Page 143 - The Apple Experience

back with the customer (wherever the customer has wandered in the store)
after approximately three to five minutes (the time expectation initially

offered) to give that customer a status report or the help the customer came

for.

So here is what happened in this scenario. The customer walked into a

busy store and assumed he would wait an eternity, which, with few

exceptions, would be the case at any other store. The experience at the Apple

Store was different, however, because the customer felt appreciated as soon as
he stepped inside. His internal clock had been reset, and the pace of his life

slowed down. This is a critical psychological concept. A simple

acknowledgment gives the customer the feeling that he is in the game. The

customer knows he has been seen and is part of the “lineup.” If the customer

is not greeted and has to wait three minutes, the scene turns ugly very

quickly. The customer becomes agitated. Pent-up frustrations from the day

rise to the surface, and everybody loses. But just from having been greeted
and acknowledged, the customer is willing to wait patiently for quite a while.

When Melinda, the Apple employee, told the customer that it would

take three to five minutes before she could help him, she set the customer’s

clock to zero and his “timer” started again. The customer then started playing

with the iPad, which was powered on, working, and loaded with

applications. (Broken devices are fixed or replaced immediately in Apple

Stores. How often do you find this attentiveness in other device stores? Not

often.) Perhaps the customer discovered something on his own that he didn’t

know before about the iPad. His internal clock got reset again. When other
Specialists or employees walked by the customer, some smiled and said hello.

The customer doesn’t realize it, but his internal clock got reset yet again.

Finally, the manager walked over after several minutes to reset the clock one

more time.