What Asia's CFOs Can Learn From Steve Jobs

by Knowledge@SMU, 15 September 2011

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topics:
Management

tags:
customer experience customer service investing in service

Steve Jobs can teach us a thing or two about customer loyalty. Though Apple products have sometimes fallen short of expectations, Apple customers think nothing of standing in line for hours just to get their hands on the company’s latest offering.

According to Valarie Zeithaml, a David S Van Pelt Family distinguished professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina, recent financials show that Apple is achieving US$4,406 per annum sales per square foot – far higher than brands such as the US$3,000 per annum sales per square foot of premier global jeweller Tiffany and US$1,700 per annum sales per square foot of leading luxury lifestyle handbags and accessories brand Coach.

Apple Inc is “an extremely profitable outfit” and its success is underlined by its innovative service delivery that centres on the customer experience, said Zeithaml, a keynote speaker at the recent Institute of Service Excellence at SMU Global Conference on Service Excellence 2011.

Thirty years ago, there would have been resistance to investments in service. “CFOs used to call it a leap of faith,” Zeithaml noted. Today, with industry models to quantify service excellence and a lot of research in the field that tie customer service to actual financial benefits, companies have increasingly become more open to spend on customer service.

The CFO, added Roland Rust, a professor at the University of Maryland and conference panellist, should be “investing for the long-term, and investing in the future.” The benefits from spending on service may not be readily apparent. But Prof. Rust stressed: “The financial returns will come.”

Emotional engagement

Pushing the Apple brand in parts of Asia is EpiCentre founder and chief executive Jimmy Fong. A premium Apple reseller, the company has grown from a single location in Singapore in 2006 to six locations across Singapore, Malaysia and China. Last year, it reported double-digit growth and record profits, thanks in large part to its customer-centred marketing strategies.

“Even with the best technologies and most optimum conditions, companies can still fail,” said Fong. EpiCentre, like Apple, looks over and beyond the products to provide a satisfying customer experience. His employees are imbued early on with the notion: “not lip service, not brain service but spirited service where there is passion and emotional engagement”. This is how Apple delivers “insanely great experiences” at their stores, he explained.

Walking the talk, up to one-third of the staff at every Apple retail store is stationed at the Genius Bar, a technical support station that provides only customer service, including software support, analysis and troubleshooting – but does not sell products.

“People don’t want to just buy a personal computer, they want to know what they can do with it, and we want to help people see the many possibilities,” said Fong. “Customer service is a journey, and though we are not quite there yet, we are working on it with our spirited acts of loving kindness,” he added.

‘Loving kindness’ is the EpiCentre standard and motto of customer service where staff interact, engage and deliver passionate and genuine service to customers.

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