One point where Apple hasn’t lost it…
“So, let me get this right,” the CEO asked me during a Q&A session with more than a bit of skepticism in his voice, “to get more sales, you are suggesting I shouldn’t focus upon sales?”
“Absolutely correct,” I replied, to his astonishment. “Here’s the problem,” I continued, “you aren’t really focusing on sales when you say you are. I’d suggest when you say you’re focused upon sales, what you are really attempting to do is increase the number and size of transactions.”
“What’s wrong with that?” he continued.
“NOTHING!” I exclaimed. “It’s just that a focus on sales won’t lead to an increase in transactions.”
Sound completely counterintuitive, doesn’t it? But, it’s the truth.
After yesterday’s critique about Apple, here’s one place they get it exactly right. Focus upon the customer EXPERIENCE and huge SALES will follow.
According to Apple’s senior vice-president of retail, Ron Johnson, “Our primary objective is to create a place that people will love.”
(Which begs the question: What’s the primary objective at YOUR sales department?)
In a recent interview in “Retail Week,” Johnson continues, “We’ve not only created a store, we’ve created a place for people to be.”
Could YOU create a bank, a store, a restaurant, or something else where people what to be? How about an office, a R&D department, a clinic, or something else where people want to work…or receive service?
I submit you absolutely could!
Just think of the results for a moment: Apple Store revenue rose 72.8% year over year to $2.58 billion last quarter. Visitors per store increased 38.7% while same-store revenues rose 52.9%. (In this supposedly down economy!)
Needham’s Charlie Wolf wrote, “Annualized average store revenues of $35.9 million translated into sales of $5,980 per square foot, assuming an average 6,000-square-foot store,” he writes, “undoubtedly the highest among retail chains in the country.”
What happens when your competition focuses upon sales? Take a look at the Windows vs. Mac battle: According to Fortune magazine, last quarter, Microsoft Windows users purchased half of the 677,000 Macs sold in the stores. Wolf estimates that since 2004, over 18 million Windows users have switched to a Mac, equal to over 100% of the size of the Mac platform at the beginning of this period.
So, what’s the “secret” behind all of this? As my great friend, Nido Qubein says, “There are no secrets to success — there are only SYSTEMS to success.”
Here’s the system Apple executes: “Our team is taught to look in the heart, not the pocket book when dealing with their customers,” according to Johnson.
Perhaps you read in “ALL Business is Show Business” — “emotion precedes economics.” If you capture the heart, you won’t have to worry about the wallet.
Tell your sales team to go “sell, sell, sell” — and your sales will, in this marketplace, probably decline.
Create an Ultimate Customer Experience ®, and get ready to grow and enhance your profitability, and your business.
Scott Mckain is a speaker of Speakers Connect and he will be in Asia in Nov 2010. Contact us at [email protected] for more information or to book Scott for your next event.
(Originally posted at Scott Mckain’s McakinViewpoint.com)