Page 96 - The Apple Experience

Step One: Address

This first step is the most important. When customers see the room is

filled with other customers and there are only a few customer service reps to
service them all, they are patient and understanding only when the rep

acknowledges their existence. If you are waiting on someone when a new

customer arrives, you should stop within ten seconds (if possible) of their

arrival to do three things: (1) smile, (2) lock eyes, and (3) verbally welcome

this new customer.

Eye contact is critical. Remember when we discussed friendly and fearless

employees? Unfriendly and timid employees do not make eye contact. A
2008 study in Seattle found that bank robberies declined when tellers were

taught to provide better customer service. The program was called SafeCatch
4
and taught employees to unnerve would-be bank robbers with eye contact, a

smile, and a friendly greeting. Since bank robbers want to remain

anonymous, they would leave the bank. I guess this is one case where turning

off customers with a smile is a good thing!

An acceptable verbal remark to say to customers upon greeting them
would be, “Thank you for coming in, I’ll be with you shortly.” An even better

remark would be, “Thank you for coming in. I will be happy to help you

today. Do you know what you are looking for?” This is a better response

because it will give you more information to help you decide how quickly you

can get to this person and determine what he or she needs. I recall a recent

visit to a local large department store where I waited in line forever behind a

customer who was arguing over a price on a sale item. The sales rep told me,

“I’ll be right with you,” but all I needed to do was put something on hold so I

could retrieve my wallet from the car. If she had said, “What do you need
help with?” she would have learned that I didn’t need much but for her to