DAVID RUDOLF BAKKER

I’ve been working on the $5 iPad Dock (or €4 iPad Stand) project with Martijn Aslander and Simon Blazer for a week now. And so much happend in just one week. I photographed the pre production model and wrote about it on Lifehacking.nl. Just two days later and it was featured on loads of websites like Wired ,TUAW and CrunchGear. Orders started showing up, it’s going somewhere, that is for sure.

Today I posted the instructions on how to DIY the $5 / €4 iPad Stand on Instructables. Make one (or order one) !

Download the DIY-wooden-5-iPad-Dock-Stand .pdf for easy reading/printing/saving.

I think, deep down, that is why I buy Crumpler bags. Yes I like the design, yes I think they are high quality and yes I love the functionality. But they make me feel special. Lugging a Crumpler bag around says something about you. You’re very likely to be in the creative branch and most likely to keep a Mac in there. And I like that.

But a couple of times Crumpler didn’t make me feel special at all, even worse. I walked into a Crumpler stores before with my bright red Crumpler bag. Employees not doing much were hanging around. Not a word. No hello, no nod, no nothing. Strange. I don’t think it was me. Usually the Crumpler employees start talking about your shared passion, those great products. And I usually end up buying something, not this time obviously.

How easily these stores could have made a couple of more bucks. At least acknowledge a customer. And carrying a Crumpler bag into a Crumpler store spells out ‘returning satisfied customer, hello!’.

Hey, it’s no biggie. I’m sure I’ll buy more Crumpler stuff (even though I think they’re quite heavy). I just think they missed the easiest, cheapest opportunity to increase sales; sell more to existing customers. Make them feel special.

How do you make your customers feel special?