We talk a lot – all of us – about building brands by solving problems for people, being there when they need you, and being a bit remarkable. I got that today from Apple. It wasn’t heroic in the sense of leaping tall buildings in a single bound, but it made all the difference in the world to me.

The Casualty

My laptop is like an appendage for me. Given the work I do, I’m on it probably 15 hours a day, off and on. (I know that’s a bit nuts, but that’s not the topic here.) And this morning, tragedy struck.

As I was carrying my laptop from the front room to the office, my dog ran past me and sent my open computer tumbling to the floor. I made a vain attempt to catch it, but it landed sharply on the corner between the screen and the keyboard, and made a rather sickening “crunch”. Ruh roh.

The screen was shattered. Made for nice abstract art, but not so much good for actually seeing the work you were doing. Being without a laptop isn’t an option. So off I went to replace it.

The Adventure

There are three Apple stores within a decent radius of me, and I was heading down for another errand near one, so I stopped there to get the new machine. The specialists were awesome, as usual, and I knew what I wanted, so the transaction to purchase my new 15″ MacBook Pro was smooth and easy.

The trick was that I needed to migrate all the files from my broken laptop, and quickly. Their window for doing it for me was 48 hours, and that was about 45 hours too long. So I asked if I could do it myself. They explained the easy steps to do so, but regretted that they didn’t have the appropriate firewire cable to enable it. Rats. My specialist suggested Best Buy, so off I went.

Nope. Not there (not to mention the guy at the store was a bit rude and seemed inconvenienced by me). Called another Apple store. Not there either. Finally, I called the third store and they said they had one, so I drove clear across town. Once I got there, however, no dice. The specialist I’d spoken to made a mistake and looked for the wrong cable (turns out the one I need isn’t even sold anymore). Foiled again, and now I’m in a bit of a panic.

The Solution

Red, the specialist I was talking to in the last store, felt my panic once he realized they didn’t have what I needed either. I was dismayed that I had dropped nearly $2700 in less than 30 minutes, but the absence of some stupid $20 cable was preventing me from getting up and running in short order. I explained that my job requires me to be accessible, and I was growing frustrated. Red had an idea, and went to fetch Bob.

Bob came out from the back with the firewire cable I needed, and suggested that he’d set me up at the end of the Genius Bar. I could borrow their cable and migrate the files right there myself, with the added bonus of having their specialists poke their nose in on occasion to make sure everything went smoothly. He apologized for the confusion, thanked me again for being a customer, and even offered to let me use one of the iMacs in the store to do work or whatever I needed while the files did their thing.

It took about 45 minutes, and the guys kept their word. Other specialists came by, said hi, asked what happened to the old computer, talked to me about cool features on my new one. All in all, I felt like I was spending time hanging out with some tech buddies. My panic eased, and I really felt taken care of. I left with my brand new computer all spiffed up and ready to go, and a bunch of people at the Apple store who will remember me next time I’m there.

The Point

I’m already an Apple fan, but my experience this morning wasn’t exactly seamless. But these guys at the Apple store in Deer Park went out of their way to turn the negative into a positive and find a way to help me out. It wasn’t a grand gesture, it was a simple solution. But it worked, and I’ll remember them for it.

Oh, and the other thing? I’ve been contemplating the iPhone. Today’s positive customer service experience makes me want one even more because I know I’ve got a team of awesome people at the Apple store on my side.

What can you take away from this? No matter what your product or service, you’re ultimately solving a problem for someone. Doing so with a personal touch is more likely than almost any other experience to solidify your brand in the minds of your customers. (Oh and PS, for the social media angle here, building a community starts with having something worth talking about, and your customer service can be that thing.) People do business with other people, and being reminded that you’re being taken care of instead of being rung up as a transaction makes a world of difference.

Thanks, Deer Park Apple Dudes. You saved my butt, big time. I  may just see you this weekend for that iPhone thing…

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