The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty Read Online Free PDF

Smart
     
    Candidates who have gone through Apple’s rigorous interview process recommend that it’s important to have a smile on your face and be friendly
all the time
. Be nice to everyone: employees, fellow job candidates, as well as the hiring managers. Everything is graded.
    You are probably not surprised to know that restaurants, hotels, and other companies in the hospitality industry hire for attitude, but you might be surprised to learn just how much personality matters. A Cornell University study found that hospitality managers would rather hire employees with an “agreeable nature” than ones who rank higher on the “intelligent” scale. 4 When it comes to customer service, it’s better to be nice than smart.
    The best way to build a special workplace is to hire for attitude and train for skills, according to the
Harvard Business Review
. The research cited two companies that have built a unique and highly effective corporate culture by focusing on the type of people they hire. Arkadi Kuhlmann, founder and CEO of ING Direct, is quoted in the article. He is credited for inventing a completely new approach to banking by making it a point
not
to hire people in the banking industry. Kuhlmann noted that to truly
reenergize
an industry or a company, look outside the industry for employees. “I’d rather hire a jazz musician, a dancer, or a captain of the Israeli army. They can learn about banking. It’s much more difficult for bankers to unlearn their bad habits.” 5 Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
    The Harvard research also points out that Southwest Airlines has prospered for forty years by embracing the hire-for-attitude philosophy. Sherry Phelps, a top executive in the Southwest Airlines People Department says, “The first thing we look for is the warrior spirit,” 6 She says, “So much of our history was born out of battles—fighting for the right to be an airline, fighting off the big guys who wanted to squash us, now fighting off the low-cost airlines trying toemulate us. We are battle-born, battle-tried people. Anyone we add has to have some of that warrior spirit.” Sound familiar?
    I understand what Sherry means about hiring people who fit the Southwest spirit. I fly Southwest frequently, especially on West Coast trips. On a flight from Oakland to Phoenix, one flight attendant had me and three other Gallo Communications employees roaring hysterically as he reviewed the safety instructions. Another Southwest flight attendant has become a YouTube sensation because he literally raps the lyrics to the safety instruction (some criticize this behavior, but I actually think some levity actually forces you to pay attention to the instructions instead of a dull, plodding, uninterested delivery). Southwest has built a reputation for reliable service at a good price, but it’s their people who make flying a more enjoyable experience. Southwest cannot train for personality; it hires for personality.
    Most corporate hiring managers and human resources (HR) professionals focus on knowledge: how much does the candidate know about the industry or product line? Apple is perfectly fine hiring a candidate who has 10 percent knowledge and 90 percent passion. I’ve met some employees who had never even owned a Mac product prior to applying.
Apple doesn’t want to know how much you know as much as it wants to know how much you care about people.
Apple understands that a person with a lot of technical knowledge can hit the sales floor and lose customers if he or she has a lack of passion, a surly attitude, or an inability to communicate the benefits of a product clearly. Apple wants its customers to leave saying, “I just had an amazing experience. I can’t wait to go home and get started!”
    Shortly after leaving the journalism profession as a television anchor (and before I started my company), I worked for several years as the vice president of a global public relations agency specializing in messaging, media