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

training, and presentation coaching. Early in my tenure at this particular PR firm, I was taken aback by a question my boss asked me in the elevator: Are you overservicing the client? Overservice? I had never heard of the word. It didn’t exist in my vocabulary. I always thought PR firms were in the business of developing relationships. Clearly not. My boss had heard that for one new client—a large agribusiness company—I put in a few hours over andabove what it called for in the contract. I had made the decision that our work with the client was not quite done, and I wanted to make sure they were completely satisfied with the experience.
    Fast-forward four years later when I left the firm to start my own communications practice (not in the PR industry). This particular client left the PR firm because I was no longer there and has been giving my practice a substantial amount of business ever since. While reviewing our company’s revenue one year, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the client—and the clients who came to us based on its recommendations—accounted for 20 percent of our revenue. Two hours of “overservice” had paid off. You see, the PR firm failed to realize that long-term relationships are based on hiring passionate employees who care about the client and who are given the freedom to satisfy the customer.
    An Apple manager will rarely walk over to an employee on the sales floor and tell that person to end a conversation with a customer (unless there’s a situation that requires the employee’s attention, in which case the manager will make sure the customer’s needs are still met). If an Apple employee spends twenty minutes talking football with a customer and five minutes talking about the product, it’s perfectly OK, even if the customer doesn’t leave the store having bought a product that day. Apple hires friendly employees who genuinely like people and who are passionate about building relationships. It’s a philosophy that works for any company in any field.
    Everyone is super nice at the Apple store at The Pier in Atlantic City. Take notes NJ!
    —Julia G.

Disney’s People Management Philosophy
     
    Steve Jobs was Disney’s largest shareholder (today his wife Laurene Powell-Jobs manages the family’s trust of 138 million Disney shares). Jobs admired the way Walt Disney built a legacy that would outlast him, and he studied how the Walt Disney company maintained a high and consistent guest experience. In turn Disney also benchmarked its customer experience against Apple. The Disney Store was reinvented with input from Steve Jobs himself. Thetwo brands made each other better, and by studying what they’ve learned, your brand can become better as well.
    At 60,000 employees the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, is the largest single-site employer in the United States. Those employees embrace the Disney culture and spread the Disney magic to the thirty million guests who visit Disney theme parks every year. I’ve always been fascinated with how Disney can provide a consistent guest experience in almost every customer interaction, despite thousands of guests walking through its gates each and every day. I enjoy bringing my daughters to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. As a communications specialist I experience Disney a little differently than the typical tourist. While most people are looking up at the rides, I’m looking down at the spotless grounds. Litter is almost nonexistent on Disney’s Main Street or any other street in the park. The employees are friendly and outgoing, and they all have a sense of ownership over the experience each guest receives at the park. That’s why they pick up litter when they see it. There’s a restaurant near my office where the parking lot is always filled with cigarette butts left by employees on their breaks. Needless to say, I’ve never eaten there, because if the employees don’t even care about the grounds, they