I’ve Lost Count

Sometime ago I responded to an e-mail from Microsoft about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software.

This is a good case study on the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft handed my inquiry off to one of their partners, and since then I have received literature, demo software, and so many phone call that I have lost count. Including another one this morning.

I get two types of phone calls. One is from Microsoft to confirm that their partner is following up. The other is from the partner following up.

This sale, I would guess at the outside, is worth at most a few thousand dollars. But what they are looking for is not the sale. Nope, they are looking for the relationship.

Tim recently posted an archive about Apple marketshare, and I took the time to re-read my monograph on the Apple business model. I think my analysis still stands. Apple needs to Act Different.

Apple stuff is obviously better and cooler, but without a positive relationship with developers and resellers in the business marketplace, they will always have too much to do. It is essentially a lack of delegation that harms them, nothing else. They trust the marketplace to reward them, when what they should do is trust people.

The very few times I have gotten a direct sales call from Apple, they have been nothing if not anemic. The person on the other end wishes to sell hardware. Beyond my buying a box, they have nothing to sell and nothing to say. And I know from experience, once you have the hardware, they will abandon you on the highway, information or otherwise.

As we ramp up our anticipation for MacWorld, I wonder if we will see the same old consumer-driven Steve Jobs. More toys for the retail masses, another step away from small businesses. More prideful branding, less manufacturing, and a blind eye to the best and most stable market out there.

One thing I forgot to mention on my post about Levi’s. A number of years ago their CEO thought they should reduce their reseller base. So they got rid of all the small stores that carried their inventory, and focused instead on their bigger customers, like the GAP. Within a few years Levi’s was facing banckruptcy. Duh! I don’t have an MBA, but if this is what they teach as intelligent business management, I would rather sleep in. I am sure the big retailers felt like the cat’s meow having an exclusive on Levi’s jeans. They probably couldn’t contain their glee over their new-founded monopoly.

Apple, no doubt, feels the same way about their stores. They have a monopoly with iTunes, OS, Stores and hardware. The more they push for a monopoly status, the weaker they will become. Pride always comes before the fall.