The experience we create for our customers goes beyond the time they are at our events, on our sales floors or using our products.

To foster customer loyalty and even build a cult-like following, you have to thrill the customer—even after the sale, or your obligation, is done.

I’m a huge Apple fan.  I’ve been using Macs for over 20 years.  I’m already in the fold—it’s a done deal—but yesterday I got another HUGE reminder of why I love Apple.  They extended my customer experience by thrilling me.  Here’s what happened:

On Tuesday of this week, I sent my almost three-year-old PowerBook G4 in to Apple to get some repairs done.  Being an Apple Care member (their extended warranty program), I had about 2 more months left before the warranty expired.  I decided to send the laptop in to get some final repairs while I still could.  Among the things I needed fixed was a flaky monitor.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Frank, at Apple Care.

He said, “Well, we have a little problem with your computer.  The screen is so bad, it can’t be repaired.  It needs to be replaced”.

“Yeah…” I said, a little hesitantly.

“Well, this might sound weird, but we currently don’t have any monitors…and it will take a month for us to get any”, he said.

“You’re kidding.  I can’t wait that long.”  I replied.

“No.  But I think I have another solution for you.”  He said.

“Okay…”  I said, and braced myself for some pain.  Frank then made a statement that shocked me.

“We’d like to send you a brand new MacBook Pro to replace this one”.  He said.

“…Uh…What?”  I replied, quite eloquently.

“We’d like to send you a brand new 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 gigs of RAM and a 200 gig hard drive.  As far as your current machine goes, we’ll either fix & try to resell it, or use it for parts”,  He told me.  “The new MacBook Pro is yours to keep.”

“Am I on Candid Camera?”  I asked.

“No”, he laughed.  “You’ve had some trouble with this machine and it’s still under its Apple Care warranty, so we’d like to give you a new one”.

I explained to him that my machine was almost 3 years old and was even an older generation (PowerBook) than the computer they wanted to send to me.  He said they realized that, then asked if it was okay for them to send me a new machine.

Once I finished picking myself up off the floor, I thanked Frank and then asked how often he gets to make these kinds of phone calls.

He said, “It’s my job to call people up and tell them they’re getting a new computer.  They call me Santa Claus around here” (now that’s what I call a great job).

I told him he was my new best friend.

Apple gets it.  They didn’t have to do anything more than replace my monitor.  They didn’t even have to give me a refurbished version of the computer I already had.  But they went above and beyond (way beyond) and offered me a better solution than I ever would have dreamed of.

In short, they thrilled me…to say the least.

Microsoft has recently teamed with Jerry Seinfeld to create an ad campaign for Windows, reports Fox News.

While Microsoft owns the PC market in America (a reported 90%), it seems the popular, “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” adds have not only been effective at raising Apple’s market share (up 32% in the last year—and climbing), but have done even more to effectively damage Microsoft’s already stodgy image.

Microsoft is hoping to create a younger, “hipper” image with ads featuring the likes of Jerry Seinfeld (who, incidentally is 54 years old—so much for “young”) and others to the tune of $300 million.

It’s ironic that in the early days of the Seinfeld show, Jerry had a series of Macs on the desk in his apartment. I guess money talks—(his take in this deal is a reported $10 million)—“not that there’s anything wrong with that”.

Here’s the deal, though: Microsoft has a product that provides solid basics (arguably). The Mac, on the other hand, has always focused on creating an amazing user experience. Over the years, Apple’s customers have become cult-like and crazy-loyal because of the experience Apple has given them.

Clever advertising is helpful, but what Microsoft still doesn’t seem to understand is that their image is flawed, not because of their advertising, but because of their products.

My old friend, John Carlson, recently made the following comment, which I think bears repeating:

“Perhaps if Microsoft put $300 million into
• Better software engineers
• Better product development and
• Innovation, with the idea of actually making a better product,
they wouldn’t have to work so hard to compete with Apple.”

Well said, John.

The user’s experience is what ultimately makes the difference. Not the level of your celebrity.