Page 221 - The Apple Experience

Most of the news articles that have tried to explain

Apple’s success in retail highlight the spacious, clean, and well-lit physical

appearance of the stores themselves. These are all important success factors
and will be addressed in this section. But please remember this: if you have

not mastered the principles in Parts I and II, nothing in this section will

matter.

Cosmetic changes don’t matter if you have people who don’t like their

boss, don’t like their job, and can’t communicate with their customers. I

decided to return to a hotel for a second time even though I didn’t enjoy my

first experience. It was pricey, dated, and dirty. Most of the staffers were also
unfriendly. I stayed again for only one reason—it was the closest hotel to the

place where I had to be the next morning and I would be arriving late the

night before. When I walked in, I noticed something new. The hotel had

recently added a signature scent, which seems to be a trend among some

hotel chains. The Westin hotels have a signature scent, but they also provide

a nice experience to complement the scent. That was the problem with my

hotel. The scent was nice, but the staff was still unfriendly, the hotel was
dated, and the rooms were still dirty! On a trip to Las Vegas we stayed at a

beautiful smoke-free boutique hotel called Vdara. It, too, had a signature

scent. The scent was so nice I actually bought the scent sticks to put in my

office. But the scent was simply a bonus that capped a memorable experience.

The scent didn’t make the experience—the people made the experience. But

the scent reminded me of the experience.

I hesitate to use the hackneyed expression “It’s like putting lipstick on a

pig.” But in this case it works. No amount of lipstick is going to make up for

unfriendly people delivering poor service. But if you have the people and the
communication right, poor packaging will actually detract from the