How “Apple-ised” Is Your Business?
Every time I enter the always-crowded Apple store I marvel at their business model – how they have created not just loyal users, but lifetime, devoted partners. “Once a Mac, never go back” – and I have yet to meet anyone who has returned to a PC from a Mac. It just doesn’t happen.
We happily pay more, much more, face crowded stores, line up for appointments with 20-something geniuses and drool longingly over the newest offerings, making a checklist of “everything Apple” that will somehow be ours.
As I sat waiting for my new Macbook Air, I pondered this: How can I Apple-ise my business? And I put it to you, that all CEOs should be asking themselves and their team these questions over and over again:
- How do you consciously create lifetime customers?
- How do you get customers to pay significantly more than comparative products and still feel delighted?
- How do you consistently deliver customer experiences that are aligned to your product image?
- How do you create a “cult” of customers who just would NOT choose any other product? Or if they do, it’s done very, very reluctantly?
- How do you cut across demographics – keeping the sleek, youthful image whilst tapping into older demographics?
THE BALANCED SCORECARD
In a 1993 Harvard Business Review article, Kaplan-Norton described how Apple used the Balanced Scorecard to shift from being technology and product focused to being customer focused (read article HERE). I don’t know if they still use the Balanced Scorecard. but what I do see every time I walk into their store, or deal with them online, is a well-thought through and implemented strategy that aligns the Apple team with internal processes that delight customers/fans/devotees – and make their shareholders very, very happy – Apple is, after all, the 2nd largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization!
The Balanced Scorecard is my tool of choice to develop, articulate and implement strategy. Here are 2 key ways in which the Balanced Scorecard can help you to “Apple-ise” your business:
- The Customer Perspective forces you to think about what you want to be and deliver to your customers – not just the products and services, but also the type of experience you want them to have and associate with your business. This is where you can articulate how you want your customers to feel when they think of, interact and buy from you
- The Internal Process Perspective – one of the key processes in the BSC is the Customer Relationship Management process. How conscious are we of designing a process that not just delivers the product but develops and consistently manages the relationship that leads to amazing customer experiences? “Apple-ising your business means mapping this process from beginning to end – not just the transaction, but the relationship before and after.
TAKE ONE ACTION
- Go to an Apple store, or go online.
- Really pay attention to what’s happening – how team members are behaving, how customers are interacting, how their systems work.
- Observe how everything is synchronized and aligned.
- What can you apply to your business?
INTERESTING LINKS
Think of Apple, and you think of Innovation. But innovation doesn’t happen by accident. Innovative companies carefully design processes that consistently and methodically spur and deliver innovations. Here’s how Facebook does it:
Inside Facebook’s Internal Innovation Culture – click to view
And lest you think that my admiration for Steve Jobs and Apple is without question, check out this article that says “No Steve Jobs – you were wrong”: Steve Jobs Had It Wrong: Why You Should Look To Consumers For Product Innovation. – click to view
Which do you learn more from – your successes or your failure? Chances are, it’s failure. Read how to learn from failure, or as great entrepreneurs like to say “Fail early, fail fast and fail often”: Why You Need To Redefine Failure. – click to view
