Apple

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:15:19 GMT

My son had his iPod stolen recently and after making the appropriate insurance claim (a whole other story) we went to an Apple store to buy him a replacement.

Now it’s well known that Apple products are highly regarded with regard to their design features and of course the new iPhone is creating much noise and significant sales. However, what particularly impressed me was how much thought, time and planning has gone into ensuring that the customers experience within the store is so pleasurable. This starts from the general layout, the products on display, the ability to use them at will and marvel at their splendour. However, there are a number of other areas which enhance the experience namely:

1. The staff are just superb. They are all so happy, helpful, intelligent and cool.

2. Their systems and processes are brilliant. They do everything possible to make the sales process pleasurable, (even though you are laying out buckets of cash), and efficient. Having bought from them before, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when they said to me on this occasion as I purchased, “would I like them to email me my invoice?” When I replied that I would, they said that had now been done and on querying as to what email address they sent it to, they said that the system automatically picked up the fact that I bought from them before, matched my details and sent it to the email address on record. No paper, no fuss, just one press of a button. Sure enough, when I checked my email account when I returned home, there was my PDF invoice and some other useful sales points to encourage me to buy again.

However much Apple have set the standard with their designs, their processes are there to be copied without a doubt. All I have been able to think about since then is how we can do similar things in our business and I am sure the same applies to all of us

My Name

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:16:16 GMT

I’ve got a lot to thank my parents for and I am sure (hope) that I remind them of this continually. However, there is one thing that perhaps they didn’t think through so carefully and that was the name they gave me.

Whilst I myself don’t really have a problem with the name, it would seem that many others do. I have one of those names that seem to cause confusion to others. My forename and surname are completely interchangeable. Unlike Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard or Kylie Minogue, but the same as John Terry or even David Cameron, my forename and surname can easily be swapped. However, you don’t see any of the latter list having that problem, or at least not as far as I am aware. Yet, at least 3 times a week, I receive an email from someone referring to me as Graham and from time to time people even say it to my face.

Someone once said to me that a person’s name is one of the most important things to them and you should use it regularly both in correspondence and when talking to them as it makes them warm to you. Well you can imagine how much I warm to someone when they get my name wrong. Is it simply that they are confused by my two forenames/ surnames, or is it that they simply find me so insignificant that they can’t even remember my proper name? I don’t believe it's the latter as it happens from time to time with people who I know have no negative feelings towards me. Perhaps it's a brain disorder that some people have where they literally can’t either remember names, or distinguish between a forename and a surname. There is also the moral conundrum that I sometimes face when someone refers to me by my surname. Do I point it out to them to avoid it happening again, (I have actually tried this and it doesn't always work), or just let it pass. Some might take an even more radical step and write back to the said person using their surname. There is a danger of this becoming offensive particularly if their surname is impossible to be mistaken for a forename. The alternative is to let it go and hope that at some stage they’ll realise their mistake.

To be honest, it’s not the biggest problem that faces me in my daily life, but just a minor irritant and one that I can generally live with. However, a tip to all of you, who have any inclination to communicate with me – please call me Howard.

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My Name