Carmine
Gallo, has written a book called The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great
Customer Loyalty. The Apple Store is the most profitable retailer in
America, generating an average of $5,600 per square foot and attracting more
than 20,000 visitors a week.
In the decade since Steve
Jobs and former head of retail, Ron Johnson, decided to reimagine the retail
experience, the Apple Store not only reimagined and reinvented retail, it blew
up the model entirely and started from scratch. In his research for The
Apple Experience, Carmine discovered ten things that the Apple Store can
teach any business in any industry to be more successful:
1.
Stop
selling stuff. When Steve Jobs
first started the Apple Store he did not ask the question, “How will we grow
our market share from 5 to 10 percent?” Instead he asked, “How do we enrich
people’s lives?” Think about your vision. If you were to examine the business
model for most brands and retailers and develop a vision around it, the vision
would be to “sell more stuff.” A vision based on selling stuff isn’t very
inspiring and leads to a very different experience than the Apple Retail Store
created.
2. Enrich lives. The vision behind the Apple Store is “enrich lives,”
the first two words on a wallet-sized credo card employees are encouraged to
carry. When you enrich lives magical things start to happen. For example,
enriching lives convinced Apple to have a non-commissioned sales floor where
employees feel comfortable spending as much time with a customer as the
customer desires. Enriching lives led Apple to build play areas (the “family
room”) where kids could see, touch and play on computers. Enriching lives led
to the creation of a “Genius Bar” where trained experts are focused on
“rebuilding relationships” as much as fixing problems.
3. Hire for smiles. The soul of the Apple Store is in its people.
They are hired, trained, motivated and taught to create magical and memorable
moments for their customers. The Apple Store values a magnetic personality as
much, if not more so, than technical proficiency. The Apple Store cares less
about what you know than it cares about how much you love people.
4. Celebrate diversity. Mohawks, tattoos, piercings are all acceptable among
Apple Store employees. Apple hires people who reflect the diversity of their
customers. Since they are more interested in how passionate you are, your
hairstyle doesn’t matter. Early in the Apple Store history, they also learned
that former teachers make the best salespeople because they ask a lot of
questions. It’s not uncommon to find former teachers, engineers, and artists at
an Apple Store. Apple doesn’t look for someone who fits a mold.
5. Unleash inner genius. Teach your customers something they never knew
they could do before, and they’ll reward you with their loyalty. For example,
the Apple Store offers a unique program to help people understand and enjoy
their computers: One to One. The $99 one-year membership program is available
with the purchase of a Mac. Apple Store instructors called “creatives” offer
personalised instruction inside the Apple Store. Customers can learn just about
anything: basics about the Mac operating system; how to design a website;
enjoying, sharing, and editing photos or movies; creating a presentation; and
much more. The One to One program was created to help build customers for life.
It was designed on the premise that the more you understand a product, the more
you enjoy it, and the more likely you are to build a long-term relationship
with the company. Instructors are trained to provide guidance and instruction,
but also to inspire customers, giving them the tools to make them more creative
than they ever imagined.
6. Empower employees. I spent one hour talking to an Apple Store specialist
about kids, golf, and my business. We spent about ten minutes talking about the
product (a MacBook Air). I asked the employee whether he would be reprimanded
for spending so much time with one customer. “Not at all,” he replied. “If you
have a great experience, that’s all that matters.” Apple has a non-commissioned
sales floor for a reason — employees are not pressured to “make a sale.”
Instead they are empowered to do what they believe is the right thing to do.
7. Sell the benefit. Apple Store specialists are taught to sell the
benefit behind products and to customise those benefits for the customer. For
example, I walked to the iPad table with my two children and told the
specialist I was considering my first iPad. In a brilliant move, the specialist
focused on my two children, the ‘secondary’ customer who can influence a
purchase. He let the kids play on separate devices. My kids were thrilled and,
in one memorable moment, my son turned to me and said, “I love this store!”
It’s easy to see why. Instead of touting “speeds and feeds,” the specialist
taught us how the device could improve our lives.
8. Follow the steps of service. The Apple Store teaches its employees to follow
five steps in each and every interaction. These are called the Apple five steps
of service. They are outlined by the acronym A-P-P-L-E. They are: Approach with
a customized, warm greeting. Probe politely to understand the customer’s needs.
Present a solution the customer can take home today. Listen for and address
unresolved questions. End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.
9. Create multisensory experiences. The brain loves multi-sensory experiences. In
other words, people enjoy being able to see, touch, and play with products.
Walk into an Apple Store upon opening and you’ll see all the notebook computer
screens perfectly positioned slightly beyond 90-degree angles. The position of
the computer lets you see the screen (which is on and loaded with content) but
forces you to touch the computer in order to adjust it. Every device in the
store is working and connected to the Internet. Spend as much time as you’d
like playing with the products — nobody will kick you out. Creatives who give
One-to-One workshops do not touch the computer without asking for permission.
They want you to do it. The sense of touch helps create an emotional connection
with a product.
10.
Appeal
to the buying brain.
Clutter forces the brain to consume energy. Create uncluttered environments
instead. The Apple Store is spacious, clean, well-lit, and uncluttered. Cables
are hidden from view and no posters on placed on the iconic glass entrances.
Computer screens are cleaned constantly. Keep the environment clean, open, and
uncluttered.
The three pillars of
enchantment are likeability, trustworthiness, and quality. Apple’s engineers
take care of quality, and the Apple Store experience personifies likeability
and trustworthiness. I’ve never left an Apple store without being enchanted —
in fact, I seldom leave the Apple Store without being enchanted and buying
something too!
Resisting Carmine’s book,
like resisting an Apple Store, is futile, so just get it here: The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great
Customer Loyalty
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