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O P I N I O N

Quality is (not) job one The marketing of ‘quality’ is ubiquitous in the A/E industry, but oftentimes, the difference between perception and reality can undermine a firm’s brand equity.

M any firms are dealing with record high workloads. That translates into tight deadlines, long hours, and, unfortunately, problems with quality. We see increasing data that suggests quality, or lack thereof, is becoming more of an issue for A/E firms. What this means is that quality is not Job One. Firms are just simply getting the work done. The threat this poses to your firm is obvious and includes long- term damage to your brand. The effects will become more evident when the market cools down and your clients are able to be choosier with their distribution of work.

Chad Clinehens

To better illustrate the significance of this problem, we need to zoom out and review the definition of brand equity. Brand equity is the net sum of your brand assets minus your brand liabilities. So think of brand equity like your net worth. A brand has high equity and is valuable when it has lots of assets and few, if any, liabilities. The major brand asset categories are: z Brand name awareness. Strength of a brand’s pres- ence in the client’s mind. z Perceived quality. The client’s perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to al- ternatives. z Brand associations. Extent to which a particular brand calls to mind the attributes of a general

product or service category. An example is asking for a “Kleenex” instead of a tissue. z Brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is when clients become committed to your firm (brand) and make repeat purchases over time. Your professional services company has a strong brand when your firm’s name is at the top of the list, your clients perceive a high level of quality from your firm’s services, and you enjoy a high repeat client rate. Of course, problems in any of the asset categories can be a liability as well, especially for perceived quality. Among all brand associations, only perceived quality has been shown by research to drive

See CHAD CLINEHENS, page 8

THE ZWEIG LETTER June 13, 2016, ISSUE 1156

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