Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!esquire!baumgart
From: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple OS 7.0 - Cost?
Message-ID: <1701@esquire.UUCP>
Date: 2 Jan 90 17:52:28 GMT
References: <35036.2598DF8A@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> <37516@apple.Apple.COM> <23943@brunix.UUCP>
Sender: news@esquire.UUCP
Reply-To: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Organization: Davis Polk & Wardwell
Lines: 41
In-reply-to: omh@cs.brown.edu (Owen M. Hartnett)

In article <23943@brunix.UUCP>, omh@cs (Owen M. Hartnett) writes:
>Set up a room with about 50 or so people in it with a bunch of 800
>lines - they're really cheap now.  Answer the user's calls.  Expedite
>the channel of support instead of inhibiting it.  If a customer has a
>problem, follow it up.  Think of the PR benefits, they'll pay for
>those 50 people fast! Sure, you'll get a lot of calls like "What is
>the Finder?" but, once you've answered them, you'll get a satisfied
>user who'll tell other ones.
>
>You call up IBM and you'll very quickly get a salesman who'll try to
>sell you a computer (or one that will call you back).  You call up
>Apple and you'll get a runaround.  Now, you'll tell me that Apple
>doesn't have the resources that IBM does, and I agree, but if you
>ever expect to grow as large as IBM (and I certainly hope you do), then
>now is the time to set up the support (*and* sales) network.

The WordPerfect Corporation has built its reputation on just this:
excellent free technical support, regardless of what the user's
problem is, where or when he or she bought the program, or whether or
not it could have been solved by reading the manual.  When people
discuss WordPerfect, they may disagree about how good a word processor
it is, but there's no argument about the level of service and the
commitment to the customer that WordPerfect has achieved.

Honestly, why does Apple think it should run its business any
differently than WordPerfect (or any number of other software
companies), especially since many people have trouble with the Mac's
*System software*, not its hardware?  Can you imagine calling 5th
Generation about a problem with Suitcase or Fastback and being told
"You bought it from MacConnection, so you'll have to call them for
help"?

It really doesn't cost that much; it just takes some vision and the
ability to look past short-term profits and rampant bean-counterism,
something that has been in short supply at Apple of late.

--
   Steve Baumgarten             | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
   Davis Polk & Wardwell        |  remember, we were way ahead of you."
   baumgart@esquire.dpw.com     | 
   cmcl2!esquire!baumgart       |                           - David Letterman