Recently I read an article that astounded me. It was titled How
Badly Microsoft Missed the Mobile Ship: 70 Percent of Windows Users Own an
Apple Product. Let that sink in for
a second. 70%. This means that 2 of every 3 Microsoft customers are also buying from
the competitor. This is amazing –
especially if you are old enough to remember the Microsoft of the 1990’s that
owned the decade. Bill Gates could do no
wrong and the company led an entire industry.
Fast forward to today and Microsoft is still a successful company, but
it isn't a leader or an innovator and they are hurting because of it.
So what happened? A
lot of people point fingers at changes in leadership and I’m sure it played a
part. However, ultimately Microsoft
became arrogant. When they were in their
heyday, Microsoft created solutions for people but as they grew they quit
trying to create solutions and instead focused on selling their products while
trying to make them solutions. This is because
they mistakenly thought that people bought their software, like Office, because
they were loyal and not for the real reason – it did a great job. For instance when the mobile revolution came
about, Microsoft essentially shrunk their software for a smaller screen with a
smaller keyboard and assumed that people would love it because people love
Office.
The root of this problem was arrogance. Steve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft had many
amazing statements about the rise of Apple and Android. The most famous is when he laughed at the
idea o an iPhone and said:
“$500, fully subsidized with a plan?!... That is the
most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn't appeal to business customers
because it doesn't have a keyboard.”
Ballmer was also quoted as saying that a phone is just a general
purpose device – first and foremost for calling people. I could write volumes about his lack of
foresight but the real takeaway here is that Ballmer and by extension Microsoft
saw he iPhone as a gimmick that mixed a music player and a phone and not as a
radically new way to interface with the world.
After all, why would you use the internet on your phone when you could
walk over to your laptop on the desk over there.
So what does this mean for you as a producer/salesperson? Here are some takeaways:
1. Even if your customers are
happy – you probably aren’t solving all of their problems
Customers buy things and are happy about their purchases for a variety
of reasons including cost, utility or novelty.
I argue that people bought Microsoft products because they were
reasonably priced, prepackaged with most machines, and fulfilled people’s
needs. This isn’t loyalty – after all,
how many people eagerly anticipate the arrival of the next version of Microsoft
Word? As a salesperson you need to think
about why your customers buy your product.
Is it because they personally like you?
Is it because it is cost effective?
Is it because they are excited about your product? If it is for the first two reasons you are
susceptible to losing that customer.
2. Customer’s needs change
This is a big one. If you assume
that your solution that meets customer needs today will always do so you will
fail. End of story. As someone that works in insurance I have
seen this part and parcel in the healthcare insurance realm. For a long time many companies and sales
people would push the same health plan to a company year after year, offering
them the lowest price increase possible because it was meeting the company’s
basic needs. These companies would
remain with their broker for years until someone would come in and ask about
their current problems and design a plan that fit their current needs. The sad thing is that if the current producer
had been changing the plan yearly and growing with the company they never would
have left. Ultimately it is important to
remember that customers don’t usually leave companies over cost – they leave
because their needs aren’t met.
3. Pay attention to the
competition and don’t be arrogant and innovate
This in my opinion is the most important. I think that there are a lot of people that
think off Apple as a company that invented smartphones and tablets. In actuality, Apple doesn’t invent – they perfect. Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb –
instead he made the first one that was commercially marketable. Microsoft looked at what Apple was doing and
laughed at it. Instead they should have
looked at it and figured out how to improve their products with Apple’s
ideas. The same applies to you as a
salesperson – look at what your competition is doing objectively, improve on it
and use it. This is innovation – which is
way more profitable than inventing.
So – there you go. What do you
think? Please feel free to post any
comments below or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com. Have a great day!
Check
out some of my recent articles on the blog here:
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