Steve Jobs (Pic: AP)

The recent sad death of Steve Jobs robbed the world of an amazing man, regardless of whether one loves the iPhone, the iPad or the Mac.

The question now is how Apple will survive his loss.

Obviously, the company has been run – and run well – during his absences but it will be interesting to see how it performs in five, ten years time without its visionary leader.

During that time the current ‘news kids on the block’ will have matured and one may be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

At the moment Apple products are flavour of the month but the test will come with the next new product launch.

But maybe customers will be kind as many seem to have a personal bond with the Apple brand. As one of the tributes on the RememberingSteve page on the Apple website said: 

“I fell in love with my first MAC in 1987, and have been in love with Apple ever since. Steve, your vision of what these products could do enabled me and millions of others to express our creativity in ways we once thought unimaginable. I can think of no greater gift to humanity than helping us all tap into our limitless potential to make art. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sandy”

Few technology products have inspired so much love so maybe Steve’s real legacy will be that the Apple dream will live on into the future.

Time will tell!

However, there is  a new kid on the block – the Refashionista, those who buy exclusively vintage or secondhand clothes and adapt them to current looks.

In recycling terms this is to be admired.

However, is buying this way what the economy needs right now to get us out of recession?

While the average High Street has a plethora of appealing charity shops we also need people to buy new clothes and accessories.

Retailers of all types are struggling – particularly those in fashion.

If being a Refashionista goes mainsteam then retailers will have a problem!

So shop for new clothes now!

Ignore your local charity shop or vintage store – Bond Street needs you!

 It is not a difficult concept to understand. Basically it charts the profit from a retained customer over X years against the cost of acquiring a new one each year. Repeat business is much more profitable than new business.

 Harvard Business School Publishing has a model which shows the principle very simply.

 Clearly retaining customers should be at the heart of every business yet so many companies chase new ones at the expense of keeping existing ones happy. 

(For example, in the past financial institutions have been guilty of offering a lower mortgage rate or a higher savings rate to new customers only, leaving their loyal customers worse off.)

 Although this is changing it is clear that in some organisations the concept of CLV is not one embraced by everyone.

 In a recent ‘battle’ with Vodafone, when advised of the CLV of being a business contract customer for over 20 years, the Customer Services Adviser said ‘That’s nothing to do with me!”

 Retaining customers through excellent service should be every employee’s business – regardless of the department or division in which they work.

 Thought leader Seth Godin’s best-selling book ‘Purple Cow’ talked about creating remarkable products. He then turned his attention to poor customer service and cites ‘cell phone bills’ as one of the topics on which he gets much mail. What a surprise!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/02/starting_over_w.html

In the age of wide choice and educated customers companies should be trying harder than ever to keep customers and profits!

Are you listening Vodafone?

He was later quoted as saying ” We took early action in 2008 to deal with the increasingly tough trading environment and have set our business ready to manage continuing difficult market conditions in 2009. We have already taken decisive action, and stand ready to take further steps if necessary.” (Source www.diyweek.net)

However, on the radio he added that high staff turnover was a feature of their business and appeared to view it favourably as a way of managing staff costs.

It made me think. Usually businesses want to keep their staff since recuiting and training new employees is costly in both temporal and financial resources.

Making working conditions as appealing as possible in order to retain staff has always been a ‘given’ in management terms.

So could the current market conditions be leading to a new model in which companies welcome staff departures as a way of controlling costs?

This may look appealing to the accountants but has big ramifications for Customer Relationship Management!

It is no co-incidence that John Lewis is performing well in difficult market conditions. Their staff actually know something about the products they are selling – unlike the average salesperson in Wickes or B&Q.

Staff knowledge as a Key Performance or Profit Indicator? Why not!

I know in which store I prefer to buy my everyday DIY products!

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