Page 150 - The Apple Experience

better. It is to enrich a customer’s life and have her walk out with a smile. For

some folks, a smile means in and out in five minutes. For others, a smile takes
an hour.

I talked to Apple customer service for almost two hours. At least one and a half of
that we discussed college football and not Apple products. —Ryan M.

Play Offense, Not Defense

My daughters love to bring their prized possessions in the car whenever we

travel. The problem: they often drop things in the cracks of their seats and

then scream at the driver (usually me or my wife) because they can’t reach the

Polly Pocket shoe, the skirt to their Zhu Zhu Pet, or whatever else they

decided to lug in the car that day. It’s not our fault when they lose their

trinkets, but we get the anger, blame, and frustration.

These childish behaviors (defensiveness, blame, dismissive expressions or
gestures, and little effort to remedy the mishap) are expected in a four-year-

old, but unfortunately, they have become all too common in the way

employees often deal with customers who have legitimate questions about the

service. Have you ever heard one of these comments in response to a

customer service question?

 “That’s our policy, and I can’t do anything about it.”

 “I don’t work in that department and can’t help you with that.”

 “I just got back from break and know nothing about this.”

 “He’s new and doesn’t know what he’s doing yet.”

 “You can’t use that coupon because it expired yesterday.”

 “No one has ever had an issue with this before.”