The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty (15 page)

When we arrived at the mall, I had three stores on my list to visit: Apple, AT&T, and LEGO. Each of these three retailers trains employees and sales staff to approach customers with a warm welcome. I wanted to see how well the employees of these brands follow their company’s guidance on the busiest shopping day of the year. If employees greeted me upon entering the store in the middle of Black Friday madness, then I would know they had completely internalized the company’s core customer service philosophy. Although the concept of greeting is intended for the customer service experience for these brands, it is widely known that greeting serves a double function, the second being shrinkage control, or the monitoring of theft. Retailers have noticed that greeting customers with a verbal welcome and making eye contact makes good business sense and deters people from leaving with goods that don’t belong to them!

I first stopped at an AT&T retail store. We will discuss AT&T in more detail later in the chapter, but step one of its service philosophies is to make sure every customer is greeted within ten feet or ten seconds of entering the store. Well, it didn’t take more than two seconds before “Brittany” welcomed me with a smile and a friendly, “Hello, welcome to AT&T.” Although sixty to seventy people were in the store at the time, making it considerably busier than normal, I felt welcomed upon entering.

My second stop was the
LEGO
Store located directly next to the Apple Store that, not coincidentally, offers the same style of experience. Before I could even start my stopwatch to see how many minutes would go by, “John” greeted me, my daughters, and the friends who had accompanied us. “Welcome to
LEGO
. Let me know if you have any questions,” he said. John then turned to a thirteen-year-old girl in our group who was wearing a holiday-themed snow hat and said, “I like your hat.” A few minutes later the girl walked up to me and said, “Did you hear what he said? He likes my hat!” Amazing. That’s all it took for this girl to feel special—a smile and a friendly “personalized” greeting.

The
LEGO
Store was packed. With about one hundred people in the store, there was hardly any place to stand, yet John was able to greet each and every person who walked through the door. When John had a break in between customers, I asked him why he said hello to everyone. “It’s my job. I’m supposed to give everyone a warm welcome. It’s part of our customer service experience,” he said. I was stunned that John actually used the words “warm welcome.” It seems as though this particular
LEGO
Store had learned something from the customer service champion next door.

Finally, we reached the moment I had been dreading: the Apple Store. I was dreading the event because Apple is busy on a slow day. Sure enough, it was slammed on Black Friday. I didn’t even bother to count the customers, because I could not see past the first few feet. I saw only a wall of people. Yet each and every customer was being greeted with a warm welcome and a friendly smile. How could Apple welcome everyone? Instead of one greeter,
ten
people had been positioned at the front of the store. Instead of blue shirts, they were wearing red shirts to kick off the holiday shopping season and to stand out in the sea of customers. The warm welcome played such an important role in the Apple customer experience that it was never compromised, not even on the busiest shopping day of the year.

My experiment didn’t end there. I had one more stop to test the theory that a warm welcome makes people feel special. Before we left the mall, I took my young daughters to a children’s furniture store that does not have a stellar reputation for its customer interactions. The chain carries nicely built products, but it lacks the
engaging exchange between customer and staff. We all walked in, I started my stopwatch, and we waited, and waited, and waited. Not one person approached us, even though several employees passed directly in front of us. I let my kids loose, and they seemed to have a good time pretend-playing with the faux kitchens and miniature houses that were set up. Yet no one took the opportunity to welcome us, provide information on the products, or make a sale. There were only fifteen customers in the entire store and five employees on the floor. I passed all five employees, and not one said as much as hello. Finally, after nine minutes “Lindsey” asked, “Are you finding everything OK?” I believe Lindsey addressed me only because I made eye contact with her. In other words, I gave her nonverbal permission to greet me. To top it off, the employees did not seem happy to be there either. It’s no wonder there were only fifteen people in the store on such a busy day. Customers simply didn’t feel welcome.

Approach with a warm welcome makes sense in nearly every conversation, off-line and online. For example, how quickly do you respond to customers who contact your company or comment on your product on Twitter or Facebook? For example, Pottery Barn, a division of Williams-Sonoma, requires its employees to answer the phone within three rings. A similar philosophy should be applied to your brand’s digital touchpoints. One survey found that 70 percent of companies ignore customer complaints on Twitter.
²
This is a missed opportunity to deepen the brand’s relationship with customers. In the same survey, 83 percent of the people who complained on Twitter said they “really liked” or “loved” getting a reply when the company did respond. When it comes to customer service, your customers want to be heard and they see social media as a direct and immediate way to engage with your brand. Most brands, however, ignore this channel and leave customers feeling even more frustrated.

How long should it take for a company to respond to a complaint or comment on Twitter? What is the digital equivalent to “ten steps or ten seconds?” Virgin America airlines is one brand that takes every opportunity on digital platforms to make customers feel welcome and special. It might not respond to Twitter comments in ten seconds, but it gets darn close.

Virgin America monitors Twitter posts and will often welcome travelers or address complaints within an hour. When I arrive at a Virgin America terminal, I’ll check in on foursquare and share the post on Twitter. I’ve been surprised to receive a personalized welcome before I board the plane an hour or so later.

On December 6, 2011, Virgin America experienced a small customer service crisis as it upgraded to a new online reservation system. It had switched technology vendors, and the process was not going smoothly. Customers were furious. I found it interesting, though, that Virgin America was active on Twitter, apologizing and responding to complaints. The airline responded to complaints within an hour of the customer posting the Tweet. In total, the airline sent 12,000 Twitter replies in the days that followed the snafu. Here are some sample exchanges between Virgin America and its customers on Twitter (responses within the same hour as the original Tweet):

(Comment) @I_Heart_Romeo:
Your competitors have functional reservation systems. Your system is infuriating.

(Response) @VirginAmerica:
Apologies. Please know that this experience isn’t typical. We’re getting adjusted to a new res system. Thx 4 ur patience.

(Comment) @shyonelung:
28 minutes on hold with @virginamerica. What’s over/under on someone answering within 40? Or whether I’ll hang up before they do?

(Response) @VirginAmerica:
Very sorry. We’re sorting out a few bugs. Anything we can assist with? Pls follow & DM (direct message).

Virgin America also explained to some Twitter complainers that upgrading to a new reservation system is one of the most complicated things an airline can do and promised that it would be worked out in a matter of days. I was frankly shocked to see such a high level of customer service from any airline in the United States. But I was about to get an even bigger surprise. I decided to tweet a compliment to Virgin America and to request an interview for one of my articles (keep in mind that most PR folks on Twitter broadcast messages yet
seldom respond to requests). Virgin America was different. Within 8 minutes—
8 minutes
—I received a direct message on Twitter from “Jill” in corporate communications with her e-mail address. We set up an interview for the next week. Virgin was modeling its commitment to being approachable and responsive.

Most commissioned salespeople are interested only in getting you to buy something before you leave the store. It gets seriously annoying. I remember buying a nice shirt from a men’s store, and when the salesman showed me a $100 tie, I asked him for something less expensive. He replied, “Oh c’mon, you can afford it. I have to feed my kids.” Working on commission will make an employee do and say things that turn off instead of entice a customer. Would Apple prefer that you buy something every time you enter the store? Of course, it would. But Apple runs a noncommissioned sales floor, and employees are not pressured to make a sale. In fact, I’ve been told several times by Apple employees that they are not on commission. One Specialist said, “I’m not on commission. I’m here to help you grow.” Since employees are encouraged to make you feel special, it means they must ask a lot of questions to find out what your needs are, enriching the overall experience.

Apple Retail employees “probe” in three ways: by asking open-ended questions, encouraging customers to have a meaningful dialogue, and contributing to the conversation. Here is how the first two steps of service might play out for a customer interested in, but not committed to, buying an iPad.

Employee:
Hi, my name is Dave. Welcome to Apple. What brings you in today? (If a customer is clearly a business professional, a seasoned employee might open with a more formal greeting such as, “How can I best serve you today?”)

Mom
(Accompanied by daughter)
:
We’re looking at iPads.

Employee:
Awesome. Do you have any Apple products?

Mom:
No, but my daughter has an iPod Touch.

Employee:
That’s a great start. A lot of the commands, navigation, look, and feel are the same as the iPad.

Employee
(Turning to daughter)
:
Jane, do you have any questions before we get started? (The Specialist would have asked for names early in the conversation and would never ignore what Disney calls the “secondary customer,” the person who can influence how the primary customer, in this case the mom, reflects on her experience.)

Jane:
No.

Employee:
OK, just let me know if you have any questions.

Employee
(Turns to the mom and asks an open-ended question)
:
Betty, I’d like to take you on a tour of the iPad, but before I do, may I ask what you’ll be using the iPad for? (Apple employees ask for permission before elevating the relationship.)

Mom:
E-mail and photos, I guess.

Employee:
Great. Photos are stunning on these new iPads. Would you mind if I took you on a quick tour of Photos?

In this conversation we see examples of a warm greeting, a combination of open and closed questions, as well as seeking permission to proceed with the next step in the sales process. Asking for permission seems to be a consistent theme in the Apple Store in all areas—sales, repair, and training. A customer might hear questions such as, “May I touch your computer?” “Would you like to see this feature?” or “Would you like to hear more about our classes?” Asking permission before probing gives the customer a sense of warmth, comfort, and trust. Probing lets the customer participate in the conversation and have a stake in her final decision. It creates a feeling of control. It validates the customer as a human being and not as a means to make a salesperson’s numbers that day. It makes the customer feel like she’s been heard and valued.

The culmination of this step can vary depending on the type of sale or interaction. For example, if a customer purchases a new product like an iMac, the employee will likely recommend a complete solution that includes the AppleCare Protection Plan and One to One training classes. In many sales environments the “extended warranty” is pushed on the consumer by eager salespeople who get a bonus or commission for selling those add-ons. What they don’t tell you is that the rate of repair on digital cameras, flat screen televisions, or even vacuum cleaners for that matter is so low that extended warranties are hardly worth it. Another trick commissioned salespeople use, especially in the electronics industry, is to recommend expensive cables that are supposed to improve the quality of the sound or picture on the stereo or television. The salespeople can be very convincing. Who doesn’t want a 24k gold-plated connector or a low-loss nitrogen dielectric? The cable sounds so impressive it must be good. But many experts say a $100 cable offers a nearly imperceptible improvement in quality over a $4 cable. Selling customers more expensive cables or a warranty they don’t need does not qualify as a “complete solution.” It counts as a salesperson enriching his pocket or satisfying company quotas, and not your life.