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  • Great Products Can’t Overcome Arrogance

    No matter how good your product or service is – if you constantly treat your customers as though they are disposable, well, that’s what they will become.

    Whether you are sitting on top of the world or clawing your way to your next order, you can’t put enough effort into customer service. Finding new customers and overcoming bad buzz is far more work than turning existing customer into evangelists.

    Mark today as the start of a very high profile example of what I am trying to get at.

    Apple’s arrogance has opened the door to competitors. It may be very hard to imagine it right now, but the Apple iPod is broken. I’m not merely talking about the fact that the nano is about as durable as a potato chip. I’m talking about the fact that Apple, the company, has no intention of servicing its current flagship product.

    The iPod is so hot that Apple’s support strategy for malfunctioning iPods is to tell the customer to buy a new one. Oh, and if you switch to a competitor, the songs that you bought belong to us.

    The rush to coolness has consumers snapping up all things Apple but the bubble will burst (signs are that it is starting) unless Apple decides that they can no longer afford arrogance.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Feb 11, 06 | 9:09 pm
    Category: Customer Service | Tags:

    Comments
    • I agree wholeheartedly! I'm constantly amazed at just how unimportant customer service seems to be to so many businesses.

      I think I'd add to your post that great marketing can't overcome poor customer service. In fact, I think it's more likely that the longer the customer service issues go unattended, the faster that the marketing will help lead to their demise.

      When people are exposed to their marketing efforts, they'll begin to say things like, "I heard those things don't work and their customer service model is to treat you like crap."

      Too many businesses focus all their efforts on attracting new clients at the expense of taking care of the clients they have.

      You want to make your marketing more effortless? Start with customer service and take care of your clients at such a high level that they not only come back, they start bringing friends and contacts.
    • D
      I have two i-pods, a nano and shuffle. Neither one work.

      Rotten Apples
    • Amy
      I totally agree. A little over a year and HP+Apple 20g ipod $314 down the drain-not functioning and no available service anywhere. Nunca Mas
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