The Sales Café

We've been following the whole Apple "Antennagate" story today, mostly for fun (since we got the new iPhone 4 the first day, thankyouverymuch) and partly because we recently wrote about Apple being a company that espouses the Outside→In™ approach in its development.

Today's press conference about the situation and Apple's response to the problems of the antenna was part of the company's strategic management of its user base. It does beg the question (for us, at least): Is Apple Outside→In™ when it comes to customer service?

[Click here for the whole press conference as it was live blogged on www.engadget.com.]

First, we believe that, like the iPad, the iPhone 4 is the result of Apple's Outside→In™ approach to development and the market. It has features that answer our needs in a smartphone and more. Is it the best smartphone? After certain specific benchmarks, that title is subjective, and, the "best in technology" title only stands until the next leading edge product comes out. It seems that antennas are part of a design flaw in smartphones in general and something that everyone is working on. "Less dropped calls" is every cell phone company's marketing line, which indicates that there are some to begin with. Anyone that says that the Blackberry has no dropped calls is lying, whether your service is AT&T, Verizon or any of the other carriers.

For some people, Jobs' response was not enough of an apology and more of a reluctant, and arrogant, admittance to the problem. Let's get some perspective on this, Apple's faulty cell phone antenna is not akin to Toyota's sticking gas pedal or BP's gushing well. Those faulty designs require continued apologies. No one is dying due to a dropped call (we hope). 

From our perspective, Jobs was the mouthpiece for a large group of engineers who seem to be dedicated to their own mission of providing a well-developed product by listening to their customers. If they didn't listen, there wouldn't have been a press conference today.

Now, how do we get that free bumper case?

Everyone knows what a difference great customer service makes. In B(usiness) to C(onsumer), great service has direct, daily impact on revenue.  Consumers rate service with their feet.  Poor service means customers walk away never to return. Great services encourage customers to come back, again and again, and bring friends.  People want to do business where they are respected and treated well.

Is the same true in business-to-business relationships?  In the B-to-B market, connections take place behind the scenes, with little or no end user contact.  How can standards of service apply here?  Let’s consider the case of six meat packaging plants and a national supplier of lunchmeat to retail grocery stores. Imagine you work as a purchasing agent for the national supplier.  It is your job to review the plants and make a choice as to which of the six best choices will get your business.  Here is how you rate them:

• One plant has great product.
• Another plant has great product and is always reliable.
• Plant number three has great product, is reliable, and competitively priced.
• The fourth plant has great product, is reliable, competitively priced and helps your business succeed through service that makes you more competitive.
• Our final plant option has great product, is reliable, competitively priced, helps your business succeed through service that makes you more competitive AND doing business with them is easy and fun.

The final choice, put in these terms of comparison makes the decision easy, right? Thinking with the mindset of a purchasing agent, how much does your decision making in business differ from how you make personal buying decisions? Many B-to-B suppliers operate with the assumption that they have little in common with service icons from the B-to-C world.  Look again. Here’s a challenge for those of you in the B-to-B market:  List three places you personally frequent.  Beyond convenience, what are the top two reasons you do business with these establishments?  Now turn it around:  What is one compelling reason to do business with you that you can repackage and offer your customers?