Page 83 - The Apple Experience

right. US Airways had net more detractors than promoters. A negative NPS
score can’t be good for anyone—employees, customers, or shareholders.

During the same week Seberg’s US Airways story was circulating on the

Internet, another story was going viral. This story involved a ten-year-old girl

who had saved her allowance money for nine months to buy a new product.

She literally brought a mason jar full of coins and cash to the store, but it had

just closed. When the little girl and her parents saw that it was closed, they

were sad and decided to walk around the mall. Much to their surprise, a store
manager caught up to them, apologized, and led the girl back into the store.

The employees all applauded and made the little girl feel like a princess. She

poured out the contents of her jar and bought her product. As she was

leaving, an employee approached her and said, “I have to tell you. This made

my day.” This store had an NPS of more than 70 percent. It was an Apple

Store, and the product was an iPod Touch. This story, too, hit the

blogosphere and was retweeted hundreds of times.
Both stories reinforce the power of feedback, or the lack of it. It’s likely

that the US Airways employee didn’t even know about NPS nor was given

feedback by a manager on how to improve the customer experience. The

employee was also not empowered to do what is right. Remember the

admonition that Steve Jobs left to his employees shortly before his death:

“Don’t ask, what would Steve do? Instead ask, is it the right thing?”

By contrast, the Apple employee who chased after the girl’s family and

invited them back into the store knew three things: he would not be chastised

for breaking the rules, he was enriching a little girl’s life, and the parents
would probably offer glowing feedback, which they did through their social

networks.

“Every leader of a business leaves a legacy when he or she departs, and it

is that legacy by which a leader is judged. If you want to leave a legacy that