A while back LocaliQ asked my colleague Neal Polachek to develop a talk for small businesses that would fit into its Growth Lab initiative. Something to help small businesses stay ahead of the curve.

Neal landed on an idea. What if small businesses adapted how they run their businesses to emulate the customer experiences that have become table stakes in our app-driven culture and economy?

“Our society is being habitually trained by the apps we are using on these powerful computers we have in our pockets,” Neal said.

So what does it mean to think like an app?

One example. Ditch voice mail. Who doesn’t hate voicemail? Replace it with a better modern experience like a chatbot or even an old school solution like an answering service. The app experience you are emulating is that apps are always open. An app never tells you it only operates between 8 am and 5 pm Eastern time.

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