Yes I went there, I am just being honest, your/our company/product/service will never be as good as Apple. In my opinion it is the king of brands and yes I am a walking, breathing product of their marketing skills as I am a proud member of the Apple family being an owner of an iPod Touch, an iPad and most recently an iPhone. It was one of those love affairs where they had me at hello. It was something about the simplicity of their advertising that appealed to me. Apple scream stripped down technology without compromising on quality and at the time of my first Apple purchase, I wanted something that was user-friendly for a tech phoebe like me.
I may be biased, considering the amount of my well-earned cash that I have pumped their way but the proof is in the pudding, or rather their financial success. With over $100 billion in annual revenues and a 66% increase in net sales last year, it’s hard for even die-hard PC loyalists not to drool over Apple’s ability to rake in 50% of worldwide mobile phone profits while commanding only 4% of unit. Bravo Apple. So the chances of your company ‘pulling an Apple’ are slim to none, but why not at least investigate into why Apple works and pull some valuable pieces of information that might make you at least pay a little more attention to your brand.
So what is your product like? Is it truly the best it can ever be? Is it everything you could ever have imagined when you were brainstorming in your initial set-up or have you just compromised for the product/service that you currently sell? Are you relentlessly committed to quality, innovation, design, and simplicity the way that Apple is? If you have answered no to all of the above, maybe you have some reconsidering to do….
Ok we know you care about your customers, but are your efforts in focusing to your customer’s needs as legendary as Apple? All you have to do is spend a few minutes in any one of their stores and you will witness the power of brilliant customer service and how it affects your purchasing. I am a firsthand witness/example. Honestly, I didn’t do quite as much research I would have liked to have done on a recent Apple purchase, but their staff conviction in what they are selling had me sold. Maybe perhaps consider how your staff interacts with your customer. Do they represent your company in a positive light? My previous position was in a customer service role and I was actually astonished at how much training that I needed to complete to be in a position where my previous company was happy for me to represent them front of house, but it is this kind of dedication that has solidified Apple as a top retailer. (Apple stores pull in 18,000 visitors ‘on average’ per week and rake in more than $5000/square foot- 6x-10x more than other successful retailers!). If every business on the planet adopted this sort of customer-focused strategy, I’m pretty sure we’d have world peace.
I have decided that one blog post just isn’t enough to reinforce why you will never be as good as Apple (sorry!), so I suggest that you just stay tuned for my continued praise of the brand kings and how you can adopt some of their strategies to inject some ‘Apple’ into your company.
| BPW Innovative Business Woman of the Year 2005
Listed in Top 40 Irish Female Entrepreneurs: Image Business 2006 Listed in Top 100 Women in Business by Entrepreneur Magazine 2006 & 2007 Finalist Image Magazine Young Businesswoman of the Year 2008 |
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