Brand Attribute #1 Is Always Reliability

In today's competitive world, reliability (synonomous in the software world with quality and robustness) has to be at least a perceived attribute of a product before a customer will contemplate purchase. So you won't sell much if you don't pay the price to build quality.

There are also a number of reasons why it's beneficial for an organization to think about building a reliable product. Off of the top of my head I can think of the following:

1. Quality is the cornerstone of building brand and trust. So it is not just important to get the first product sale, but it is also the beginning of the relationship with each customer. If you want them to buy from you again, they better be impressed the first time.

2. If a customer is pleased, they may evangelize for you, and tell their friends and colleagues. (There are many articles, both academic and anecdotal, about how word of mouth is by far the least expensive and yet also the most effective form of marketing).

3. If a customer is dissatisfied, they will tell the world and cause real damage to your brand.

4. Building an organization to support product problems is expensive. It is a huge time sink, especially to those who are trying to drive the product forward. Refunds and recalls are deadly.

5. If you're spending big time and energy dealing with problems in your current product, you surely can't quickly scale the product.

6. It is extremely fatiguing to an organization to steadily hear negative feedback from customers.

7. Conversely, repeated positive customer feedback is uplifting and energizing and empowering, and can propel the organization to even greater levels. There is little that is more individually empowering than having pride in your work.

8. Life is short. Who wants to spend their time around suckiness? Recruiting into an organization that builds mediocre products gets harder and more expensive, and building a great team becomes next to impossible.

I'm sure there are many other reasons, too - anybody got any?