A Broken Mac

A few weeks ago my Apple MacBook Pro went on the fritz.  I did have the AppleCare Protection Plan, so I called up my special number and let them know the problem.  After trying a few fixes my support guy decided the laptop needed to be sent in for repairs.  The next day a return box was dropped off at my house.  I pulled out a few tabs and had a package that custom fit my specific computer.

Apple paid the for overnight return to them, and I could track exactly how my repairs were progressing online at all times.  On the third morning a box showed back up at my house with my perfectly fixed computer.  Wow, that was worth paying for.

The Moral of the Story

The moral of this story?

If you have a premium service or product it better wow those paying extra for it.

Your products and services should always be excellent, that’s how you draw customers and clients in.  But if someone is paying extra for a premium service or product they deserve extra speed in your step, extra value in your service, extra quality in your product.  Make sure you are providing them with it and you’ll go from just having customers to having loyal fans.

Or, read one of these:

1. Make It Pretty, but don’t forget the Point
2. Spoiled: 6 Apps that make Your Life Great
3. Feedback

Why be good at what you do?  One reason is because people notice when you’re bad.

I was reading this article about Design Drop-Down menus and thought about how horrible it would be to have your website listed in the section of “Poorly Constructed Menus.”  Or, even worse, to have your logo show up on Your Logo Makes Me Barf.

In today’s world of people being able to instantly post reviews of your company on the internet for the world to see, word-of-mouth is more important than ever.  And though the two examples above are from the design industry there are certainly people writing about the bad in your industry as well.

People notice when you offer something sub-par, whether it be your customer service, your product, your communication, or the cleanliness of your retail store.  One reason not to be bad is so that people don’t notice anything bad to complain about.

On the flip side, they also notice when you’re good, and with word-of-mouth sometimes that’s all you need to keep your business alive.

Or, read one of these:

1. Be Good