You’ve arrived in your best business attire. You’ve made the rounds, shaking hands with the VP of Sales and the COO. You’ve introduced your company and given a brief overview of what the goals are for this meeting. And then, on the first slide of your PowerPoint, you mention your visin for the future. What’s a visin, you ask? Simply put, it’s vision without the “o,” but it’s so much more. It’s a harbinger of your personal competence, of your company’s diligence, of what a client can expect moving forward—and what they expect from that tiny mistake is more mistakes. Whether you’re pitching SaaS, promoting a new consumer electronic device or delivering a tuna-pickle-onion-mayonnaise hoagie to table 31, quality assurance (QA) matters. QA involves “the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility,” and it’s about more than just making sure there aren’t any stray hairs in that hoagie (although that’s important, too). Explore the list below to see why you should have a rock-solid QA process: QA helps you avoid hairs in the hoagie We mentioned this already, but it’s worth repeating. Take the time to QA that PowerPoint, that document or that sandwich to ensure a quality presentation. QA enriches the positive while cutting the negative QA doesn’t always have to have negative aspects; it can also enrich what is already positive. Let’s say someone in the QA process says, “Hey, Jean. I love the way you utilize this red color on these packaging proofs to highlight the product’s Bluetooth feature, but if you make the red a bit brighter, I think it’ll really catch the customer’s attention more.” Bam. During the QA process, you’ve now taken something good and made it exceptional. QA enhances collaboration and ownership So you’re a real go-getter, an “I can do my own work” type of person. That’s great! Maybe you graduated summa cum laude, paid your way through school by working three jobs and rose through the ranks to become president of your company—but you should still have someone QA your work. No one is perfect. By allowing at least one other person to scrutinize your work, you are enhancing collaboration in your workplace while allowing more people to take ownership of the finished product. QA brings up questions—and new ideas When people ask you, “Why did you do this?” or “How did you come to this decision?” it spurs you to explain what you did, which may make you rethink your decision. During this time, you may find that your rationale—though flawless two weeks ago when you created that new banner image for a landing page—has a few holes in it. Here, you’ve given yourself options to reevaluate and innovate. QA cultivates a sense of pride We’re not talking about being proud to the point of seeming hubristic, and we’re not talking about pride as one of the seven deadly sins. We’re talking about the end result of a thorough, critical QA process. After you draft and redraft a campaign plan, design and redesign a responsive website prototype or run through hundreds of iterations of a new logo—after all the work and revisions, you should be proud.. Show it. Having a QA process in place should urge you to take pride in the finished product, whatever that may be. QA sets a high standard Let’s imagine for a minute that you don’t have QA processes in place. What will happen to the quality of your work? My guess is that it will deteriorate or, at the very least, plateau. I can’t say yes or no one way or the other, but let’s be honest: QA is a system of checks and balances that sets a high standard for all work, no matter what position an employee holds. Set the QA bar at a clear standard, and your work will rise to meet that standard—or better yet, exceed it! We all have different ways of ensuring quality. However you decide to implement a QA process, remember that it can—and should—be constantly refined and improved. Essentially, you should continuously assure the quality of your quality assurance process. Weird, right? Let’s not forget what all of the above notions mean: your customers will be satisfied or, hopefully, blown away. On top of this, you’ll be strengthening the perception of your brand and maybe, depending on what type of business you’re in, your customer’s brand. To learn more about why internal processes are vital to your business, read our blog about the importance of internal communications.