Re: CompUSA's Apple Users Open House
Re: CompUSA's Apple Users Open House
- Subject: Re: CompUSA's Apple Users Open House
- From: Emilie Unkrich <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 07:17:37 -0500
Hi Doug and Paul,
I hope that someone at Apple monitors this List and reads the comments
that you have posted!
If I was the CEO or Chief Financial Officer, I would be reconsidering
that part of the budget that gives money for what turn out to
consistently be such "non-events!"
For the most part, based on similar and re-occurring experiences like
those that you both have mentioned, the folks in my Mac User group do
not attend these Comp USA Open Houses in the Cleveland Ohio area. They
are considered to be a waste of time.
Hello Apple!
You might choose to consider that Comp USA is not the best place to
reach anyone regarding Macintosh Computers and accessories , be they
Macintosh users or folks that you are attempting to attract to the
product.
The flip side of that coin is that I suppose that Comp USA COULD BE
such a destination but only if someone would be "minding the store" and
monitor what actually happens at these events and holds folks
accountable for what the Mission and Objectives and Game Plan of such
events are supposed to be all about.
With Care,
Emilie
Emilie Unkrich
Member of NEOAC and Editor of the Apple Bits
both to be found at www.neoac.org
On Feb 25, 2005, at 6:41 AM, Douglas Small wrote:
I would tend to agree with Paul that this event was aimed at User
Groups alone. We had four members attend the event in Brandon (east
Tampa), FL. It was an hour drive for two of us, and almost a two hour
drive for another couple. The business unit there seemed totally
unprepared. There were no refreshments or give-aways as found on
their circular. The spot for the Mac Mini was an empty hole.
We did spend some time with the Apple Solutions Specialist, Donnie
Fluty. He gave us some Apple logo'd items for meetings, and we hope
to have him in as a presenter soon. If there was any kind of pitch,
it was for .Mac.
I came away feeling somewhat flat. We bought a few small things, and
got a 10 % discount. We were told that two other MUGs had come
earlier in the evening. Inasmuch as we are midway between Orlando and
Tampa, it is a real effort to get to either market. I am not sure I
saw any point in having the Open House.
On Feb 25, 2005, at 6:01 AM, Paul Richards wrote:
I would like to compare notes with others regarding CompUSA's Apple
Users Open House held on February 24th. Did you attend? Was it well
attended at your local store? Was your users group actively involved
in any fashion? Do you have any other comments about it?
I am very grateful to the Apple Solutions Specialist and the general
manager of my local CompUSA for allowing the Syracuse Macintosh Users
Group to set up a table and rotate nine of our senior volunteers at a
prominent spot on the edge of the Apple product area. We had people
on hand throughout the event to promote our group and to help answer
customer questions about the products there. We had quite a few of
our members stop by to check out the offerings in response to the
event announcements I forwarded to them. We also helped some people
who are not members, who just happened to come by and had not heard
about the open house, and got a couple of possible membership nibbles
in the process.
On the other hand, I was very dissapointed to learn that there was
little or no promotion of this event outside the users group circles.
Although there were ads for the iMac, iBook and iPod product lines in
CompUSA's current sales circular, I saw no mention of this "Open
House" anywhere within its pages. No mention anywhere else outside of
those that came to me over the Internet in one way or another either.
No radio, no TV, no print media anywhere that I could learn of.
I feel that Apple has again used users groups as a targeted marketing
channel and is badly missing on the bigger picture. The members of my
group already own Apple products. We are not going to gain them any
market share. If Apple and CompUSA had instead worked hand in hand
with users groups starting at the national level, and put a little
more money into promoting this in outside media, we could have helped
them broaden there target audience considerably. At the same time,
the users groups could also benefit from the outside exposure, making
it a potential growth opportunity for all involved. Why is it that
they don't seem to see that?
What do others think?
Doug Small
Lakeland Area Mac User Group
Ambassador
http://homepage.mac.com/flmug/
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