The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty (23 page)

The iPad is perfectly suited for creating wow moments, and trained Apple employees take every opportunity to create those moments. As of this writing, there are well over 140,000 apps made for the iPad. Think of something to do—for business, pleasure, or education—and there really is an app for that. Leaving a customer in awe requires probing, listening, and observing. Here are some scenarios that have played out in Apple stores.

Salesperson:
Are you considering the iPad for business or pleasure?

Customer:
Well, business, primarily. Although our headquarters are here in town, I’m on the road a lot meeting with clients. I also maintain our company’s blog and respond to customer e-mails. We’re a small company, so everyone needs to be a jack-of-all-trades.

Salesperson
(probed, listened, and heard key words,
travel
and
blog
, before responding)
:
I understand. Many business professionals are finding that the iPad is a powerful tool. From manufacturing to retail to services, the iPad is transforming the way companies do business. You’re a blogger, so you probably know that there are thousands of apps available for the iPad, many of which are created specifically for the platform, including a version of WordPress that allows you to create, save, publish, and schedule your posts wherever you are on the road. You can even upload images directly from your iPad. Would that be helpful?

Customer:
Yes, it would be. I was out of the office four days this week, but the blog needs to be updated and right now I’m the guy who does it!

Salesperson:
Congratulations on maintaining the blog. Many companies start a blog but eventually abandon it.

Customer:
Oh, we have a great blog. Would you like to see it?

Salesperson:
I would love to. Please show me on the iPad. (Customer shows the blog.) That is gorgeous. Nicely done. Tell me, when you were out of the office this week, did you have to access files back at the home office?

Customer:
Yes, but I carry around a portable hard drive.

Salesperson:
Let me show you something really cool. With the iPad I can access a remote computer with a free app called GoToMyPC. Let me show you how I have access to my home computer. (Salesperson demonstrates app.) When you get home, download the free app on your iPad, and the next time you travel, just keep your work computer on when you leave the home office and you’ll have access to all your files. No need to carry around a hard drive. Everything you need for business is all right here.

For this particular businessman, remote access to his PC became the wow moment that ultimately convinced him that the iPad was a necessary device for business productivity. Note that the salesperson did not show the customer how to play Angry Birds on the iPad. Games were not contextual to the conversation, so there was no need to bring it up. Games would not have left the customer in awe. The salesperson also took the opportunity to get the customer to touch the device when he asked to see the company blog, and instead of simply describing the remote access app, the salesperson
showed
the customer how it works in the real world. Finally the salesperson began using language that assumed the customer would own an iPad (e.g., “when you get home”). This wow moment cannot happen, however, if the salesperson does not probe, listen, engage, and come prepared with examples.

Customer:
My daughter thinks I need an iPod Touch. I’m not so sure. I don’t listen to music or play games, so although she thinks it’s cool, I’m not convinced.

Salesperson
(turns to daughter)
:
Is there a reason why you’re recommending an iPod Touch for your mom? Have you considered an iPhone?

Daughter:
She wouldn’t use an iPhone. My mom is eighty-three years old and uses her home phone to call us.

Salesperson:
Oh, do you live far away?

Daughter:
Not that far, but far enough so we don’t see her every day.

Salesperson:
We?

Daughter:
Yes, my husband and kids as well as my brother who lives in another state.

Salesperson
(turning to customer)
:
If you’re like my mom, you can never see your kids enough. I can visit my mom every few days, and she still doesn’t think I’m spending enough time with her.

Customer:
If I saw my kids once a week I’d be happy! (Daughter rolls her eyes and smiles at salesperson.)

Salesperson:
Doris (salesperson would have learned customer’s name early in the conversation), I’m going to show you something. Brittany (daughter), while I’m with your mom, would you go over to that phone right over there and if it rings, please answer it. Now, Doris, pick up the iPod Touch and tap the icon that says FaceTime.

At this point the salesperson has Doris FaceTime the other device. Brittany answers, and mother and daughter can see and hear each other. Doris is thrilled. As they chat away the salesperson explains FaceTime and how it works over Wi-Fi without the need for a phone plan. It was the only wow moment the customer needed. Doris walked out that day with an 8 GB $200 iPod Touch. But again, this wow moment could not have played out had the salesperson not followed the five steps of service.

My daughters, Josephine and Lela, were ages six and four when I brought them to an Apple Store for the first time. It was such a magical experience for all of us I’ll never forget it. I even took photos of the girls playing on iPads and texted the pictures to friends. The girls enjoyed wow moments and so did their dad.

I did not intend to shop at the Apple Store on that night. It was a chilly, rainy Saturday, so the mall was especially packed. My wife and I had just taken the girls to play on the mechanical rides conveniently located next to Mrs. Fields (it didn’t take a genius to figure out where to place the rides). We had finished dinner and visited another store beforehand, so I was already growing tired and was ready to leave. We walked by the Apple Store, and sure enough it was packed. I peeked in and saw a tidal wave of people coming and going.
There’s no way I’m going to bring two tired kids into that place tonight
, I thought. But because Apple employees are taught to greet people at the door with a warm welcome, a friendly Apple person saw us and said, “Welcome to Apple. How can we help you today?”

“Just looking. I want to see the iPad 2, but we’ll come back when it’s less crazy,” I said.

“It’s no problem. I’ll have Adam assist you right away.”

I didn’t even have time to say “No, thank you,” before Adam, a Specialist, greeted us with a big smile, ready to create a wow moment. He led us to the iPad table and within seconds—not minutes, but
seconds
—my daughters, who had never touched an iPad before, were swiping their fingers across the device and playing with it. It reminded me of a concept I wrote about in
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs
—Steve Jobs believed in eliminating clutter to make products simple and easy to use. If you can build a product so simple that a child can figure it out within seconds, you’ll have a winner.

Adam was trained to create wow moments. He never touched the device. Of course, he didn’t have to, since my daughters couldn’t wait to start playing. What I noticed, though, was that Adam did not show me business applications or even features that might appeal to me personally. He went straight to the real decision makers in our group—my girls who are the secondary customers. “Look at that, your girls already know how to use it,” Adam said. “If they like to color, they’ll love ‘Fairy Tale Castle Coloring Book.’ ” With that, Adam showed us the free app that was conveniently installed on the iPads my daughters were using. They loved it. They colored, laughed, and even showed Daddy how to use it. But Adam wasn’t done. In true Steve Jobs fashion he had “one more thing.”

“If you take road trips, you’ll love this. You can play movies to keep the kids occupied in the backseat,” Adam said. And with that, Adam opened the video app and showed us a full-screen, high-definition version of my daughter Lela’s favorite Disney movie,
Tangled
. “Rapunzel!” Lela screamed in delight. Adam pointed out that an accessory was available to attach the device to the rear of the front seats. I had never thought of it. In fact we had just purchased a new car, and I was considering the idea of having a DVD player installed. But in that moment I realized that the iPad was a far better alternative.

Less than ten minutes after I had decided
not
to enter the store, I was actually thinking about buying an iPad on the spot.
I know about the wow moment. I’m supposed to be immune to this!
I thought. Never underestimate the power of emotion. We left the store without buying an iPad that night, but the conversation between me and my wife on the way home left no doubt as to what would happen next. As soon as we got into the car, my wife said, “Should we buy the 16 GB or the 32 GB model?” Wow.

I introduced the concept of wow moments to a group of franchise owners for FRSTeam, a fabric restoration company. Insurance companies recommend FRSTeam or similar vendors when items in a client’s home have been damaged by flood, fire, and other catastrophic events. In many cases homeowners who have experienced a fire believe their clothes and other items are too badly damaged to be repaired. But FRSTeam uses very advanced cleaning technology to restore severely damaged items like clothes, drapes, furniture, and so on.

On its face you wouldn’t expect the “experience” to play a huge role in the success of such a franchise. After all, don’t they just pick up clothes and clean them? I learned differently after my first discussion with FRSTeam president Jim Nicholas.

“Don’t you just pick up the damaged goods, restore them, and return them?” I asked.

“This is a very competitive industry, so we must define ourselves by the experience we provide. Yes, it’s true, anyone can show up to pick up damaged items. But insurance policyholders often judge the quality of their insurance carrier by the vendors the insurance company sends out. If a client has a satisfying experience, it will get back to the insurance company and the company will continue to hire us instead of our competitors. Positive word also spreads quickly throughout the industry.”
⁵

After I talked about wow moments at FRSTeam’s national franchise conference, major franchisees decided to put the technique into action and develop what they call “goose-bump moments” for their customers. Here’s how they did it. It starts with the most customer-facing employee, the driver who picks up the damaged articles. The driver will start with the standard questions: which items have been damaged, what is your living situation, when do you need the items returned, how do we contact you, and so on. The second set of questions sets up the goose-bump moment. Once the driver has built trust, he or she will ask a personal question: is there any one item you’re the most concerned about? Nicholas and his franchisees have found that among the hundreds of articles of clothing or material that have been damaged, it’s typically one or two pieces that carry the most emotional impact for the customer. It could be Grandma’s quilt or a child’s first soccer uniform. One piece is often more important than anything else. Once the driver knows this, the goose-bump moment is teed up. The team will work extra hard to repair that one piece and return it quickly. The stories that resulted from these goose-bump moments can really give you, well, goose bumps. Here are just a few:

 

• An army officer had been deployed to Iraq, and before he left, his friends threw him a party. They all signed a shirt for him, a shirt that was damaged in a house fire. A FRSTeam driver learned about the special memories it held for the family and made sure the shirt was restored to like-new condition. But there was one more thing. … FRSTeam put the shirt in a nice memorabilia display before returning it to the family.
  
 

• Mr. Graham’s sixteen-year-old son thought he had lost his favorite item in a house fire—a St. Louis Cardinals jersey signed by a dozen players. Instead of putting the item through machines, FRSTeam employees worked through the night, hand-cleaning the jersey. The next morning the driver pulled up to where the family was staying and handed the completely restored jersey to the wide-eyed boy.
  
 

• Mrs. Merz was distraught because a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal had been so badly damaged in a fire; it looked as though she would have to discard it. She wanted her own baby to have it. The driver made a note of the emotional attachment she had to the teddy bear. Employees cleaned it first so Mrs. Merz’s baby could sleep with it the same night. Mrs. Merz cried when it was returned and even sent the franchisee a photo of the child holding the teddy bear.