Surprise and delight your customers, says Apple. It sure has worked and continues to work for them.
Remember, this is a back-from-the-dead company, now the #1 valued technology company in the world, because they’ve surprised and delighted their rabid and ever-growing fan base more often than not.
One of their biggest successes is the iPhone. Part of the reason is the 250,000 applications that independent developers have created for use on the iPhone. So it’s added value for usually no extra cost for the buyer.
Anyway, Apple just released their rules for accepting applications to run on their iPhones. Anyone in sales can take this to heart:
“Above all else,” Apple tells developers, ” join us in trying to surprise and delight users…Go the extra mile. Give them more than they expect. And take them places where they have never been before.”
What might you do to surprise and delight your new prospect? It’s surely NOT persuading and insisting…
Then they add a zinger: “Please brace yourself for rejection,” says Apple, if what you present looks like you’re not serious or you’re not ready to present your thing to the world out there.
“If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you’re trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.”
Know your product and business. Learn and polish your language skills so you compare well to those who have mastered those skills.
Then, figure out how to surprise and delight them.
How could you not be a success?
P.S. Yes of course it will take time. So go ahead and plan for it. If you love what you’re learning, and don’t have silly expectations of easy income, you’re on your way.
Dear Kim,
To me it is so cool to see Steve Jobs take Apple to new heights in unconventional ways such as he instructs the apps developers. I can think of many formerly great brands that have gone the other way, by diminishing the quality and service of their brand while increasing the consumers' costs.
I believe that many of us could delight our prospects with features and benefits inherent in our products or services. However, in our eagerness for the sale; we spill our gut with every possible tipping point we can conger up during our presentations. Instead we should keep some of the goodies for a surprise at the end or later.
Wishing You Plenty To Live,
Tom Doiron
Atlanta