We've been discussing consistency in its importance to a business or department. I found some excellent comments by John Jantsch at ducttapemarketing.com concerning this very subject.
"The reason people resist change is because they like to have their expectations met and what they perceive as change often comes in the form of inconsistency. Prospects and clients like to know that when they do business with you, it will occur in the same manner they expected each and every time. The level of service, the delivery, the quality and, yes, even the bill needs to meet their expectation.
"One of the ways that small businesses tend to break this routine is in their marketing and communications materials. One is blue, the other is red, one uses this font the other another. One brochure was designed by Aldo the other hacked together by Chuck. I don't know that you need fabulously designed brochures and web sites as much as you need a consistent image that your prospects and clients can come to recognize and expect."
I like his comment on meeting expectations. That is the bottom line when it comes to consistency. If you are forever changing things where your customers have to learn something new everytime they interact with your business, they will eventually go somewhere that they can count on knowing what they will encounter when they arrive.
The point in all of this isn't that you shouldn't change, just don't change indiscriminately. As John says "...it doesn't mean you can't ever change, just make sure you change everything!"
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