“Okay, I need a new laptop,” says Hayley.

She’s sitting there, pounding the ‘Enter’ key on her MacBook. Nothing’s moving.

I’m not surprised … it’s my old MacBook Pro from 2011, so it’s, uh, seen better days.

“But all you do is check emails!” I protest.

(The daggers in her return glance tell me she does not agree.)

“Fine,” I sigh.

Then — ding! — a lightbulb goes on above my head.

“Hey,” I say. “How about we both get a new laptop … for the same price?”

Hayley cocks her head to the side.

“Heh, well, you see, my current MacBook is from 2015,” I say. “So we could get you a new one … and then you’d get a new laptop and I wouldn’t. Or …”

“Go on,” says Hayley, looking at me as trustingly as a mongoose would look at a snake.

“Well … if I bought the new laptop, and gave you my current laptop, it’d be like we both got a new laptop … for the same price!”

I grin and hold out my arms, waiting for her to accept my proposal.

She … does not accept my proposal.

“You ALWAYS say this!!!” she says.

Hmmm … she has a point.

It might be true that I have said this for every single Apple product we’ve upgraded for the last five years 🤔

But hey — logic, right?

Eventually, though, she comes around … and off I go to buy myself—ahem, her—a new laptop.

I fire up the Apple website and go through the purchase process, picking all my fancy upgrades.

Yet just as I’m about to check out, I realise … there’s no place to enter my business name so I can claim it as a business expense.

Hm.

I go back and forth a few pages, but nope — there’s nothing.

So I do something that, as an introvert, I hate …

I fire up the chat.

A friendly person named Chloe answers me.

“Hope you’re having a great day :)”

Yes, yes, Chloe. Let’s get to business.

“I can’t put in my business name,” I say. “Am I missing something?”

“Oh … you have to call us for that,” she says.

… excuse me?

I, a millennial, have to CALL you?

As in … pick up the phone … and tell some shady person my credit card details on an unsecured line? Like Denise the 67-year-old dinosaur who thinks that the Internet is going to gulp down her money?

The very thought gives me the jitters.

But, inspired by the prize, I figure I’ll bite the bullet and call.

I glimpse at the clock. 4pm. Plenty of time.

I dial up … and get an automated voice.

“Thank you for calling Apple. Please listen to the following options …”

With a final superhuman burst of patience, I navigate the labyrinth of buttons I have to press, guided by Robot Voice.

Then — finally — I get through to the right place …

And get an Indian voice telling me I’ve called outside of office hours.

Even though it’s 4pm.

But if I’d like, he tells me, I can still purchase products …

… from the website.

Gahhhh!!!

I hang up the phone, annoyed and defeated.

I’m a customer with a debit card literally in my hand, ready to pay thousands of dollars.

But instead, I’ve just been stopped from making my purchase — and been given a terrible experience to boot.

The worst part is … Apple couldn’t care less.

(Which is a lesson in and of itself on building a business that’s so powerful, you can do this kind of stuff and people will still buy from you.)

But it’s also an opportunity for smaller businesses.

Yes, these tech giants — the FAANGs of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google — might be crushing industries around the world.

But there’s always a place for businesses that offer good, old-fashioned customer service.

And for the right people … they might just be willing to pay a premium to deal with someone who has their back, rather than a giant faceless corporation.

(Especially people like Denise the 67-year-old dinosaur, probably.)

In fact, just this morning I was stunned by a gesture of customer service from a business I bought from … and it gave me an idea I’ll be implementing immediately into my coaching program, Inbox Detonator, when I open it later this month.

Smooth pivot, Daniel.

Oh, hey.

Since we’re talking about Inbox Detonator now:

(And don’t argue about that, {!firstname_fix}, because then we’d be arguing about Inbox Detonator, which would automatically make you lose the argument)

You can get on the waitlist to join that by ~~clicking here~~ joining my email list.

Because I won’t be launching it to my main list. First notification will go to that waitlist only. So be there, or be square.

And in other news:

I’ve spent the week so far working on my other product … a course on how I do market research.

And can I just say, if what I’ve done so far is any indication … it’s gonna be *high-pitched sing-song voice* awe-sooooome!

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