The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty (21 page)

The trainers must have made an impression on DiPiero, because she vividly remembers details of their personal lives:

I learned that Stewart, who was in his forties, used to be a teacher. Jimmy was a little younger, under thirty. Jimmy had an interesting background. He used to teach classes for people who wanted to enter the ministry. Kirsten was a special-ed student in high school. She had a learning problem but overcame it with help from supportive parents. Now she teaches at Apple. Amazing story. And Eric was a motivator. I once said, “I feel stupid,” and
Eric shot back, “Don’t ever say that!” They are all so humble. They act like servants when they are really kings.
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Hiring plays a role in DiPiero’s experience. Did you note that many of DiPiero’s instructors were former teachers? Again, Apple does not hire for technical knowledge. It hires people for their attitude, personality, and ability to create memorable experiences. One former Apple Retail executive told me that early in the Apple Store history, Apple learned that former teachers made exceptional instructors as well as salespeople. Think about it this way—if parents ask a nineteen-year-old what is the best computer game for their child, he might lead those parents to the games he likes or the games that get the highest rating. A former third-grade teacher will ask, “Who is the game for? What are her interests?” A teacher is more likely to probe, ask the right questions, and ultimately give the customer a better recommendation. You’ll see former teachers at Apple. But Apple also hires people as diverse as their customer base—young and old, quirky and straitlaced, every personality is represented. Apple celebrates diversity. Also remember the culture is created by design, not by default. Creatives understand that everyone has an inner genius that is desperate to reveal itself. Their job is to help you discover it.

One tactic Creatives use to help you find your inner genius is to encourage you to touch the computer. They point to items on the computer (always with two fingers, which is less threatening) and ask the customer to actually do the task. They will not grab the computer from the customer and do something themselves unless they ask permission first with phrases such as “May I touch the computer?” Creatives are trained to let the customer control the experience because it builds the customers’ confidence and makes them more comfortable with the notion that they can accomplish a task they didn’t know how to do when they walked into the session. The experience is fun, enjoyable, and empowering—an effective combination to win customers for life.

For an Italian like myself, New York City’s Eataly is food heaven. Thousands of customers have discovered this haven to every Italian food imaginable. There are fourteen Eataly partnerships around the world, including seven in Japan. The location in New York City, partly owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali, is enormous. It has seven restaurants with capacity for 300 diners. If you’re looking for any kind of Italian food, Eataly has it: pastas, wines, olive oils, sauces, salamis, pastries, espressos, and cheese. It also offers cooking classes in its school, La Scuola.

On a trip to New York, I sat down with Eataly partner Nicola Farinetti and asked him to describe the vision behind his family’s food empire. If you didn’t know Farinetti was running an Italian food store, you’d think he was working for Apple. He talked about the importance of messaging and signage. He proudly described the importance of offering an uncluttered experience, despite hundreds of visitors a day. He talked openly about spending $250,000 a year on training employees in customer service skills. And Farinetti revealed why classes were so important. According to Farinetti, the more people know about the products, the more they enjoy their experience with the products and the brand. Sound familiar?

Instruction enhances the customer experience—for tech companies, food companies, or companies in nearly every category. The more Eataly’s customers know about Italian food and understand the difference between olive oil from northern Italy and olive oil from the south, the more they will appreciate the product. When customers learn they really can make their own risotto, they feel empowered, confident, and proud. It creates a positive feeling that enhances the overall experience.

At Eataly, like Apple, the signage is also carefully considered. The signs are simple black letters on a white background, much like Apple signs. There are signs at every product station designed to teach customers something they didn’t know. The signs describe everything from where the best Italian honeys are sourced (southern Italy) to where the art of Italian coffee roasting began (Piedmont). Farinetti’s family has learned that customers are looking for
more than food products; they are seeking an experience. The more they know, the more likely they are to enjoy the product.

I didn’t enjoy wine until I learned to appreciate it through an enhanced experience. A friend in the wine business arranged an exclusive lunch with California wine pioneer Robert Mondavi. Listening to Mondavi regale us with stories about the history of California wine making and the nuances between varietals created a memorable experience for me. It also didn’t hurt that we were tasting Mondavi’s best wines on a sunny terrace overlooking the vineyard. All my senses were stimulated, adding to the experience. I learned that I could appreciate the difference between a California Cabernet and a French Bordeaux. The more confident I grew in my ability to understand the product, the more I enjoyed the product, and the more product I consumed!

Apple customers are free to express themselves in an Apple Store, and they have found a way to do so and share their quirkiness with thousands of other people. Search YouTube for the phrase “Apple Store dance,” and you will find thousands of links of people who recorded themselves dancing in an Apple Store and then uploaded the video to the Internet. Apple has created an environment where people feel so welcome and comfortable that they’ll do corny dances while employees and customers look on. They are accepted for who they are.

Some of the dances are very funny. One guy, dressed like Jennifer Lopez, sings her pop hit “On the Floor” while customers look on in the background. Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” seems to be another popular hit to dance to as well as Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” Justine Ezarik has the most popular clips. She’s a young lady who has been dancing at the Apple Store for several years. One of her dance videos has more than 1.5 million views on YouTube! In the video she dances for about four minutes. It’s especially humorous because an Apple employee helping a customer in the background glances at her once and then returns to talking to the customer about the iMac.
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The funniest thing about these videos is really not the song and dance but the customers and employees in the background. In most cases the employees smile and walk right by to help other customers just as they did with Justine. Since Apple employees are hired for personality themselves, they understand the desire that people have to express themselves. Obviously if someone is terribly disruptive, the person will be asked to stop the behavior or to leave the store, but more often than not Apple customers get away with it. Apple’s goal is to be the leader in customer service worldwide, and if that means the stores act as vehicles through which customers express themselves and their individuality, so be it.

In the United Kingdom, Apple Store employees created a video to discuss what it means to them personally to work for the brand. Their responses are very instructive and reinforce some of the core concepts in this chapter and this book.

 

• “The most important thing we do is making sure each customer that comes in gets the best experience possible”—Mark, Expert
  
 

• “The Apple Retail Experience is about the desire to connect with people. It’s not to just sell a product but to invest in relationships.”—Eliza-Jane, Specialist
  
 

• “When you sign on you are getting to be a part of something larger. We are part of the pioneers who actually make a difference in people’s lives.”—John, Business Manager
  
 

• “I know I make a difference working at Apple. I get to make a difference in people’s lives. I get to enrich lives and to teach people. It’s a really good feeling.”—Logan, Specialist
  
 

• “Not only do I care about customers in and outside of the store. They also care about us. I don’t see that anywhere else.”—John, Specialist
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Yes, they do sound like Tom Booker. But that’s the point. Apple Store employees are profoundly moved by their role, and they are especially touched when they inspire and elevate the customers’ spirits.

Recall from Chapter 8 the trip to the local mall where my daughters and I visited the
LEGO
Store right next to the Apple Store. We were greeted upon entering by a friendly employee, “John,” who was greeting each and every visitor. When I asked John why he was doing it, he said, “That’s my job—to greet everyone with a warm welcome.”
Someone has been taking lessons from the Apple Store
, I thought to myself. The world’s children spend 5 billion hours a year playing with
LEGO
construction bricks. My daughters, who had never played with
LEGO
s before this visit, spent one of those hours having the time of their lives in the store. The large glass windows and interactive models inside the store (as well as the greeter) attracted us into the store, but it was the experience that kept my kids there.

The
LEGO
Store is designed to encourage play and to facilitate the spontaneous joy of creation. Upon entering—and being greeted by John—my kids rushed to what
LEGO
calls “the living room,” an interactive play area positioned in the center of the store designed for hands-on play. Their behavior was exactly what they had done a few minutes earlier when they walked into the Apple Store next door and began playing games on the iPads that were positioned in the center of the store.

While my daughters were proudly showing off their creations, I had a chance to speak with one of the employees, and I asked about the philosophy behind the interactive displays. “We’re all about providing an awesome experience in the store because, (1) we want you to come back, and (2) we want you tell your family and friends about us.” It didn’t surprise me that
LEGO
employees were, like Apple, seeking a positive answer to the ultimate question—how likely are you to recommend the product to others? When I told the employee that the
LEGO
Store felt like the Apple Store, he said, “It’s no coincidence that our locations are placed near or next to Apple Stores. We’re trying to provide a similar experience.”

Once the
LEGO
employee told me they were trying to provide an Apple-like experience, I began looking for other similarities. Sure enough, there was one: workshops. The Apple Store offers classes and workshops for groups of people who want to work on a project such as creating photo books, editing movies, and so on. Prior to leaving the
LEGO
Store, an employee told us about the free weekly building workshops held every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. The workshops are called building events and have themes tied to the month in which the workshop is being held (e.g., rose for Mother’s Day in May workshops, Santa for Christmas in December workshops). The kids learn to build the piece, and they get to take it home. Since we first visited the
LEGO
Store in November, my daughters wanted to return the following week to build a turkey model and they wanted Dad to take them. The
LEGO
experience had won them over.

If you really want to get your kids started early in the art of customer service, get them a
LEGO
Apple Store kit. Actually, the store model is good for kids and adults. Think about it.
LEGO
building is considered a great tool to jump-start creativity. The next time you hold a creative brainstorm on improving customer service, you might want to have the Apple Store kit available for the session!

Apple’s customer service philosophy extends to its phone support, AppleCare. One recruitment ad for an AppleCare position describes the jobs as follows: “Apple is passionate about creating the world’s most innovative products. We are just as passionate about assisting the people who use them. So as an At-Home Advisor for the AppleCare Program, when customers call in with questions, you won’t just provide answers, you’ll provide an experience. You’ll focus on the small details and be able to impress, engage, and inspire. You’ll help to delight each and every one of our customers, realizing that troubleshooting can be rewarding and fun.”
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Apple is probably the only company that describes troubleshooting as fun. The same job site had hundreds of other positions for a variety of technical repair positions. Most of the jobs required skills such as the ability to diagnose, troubleshoot, and repair defects.
Apple was the only company soliciting technical repair positions where passion was a prerequisite for the job. Apple is always thinking about the customer experience—in the store or on the phone.