Even the finest companies can make a mess of it

I am an Apple user and a huge fan of the company. Anyone who has worked with me will have suffered through my teasing of PC users who were struggling to boot up or get on-line.I still think that they are a wonderful company, but my enthusiasm for them has been dented over the last week - not by their technical staff or by the quality of their computers, but by the quality of their communication with me the customer. I'm particularly surprised since this was one of the areas in which I expect them to shine.

At the end of the Christmas holiday, my two year old MacBook Pro failed with what looked like a disk problem. Since I was on holiday and in rural France, I was content to live without my laptop until I could get it back to the Apple Store in London. Everything started well - I booked a slot with the Apple Genius Bar on-line and was seen at the appointed time. A "dodgy" disk was detected and I asked them to have a look at my CD/DVD drive which had been playing up. "No problem", I was told, "everything's on warranty and so we'll simply replace the disk and multi-drive. No charge". How wonderful.

One of the last things I was told as I handed over my laptop was "I'm not sure we'll be able to get it back to you today - but it's listed as an urgent repair" (I had told Apple that I needed my laptop for work). Now I wasn't told that I could have my laptop back within 24hours - but that was the implication (and to be fair, the last time I had a problem, they turned the repair around in less that that time). Off home I went, content in the knowledge that Apple were once again proving their place at the top of the customer-care list.

At the end of the next day, I had still heard nothing and so called the store. After a 12 minute wait, I was told that the parts were there and assigned to my laptop. "So I can have it tomorrow?", I asked. "Yup - seems like it" was the reply. I was busy the next day, but the day after I phoned again. This time I was put through to someone who appeared to be in charge and who (apologetically and very nicely) told me that there was a huge backlog of repairs and they were going for a 7 - 10 day turnaround. Today - 7 days after the laptop went in for repair - I called (10 minute wait this time) to be told that it was ready (the store had apparently left a message on my home phone rather than calling my mobile as requested or sending me an email). I picked it up to find that, for whatever reason, the new disk did not have the latest version of the operating system (why would they do that?) - which meant that I could not start restoring my Time-Machine until I spent an hour or so updating the new OS.

Now let me just make clear that Apple have, without question or prevarication, replaced two pieces of hardware in my laptop at no cost to me and have, in the end, turned a warranty repair around in less than a week. Were this almost any other company I would be delighted - and if, when I took my laptop in for repair, I had been told that repairs were running at 7 - 10 days, I would be pleased to find my machine back so soon. I have, in the past, suffered though warranty repairs with Dell, Toshiba, and Microsoft and if the problem had been fixed in on 7 days I'd have been jumping with joy.

The mess that Apple made was in the communication. They must have known there was a backlog when I was first at the Genius Bar - and if they did not, they should have done. Why was I not told then? Why was I not told about the delay the first time I called? Why on earth was my machine returned to me without the latest version of the OS - that's just odd?

So there you have it. In the end, not too much of a problem. As I used to say sometimes to my daughter - I'm not angry, I'm disappointed. I expected much better from one of my favourite companies.The lesson is clear - any company can "drop the ball" when it comes to customer service. I am a long time Apple fan and so I know that this is not typical Apple behaviour. What would happen, however, if I had been a new Apple convert? Perhaps I'd be converting back again to PC-land. Come on Apple - get it together!

Lessons from the Apple Store

On the back of the report in the "London Evening Standard" (see here for the copy), in which it declares the Apple Store in Regent Street to be the most profitable shop in London at £2,000 per square foot, I was thinking about why this is and what lessons can be learnt.

Anyone who knows me will already be rolling their eyes and saying "Apple people..." with a sigh. I admit that I am an Apple user and a great fan. Apple have, however, taken a new route in their high street shops and one which would appear to be working.

The difference is customer focus. Give people a chance to see and use the Apple equipment, so the theory goes, and they will embrace it - and, more importantly, buy it. First of all it doesn't look particularly like a shop and has plenty of helpers at the front doors to engage with anyone needing guidance. In depth knowledge and help is available throughout the shop. Free seminars are put on all day, every day, to introduce the Apple software to both new and experienced users. Visitors - and a great number of people who come into the shop do not buy anything (this time) - are made welcome and can use any computer to access the internet or make use of the free wifi throughout the store. Above all, they have knowledgeable and committed staff working there who are trying to help customers and who are quite happy to say "I don't know" to a question - but immediately find another member of the team who can provide answers.

Of course it is easier for Apple than for other computer or software sellers since they control both hardware and software - but I think their real secret is to make a visit to the Apple store to be a pleasurable activity.

How many other businesses are there that do that - whether businesses that we work for or businesses that we consult to? How many of our customers would consider dealing with our firm as a pleasurable activity?

As in retail, so in professional services. Provide an excellent service, have committed and knowledgeable staff, and keep the needs, requirements and preferences of the clients at the forefront of all decisions. Simple!

Funky software

I'm putting a presentation together at the moment and using Keynote for the first time. Keynote is Apple's software that competes with Powerpoint and, my goodness, it's clever stuff. Never mind transitions, it allows for movement of text and boxes within each slide so make some funky graphic work quite simple. 

Ok, so I'm a great Apple fan, but this is another situation where their software is just better. They don't make every bit of software that is better than the competition - Excel, for example, has no real competitors, there is just nothing in its league.

As I have been known to say to some other people, never mind the clever stuff with the software - presentations are all about the content, and so I will return to my content now.