Bling only gets you so far.

You can own a big house, but you still have to mow the lawn. You can buy expensive china, but your food still has to taste good. You can put on an Armani suit, but your product still has to wow the customer.

My first experience at an Apple Store was miserable. I waited in a short line at the counter for over 10 minutes to pay for an iPod charger while roving employees came back and forth helping other people who’d wandered into the store after us. (Apparently the counter is just for show and you’re supposed to snag an employee on the go.) For all of Apple’s attention to hipness, their customer experience was a fail.

If I scratch the surface of your business, what will I find?

Photo by Bitterjug (Flickr).