switch vendors. Because the client isn’t the end user, and their expectations go beyond functional quality.
At a strategic level, “quality” means:
- Supports long-term strategy (12-24 months)
- Helps accelerate innovation
- Creates platform leverage (new markets, new offerings)
Strategic quality = “Does this product help us grow, adapt, and stay ahead?”
Quality is not only about how well a product is made (strong materials, perfect finishing). It’s also about building the right thing—by innovating for new jobs (new circumstances and struggles), instead of just improving existing products.
For example, if you sell hospital beds, “quality” isn’t only about making the bed more durable or more comfortable. It could mean building specialized beds for elderly patients that reduce the workload for nurses and staff.
Another example: what’s the point of investing heavily in building a fuel-efficient petrol car when electric cars may become the norm in the near future?
Building the right thing beyond functional quality is one of the most important parts of creating a truly high-quality product.
Quality = Having the right product + Functional quality + Customer’s subjective reasons.
Even though we can’t know for sure which idea will succeed, when a product team takes ownership of building the right product by understanding the customer’s entire journey—instead of only focusing on building a high-quality product—the chances of success increase significantly.