Page 17 - The Apple Experience

The Apple Experience Made Simple

The Apple Experience is divided into three parts. Part I, “Inspiring Your

Internal Customer,” focuses on employees, training, and internal

communications. Part II, “Serving Your External Customer,” reveals specific
techniques to wow your customers in every conversation. Part III, “Setting

the Stage,” discusses the environment in which you present yourself, your

brand, and your product. Although each of the parts is equally important to

providing an Apple experience, most observers stick to what they can see—

Apple products and the design of the stores. The Apple experience is so

much more. “If Apple products were the key to the Stores’ success, how do

you explain the fact that people flock to the stores to buy Apple products at
full price when Walmart, Best-Buy, and Target carry most of them, often

discounted in various ways, and Amazon carries them all—and doesn’t

charge sales tax!” according to Apple’s former head of retail, Ron Johnson.
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“People come to the Apple Store for the experience—and they’re willing to

pay a premium for that.”

Enriching Lives

All Apple employees are encouraged to carry a credo card, a wallet-sized card

that outlines the vision behind the Apple Retail Store. The first two words

on the front of the card are “Enriching Lives.” Those are the two most

important words in this book. According to Ron Johnson, retailers should be

asking themselves, “How do we reinvent the store to enrich our customers’

lives?” When you enrich the lives of your employees, they are more engaged
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in your business, are less likely to leave, and offer better customer service.