What Siri taught me: The secret of the world best brands

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This is not a product review.


Siri: Hello KING! How can I be of assistance at this time? (And between, it’s 10 minutes to your meeting with Warren Buffet).

This is the voice response of Siri. Siri is a digital office assistant in the new iPhone 4GS. This intelligent character is capable of reporting the weather, placing a call, reminding you of your appointments and so much more. Siri is so amazing. This creation is albeit one of the most brilliant features of the new iPhone. Even though this is not a product review, it would be a great disservice to creativity not to acknowledge the wonder of something truly beautiful.

Not long ago, I saw a video on YouTube; it was a feature presentation on the similar shared values between Ritz Carlton and Apple. This Comparism shouldn’t startle you. It’s about the Customer Service culture of these two organisations. After watching this video, perusing Richard Branson’s SCREW BUSINESS AS USUAL and listening to Paul Orfalea (Founder of KINKOS now FEDEX OFFICE); it became clear to me that there is no other way to create sustainable value outside embracing a deliberate culture of treating the customer right.

I must confess that I am a very keen observer of business practices especially as it relates to customer service experience and I am one of a kind bias soul when it comes to this subject matter. I cannot withstand being treated like a number. I expect to be treated with positive demeanor. I appreciate a good experience and spare no words of appreciation for any merchant that treat me well. I believe the customer is still the KING. Sorry if I sound edgy but I sincerely don’t expect anything less than a royal treatment.
The secret of the world biggest brands is not in their ability to meet the twisted savor of Wall Street; although these brands are darlings of the Wall Street. The secret of the most valuable brands lies in the heart of their customer/user experience. Take the example of Ritz Carlton; the world’s premier hotel and the delight of holiday makers and honey-mooners. This century old hotel has successfully ingrained into its DNA the most endearing ways to serve the customer. It is not a surprise to see the door man in Ritz call you by name while beaming smile at you.  Every customer interaction is a golden moment and the Ladies and Gentlemen (the official name for the male and female staff in Ritz) are groomed to delight and surprise the customer. Every staff of Ritz carries a manual that contain gem instructions on what to do with the customer. The content of this manual are simple enough like “Smile to the customer”.
When the late Steve Jobs returned as the interim CEO of the company, his greatest headache was that the company was trying to be many things to many people. He was quoted to have said “The current range of products are bunch of bozos and they suck” He was no doubt very obsessed with the ultimate idea of making insanely cool products and this was the heartbeat of Apple’s user experience; every design is a deliberate attempt to make life more interesting for the user. Take a look at the range of products in the Apple portfolio and you will be impressed with a beautiful blend of artistry and emotion. A visit to any of the Apple Store will tell you more about why the God of Commerce can’t deny this insanely great company from enjoying the blessings of Wall Street. The hub strategy of Apple is based on a simple philosophy; end-to-end user experience. Owning any Apple product is just a delight. The minimalistic design philosophy based on simplicity as the ultimate sophistication makes every Apple customer some form of junky. You just can’t get enough. Apple has become some kind of cult. If you think this is a lie, watch out for the next release of new Apple iPhone. The long overnight queues of human beings waiting to buy will convince you.

Starbucks Coffee Company is now firing on all cylinders. This is after a brief period of tumultuous experience in which the company almost lost its soul to the 2008 recession. The founder and Chairman of the company Howard Schultz had to return to the company as the CEO to save it from the peril. The company’s market share was shrinking, sales were plummeting, the price of Coffee bean was rising in the market and McDonalds (McCafe) announced a $100m advertising budget. These were bad times and the company was fast coming to a ground halt. Cynical Wall Street reporter predicted doom and gloom for the company that brought romance to the Coffee drinking culture of Americans.  In 20 years, the company’s share had risen over 6000%; better than any S&P 500 stock or any other stock in the market but all of this didn’t matter in 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, the CEO of the company made some very hard decisions that helped save the company and help position it once more as the darling of the market. None of those decisions involved those conventional methods of stimulating growth that they teach in ivory business schools. Consider two of the actions the CEO took:
1.   The company shut down its entire North American operations (more than 11,000 stores to re-train its staff).
2.   It flew 11,000 of its store keepers to New Orleans (Post Hurricane Katrina) and mobilized them to support the re-building efforts of New Orleans.
If you want more of other tactical and operational initiatives that were pursued, I will recommend you get Onward by Howard Schultz.

There are many lessons from these case studies; Ritz Carlton, Apple & Starbucks. These three organisations are testimonies to how far any entity can go when it embraces customer centricity. It’s not about launching a reactionary customer service programme to address some headaches due to complaints; it’s more like living the value day to day.

In the words of Paul Orfalea (Founder KINKOS now FEDEX OFFICE), there are just three things in business. Every other thing is complication:

1.Treat your employee well.
2.Treat your customers well.
3.Balance the checks.

The ultimate winning formula in today’s world is to crown the customer. This is what Siri taught me.


Image Credit: Google

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