HIRE ME TO SPEAK
HIRE ME TO SPEAK

Do you care more about customers or the competition?

I write about strategies to turn fans into customers and customers into fans. I also share ways to use real-time strategies to spread ideas, influence minds, and build business.

Research and Analysis

Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook asked Scott Forstall to resign, reportedly because Forstall (who had headed Apple's iOS Software) refused to sign the company's apology over the crappy Apple Maps that were made a part of the latest iPhone software. I'm glad to see that because it signals that Cook cares about customers rather than "beating Google" which as far as I could tell was the only reason to swap out the mapping platform in the iPhone.

Too much focus on the competition

Many companies obsess about the other guys. Why in the world would you name your business Seattle's Best Coffee unless you were directly competing with Seattle, Washington based Starbucks?

My sense is that the various social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the like) are spending way too much time worried about the "competition" and not enough time worrying about their users.

For example, Google worries about Twitter. So Google eliminated the excellent real time search feature which had delivered tweets as part of Google search results. While tweets no longer appear, Google will happily show updates from Google+ in search results.

Who do you care more about – your customers or the competition?