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Seth Godin (briefly) on the ‘it’ retailer: The Apple Store

Seth Godin writes yesterday about his recent trip to the Soho Apple Store and how it is really, an “it” store. This is my paraphrase of the ‘it’ girl: Apple Stores have become the young, hip retailer, famed for the good presentation, charm of their staff and customer magnetism. 



“Here’s an update, five years later: I spent an hour or two on Saturday at the Soho store. The obvious difference, other than how incredibly jammed it was, was who was there.


Couples.
Fashionistas.
Women.


“They’ve crossed the gender barrier and made people of both genders passionate about what they sell.”


That’s certainly true for the people browsing at the stores. But the customers are also buying, as you may’ve read in Fortune that Apple Store sales per square foot in New York are more than four times Best Buy…



“Apple stores make $4,032 per square foot per year. For comparison’s sake, Saks, whose flagship is down the street, generates sales of $362 per square foot a year. Best Buy (Charts) stores turn $930 – tops for electronics retailers – while Tiffany & Co. (Charts) takes in $2,666.”


So, what makes it so appealing?


For one thing, people are welcomed and hardly ever shooed out of the store for playing on the computers or iPods. Try that at a Big Box retailer… if you can find anything worth playing on the demo PCs in the major retailers, or find even a single machine with an Internet connection. (Note: I did find a PC with Internet connection at Best Buy recently, which I used to browse the web and run a quick price comparison and read a review on a new consumer HD video camera.)


See a this post of a visit last year to my local Apple Store and here from April when I took a look Apple TV.



“ComputerWare set the bar for retailers, and now the Apple Stores follow the recipe: employees know their stuff, can get your new machine up and running, load software and help you figure out most any problem you might run into with your Mac, no matter what the vintage.


“And — just like ComputerWare — the answers at the Apple Store don’t just come from the staff: answers come from other customers. It’s a community.” 


It’s time to trek down to Bellevue Square this weekend and see what’s what…


Tags: , , , . seth godin

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Make your customers feel like they are your top priority

Crystal Dupré is publisher of The Meridian Star in Meridian, MS, and wrote an op-ed piece for the paper today on “Customer service at its finest.” 


“This experience got me thinking: what did these two people do to make the service they provided seem so out of the ordinary? The answer was obvious and simple: they focused their attention on me, the customer. They weren’t preoccupied with chatting with co-workers. They didn’t see me as an interruption of their work. They didn’t act as though they were simply going through the motions without emotion.

“Instead, they acted as though they were really happy to help me. They made me feel as though I was their top priority. They looked me in the eye and sincerely thanked me for giving them the opportunity to shine.”


As you get ready for the week, think about the genteel attention paid to customers in East Central Mississippi, and perhaps how it might impact your own customer interactions.


Want to share your own customer service stories?


And if you want to provide your own feedback on good and bad experiences, to Dennis Rockstroh asked readers today in his San Jose Mercury News column to “send in your highs, lows with customer service.” He related a reader’s concern that customer service representatives at one firm are not to release their last names when dealing with a complaint.


MTCW: perhaps, they give it out freely when they receive a compliment. 😉



“Anonymity, like secrecy, too often leads to abuses.


“What kind of changes would you like? What do you think of the state of customer service today?”


You can send your feedback in directly to Mr. Rockstroh for “your experiences, good or bad…”


I can think of a few things. I sent him a link to Ms. Dupré’s column today, in addition to a couple of my own SiValley rant and raves.

[Added 081507: you can also read Mr. Rockstroh’s Consumer Action blog here]

Tags: Customer service.

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“Don’t just bring me a problem…” Get solutions too through Windows Problem Reports and Solutions

Rats. I hate it when an app crashes on my PC, especially when it’s caused by an issue with Windows Vista and one of its bundled Microsoft apps. In this case, a mainstream staple of my online use, Windows Photo Gallery.


But with Vista, I don’t lose any of the data (in this case, my scans or new imported photos) and thus the time associated with working on them: the window closed, asked if I would like to report the problem (I did) and if I would like to see if there was a solution (I would). 


I’m reminded of a discussion with a certain exec in which I heard very clearly (directed at a person who hadn’t done their homework and completed the equation): “don’t just bring me a problem, bring possible solutions, too.” (Although a tad more colourful. 😉


Fulfilling that equation for me today is Windows Problem Reports and Solutions: it popped open a window that detailed an available fix for the issue, saying that “there is a solution.”


Music to my ears.



Performance and Reliability Pack (KB938979)

Follow these steps to solve the problem with Windows Vista

This problem was caused by Windows Vista. Windows Vista was created by Microsoft Corporation.

A solution is available that will solve this problem.


Goody.


Solution: An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista


The update addresses some reported issues and should “improve performance and responsiveness in various scenarios” as well as “the reliability of Windows Vista.”


I believe that this addresses a “memory management issue” (aka memory leak) in switching between Windows Photo Gallery and another application. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base KB 932988. 

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932988/)

Also, I have the option in Windows Problem Reports and Solutions to rate this response and “Provide Feedback.”

I did.

Now my next step is to track down where in our group the feedback from Windows Error Reporting goes and what they did with the info… more on that next week.

BTW, a note on Knowledge Base articles… 

There was also a note “About Microsoft Knowledge Base articles” (aka “KBs”). If you’ve ever read a KB (and as you’re surfing on MSDN, I’ll guess that you have) you know that KB articles are often written for, as it is warned, “a technical professional audience.”

No kidding.

“These articles might contain specialized terms and descriptions, as well as lengthy procedures. Depending on your level of familiarity with computers and technical terminology, you might be more comfortable consulting with a professional computer technician to help you solve this problem.”

I know that our incredible team in Customer Support is working on ways to make the information in these articles more accessible, particularly articles that are geared towards consumers and less-tech types (customers who are not devs, IT Pros, sysadmins). I found that the above articles are fairly easy to understand and implement, so kudos to the teams working hard to make support for computers, software and systems more accessible.


Tags: Customer service, customer feedback

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Yes, there is $10 DSL… but “the user experience is not… really state of the art”

An interesting article at on Web Pro News and how nobody wants AT&T’ $10 DSL. (The low-priced DSL offer was required by the FCC Federal Communications Commission when Cingular.) Nearly the same price as a high-speed dial-up (an oxymoron these days), AT&T offers a low priced package that many find hard to find, says the author Jason Lee Miller.



“When the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked Randall Stephenson about criticism that the company’s $10 DSL offering, the one required under government conditions to approve AT&T’s merger with BellSouth, was difficult to find and not promoted, Stephenson responded like you might expect a CEO to:


“Deny, Downplay, Redirect.


“He answered:



“We haven’t made it difficult to find. To be honest with you, that’s not a product that our customers have clamored for. We still have $15 offers out there in the marketplace, even $20 offers, for 1.5 megabit speeds. Those are really kind of the minimum speeds that give a good user experience. So I don’t want to necessarily offer up a product where the user experience is not what I would consider really state of the art. That $10 product is kind of in that mode.” 


So, I tried to see if it’s even available in the area, as we have DSL and cable modems). I found that AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Request for [my home phone #] was in vain…
























We’re sorry. AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet is not available in your area. However, SBC is now joined with AT&T and we invite you to check availability for other services. Learn More.

If you believe you received this message in error, please verify the number and try again.

If you continue to receive this message in error, please contact our customer service center at 1-877-722-3755 Monday through Friday, 7 am to 9 pm and on Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm, closed on Sunday.

Thank you for your interest in AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet.


If you are unable to find AT&T’s $10 DSL, and to see if you are in a covered service area, go to https://swot.sbc.com/swot/promoLanding.do 


As I said in a prior post, Bill Gates said that it would broadband adoption should grow faster than it has. So would I, and I’d like to see the base upload/download speed go up esp as I regularly use my home connection to sync my mail and files in the evenings. It’s frustrating when customers abroad enjoy (comparable) 200Mbps for around $40…



“So, for the same price as 1Gbit access in HK, you can have up to 30Mbps in New Jersey and other major markets. In Japan, you can find Ethernet and FTTH up to 30Mbps of bandwidth: last year, analysts estimated that these high-speed lines are used by 22% of subscribers.”


Tags: AT&T, DSL, , , .

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Xbox 360 #2 is going in for repairs

Our second Xbox 360 is going in for repairs… nearly a month after the last one. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record.

As noted in my post late last night, our family Xbox 360 went south… officially, the video output no longer, well, outputs.

Bad news is that as my currently video-less Xbox 360 does not display the three flashing lights and will will be covered under the original one year warranty… John, the customer service agent on the other end of the phone, informed me that, of course, it’s a month out of warranty.

So the repair will cost $99, for which I will also get an extended warranty.

Perhaps these units will cross in the UPS truck.

Good news is that the Xbox virtual customer service agent, Max, informed me at the top of the call that the Xbox 360 I returned following a Friday the 13th failure repair “has been completed and shipped within 5 business days.”

Better news: the kids used some of their savings to get a Nintendo Wii, so they don’t go into video game withdrawal. They are now hooked on Wii Sports (which gives them the same level of evening workout as Dance Dance Revolution). I recommend the very convenient and well-priced WiiPlay bundle which includes a bundled wireless controller and a new disc with nine new games.

Tags: Xbox 360, customer support.