Customers shouldn’t think of your business as a place to buy a product or use a service. It should be a fun place to be!
—Richard Branson
Time slows down in a busy Apple Store. Employees work on a noncommissioned floor, which means there is no pressure to sell you a product quickly and to show you the door. By reducing the pressure customers feel when they’re in the store, Apple has built the world’s most profitable retail experience. It’s astonishing that more businesses haven’t caught on to this very simple principle! Some retail employees work for stores that do not have a commission structure but their bonuses are contingent upon meeting quotas. Managers at Apple Retail Stores know the monthly numbers they are supposed to reach, but the pressure to make those numbers rarely infiltrates the sales floor. The focus is on building relationships, and as a result, monthly sales goals are often met or exceeded. Apple has figured out what Isadore Sharp had discovered years earlier when he founded Four Seasons Hotels: customers who feel happy and relaxed will reward your brand with their business and their loyalty.
In today’s competitive global environment, people are stressed, hurried, and in many cases, forced to do more with fewer resources. Many customers are discouraged, tired, and grumpy. They certainly don’t want to feel that way outside of work. Apple has an interesting challenge—how does a store with thousands of visitors a week turn discouraged, tired, and grumpy customers into inspired, energized, and happy ones? Store design is part of the solution, and we will address the topic in Part III. But an even more important element to creating an unhurried environment involves improving the communication between customers and staff in a way that alters customers’ perceptions of time spent waiting for service.
One major U.S. retailer that has emulated the Apple model—and has the customer service scores to prove it—shared an internal study with me that proves the value of resetting internal clocks. The research was so overwhelming that the store’s managers coach employees to follow the method in each and every transaction, and the store has tens of thousands of employees in North America.
Here’s what the retailer learned: when customers are greeted with a warm, friendly welcome, their perception of how long they wait is positively altered and their overall experience is enhanced significantly. Recall we already discussed the importance of a warm greeting in the Apple steps of service, but now it’s important to expand on this and discuss how the greeting makes a difference in resetting clocks.
The internal research trial was conducted with two groups of customers. The first group was greeted by a friendly, smiling employee within seconds of walking through the door. They waited exactly three minutes for a salesperson to help them. The other group was not greeted and waited exactly the same amount of time. Both groups of customers were asked, “How promptly were you served?” The first group—the ones who had been greeted—said they spent less time waiting than those customers in the second group. Their perception of time had been altered. They had been given permission to slow down from their harried lives, take a deep breath, and enjoy the experience.
Altering the perception of time was just one benefit of greeting a customer. In the previous study, the customers were also asked, “On a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [retailer]?” By now you can probably guess which group gave the higher score.
One of the keys to resetting your customer’s internal clock is to be specific. Don’t be vague. It’s not enough to say, “I’ll be right with you.” Instead say, “I’m finishing up with this customer, and I’ll be with you in five minutes. If there’s someone who can help you even sooner, I’ll send them right over.” If the customer had already been waiting five minutes, her internal clock has now been reset and is starting again.
Apple also knows that approaching customers with a warm, friendly greeting is one of the easiest and most effective ways of slowing down a customer’s internal clock. If done correctly, customers who have waited fifteen minutes for assistance will think they waited no more than a few minutes. Here is how a typical scenario might play out at an especially busy Apple Store where expectations about when service can be provided are set quickly and effectively.
Employee (Apple Specialist): Hi, welcome to Apple. How can we help you today?
Customer: I’m thinking of getting an iPad, and I’d like to take a look at them.
Employee: Great. My name is Melinda. And your name?
Customer: Carmine.
Employee: Carmine, nice to meet you. As you can see, the store is really busy right now. Do me a favor and head over to the iPad table and just start playing with the devices. Have fun. If I can get to you next, I will. But if you see someone free, grab them. I’ll also let the other Specialists know that you would like their help, and one of them will get to you as soon as possible. But play with the iPad. There are videos, games, and a whole lot more already on the device. Will that be OK?
Customer: Sure. How long will it be? It’s really crowded.
Employee: It is busy. It will be at least three to five minutes before I can get over here. I do have a manager on the floor right now, and I’ll let him know that you are here. He will start seeing who else he can free up. But again, it will be at least three to five minutes. He will, however, touch base with you to make sure you’re taken care of.
The manager in this scenario now owns the relationship. It’s his job to make sure someone assists the customer as soon as possible. It’s also his job to reset the customer’s internal clock back to zero. The manager should check back with the customer (wherever the customer has wandered in the store) after approximately three to five minutes (the time expectation initially offered) to give that customer a status report or the help the customer came for.
So here is what happened in this scenario. The customer walked into a busy store and assumed he would wait an eternity, which, with few exceptions, would be the case at any other store. The experience at the Apple Store was different, however, because the customer felt appreciated as soon as he stepped inside. His internal clock had been reset, and the pace of his life slowed down. This is a critical psychological concept. A simple acknowledgment gives the customer the feeling that he is in the game. The customer knows he has been seen and is part of the “lineup.” If the customer is not greeted and has to wait three minutes, the scene turns ugly very quickly. The customer becomes agitated. Pent-up frustrations from the day rise to the surface, and everybody loses. But just from having been greeted and acknowledged, the customer is willing to wait patiently for quite a while.
When Melinda, the Apple employee, told the customer that it would take three to five minutes before she could help him, she set the customer’s clock to zero and his “timer” started again. The customer then started playing with the iPad, which was powered on, working, and loaded with applications. (Broken devices are fixed or replaced immediately in Apple Stores. How often do you find this attentiveness in other device stores? Not often.) Perhaps the customer discovered something on his own that he didn’t know before about the iPad. His internal clock got reset again. When other Specialists or employees walked by the customer, some smiled and said hello. The customer doesn’t realize it, but his internal clock got reset yet again. Finally, the manager walked over after several minutes to reset the clock one more time.
If you asked the customer in this scenario how long he had waited for a salesperson, what do you think his answer would be? Ten minutes? Wrong. He would say, “Two or three minutes.” It’s because he was greeted immediately, and the manager, the “owner” of the relationship returned to reset his internal clock. Once the manager tells the customer that he is next in line or he will have to wait three minutes for assistance, the customer perceives that he has waited only a few minutes to be served. He leaves the store thinking, Great service. Fast and efficient!
This concept of resetting internal clocks is such a critical component of the Apple experience, that it is discussed constantly at Apple stores. Managers are consistently watching and coaching employees to reset clocks.
Failing to reset clocks could cost you business. Most people hate the experience of buying a car because they feel pressured by commissioned salespeople. Instead of resetting clocks, their clocks get overwound! My close friend Tim and his wife, Denise, had the opposite experience at a car dealership, but equally as frustrating.
Tim and Denise ended up buying a new Mercedes because someone at another dealership, Audi, had not followed the Apple steps of service nor reset their internal clocks. Tim and Denise had no knowledge of the Apple steps of service; all they knew was that their experience at the dealership had been so horrible that they left, went to a competitor, and bought a car that day. But after listening to their story, it was obvious that failing to follow Apple’s five steps, especially the greeting, cost Audi $70,000 in business. Here’s what happened.
My friends had narrowed down their choices for a new car between two brands, Audi and Mercedes. Although they were impressed with the Mercedes, it was a higher price point than the Audi, and having owned an Audi in the past, they appreciated its quality. So they walked into an Audi dealership with a check in hand ready to buy a new car. The receptionist never looked up. They waited for a few minutes clearly in view of the receptionist. The receptionist didn’t make eye contact, didn’t smile, nor even acknowledge their presence. When Tim and Denise finally asked to a see a salesperson, the receptionist said that since they “didn’t have an appointment,” nobody was available at the time. They were told that if they waited, someone “might” be able to help them in forty-five minutes!
Tim and his wife were confused because they had never heard of such a policy at an auto dealer. Perhaps, if the receptionist had offered an explanation, they would have understood. But no explanation was given. They decided to leave, and the receptionist didn’t even say good-bye. Tim and Denise then went directly to the Mercedes dealership down the street where a salesperson, Alan, greeted them with a warm welcome right away. No more than five minutes had elapsed from the moment they walked into the door before they were “sold.” They were so satisfied with the experience that they bought a Mercedes that day, spent more than they would have spent at Audi, and even recommended Alan by name to other friends in the market for a car.
Audi lost a sale because its employee was not trained in the Apple way. Here’s how the conversation would have gone at the Audi dealership with an effectively trained receptionist.
Receptionist (within a few feet or seconds of the couple walking through the door): Hi, welcome to Audi. How can we help you today?
Customer: We’re here to look at a new car.
Receptionist: Great. We’d love to help you. We have started a new “by appointment” program at our store so you can make an appointment to come in at a specific time. However, since you’re here, let me try to find someone who can help you right away.
Customer: Thanks. (starts looking around)
Receptionist (two minutes later): Our sales reps are really busy today with customers. “Fred” can see you just as soon as he’s done with his current customer. We want to be respectful of your time, so I have to tell you that he will not be available for forty-five minutes. If you can wait, Fred will help you. But I’ll keep looking, and if someone is available even sooner, I’ll send them over right away. Can I offer you some coffee or something to drink in the meantime?
Customer: I guess that’s fine. We didn’t want to wait that long, but since we’re here we might as well stay. (The customer is still disappointed and grudgingly accepts the wait time, but at least he has been acknowledged and his clock has been set. He’s in the game.)
Receptionist (five minutes later): Has anyone helped you yet?
Customer: No, we’re still waiting.
Receptionist: Let me check on Fred’s status. I’ll be right back.
Receptionist (three minutes later): Fred is still with another customer, but Marvin is almost free. He will be with you in less than fifteen minutes. While you wait for Marvin, would you like to see our new sedan? It’s been named car of the year. It’s an amazing experience. Feel free to sit inside and check it out.
Marvin (ten minutes later): Hi, I’m Marvin. Please accept my apologies for the wait.
Customer: No problem. We were waiting for only a few minutes.
The customers had not been waiting “a few minutes.” The couple had been waiting close to thirty minutes, but their internal clocks had been reset several times. I ran this “Apple” version of the scenario by my friends, Tim and Denise, and they agreed that if such a conversation had taken place, they would have stayed and purchased the car they originally intended to buy. The car dealership could have made $70,000 in one transaction simply by resetting a customer’s internal clock. Instead, the dealership lost the sale, and my friends became vocal detractors of the brand to friends and family. Now, if you think about it even more carefully, this sale was lost well before the receptionist failed to follow the Apple steps of service. It was lost in the hiring process, which is why Chapter 2 is critical. The receptionist never smiled. She was unfriendly. In other words, Apple never would have hired her! You can train people to greet, smile, and reset internal clocks, but if they are naturally unfriendly, the five steps mean nothing.
Resetting the clock is not a new concept in other areas of customer service. Apple simply applies it to the communication between the customer and salesperson. But many companies reset the clock, especially in the areas of phone and tech support. Amazon, Symantec, AT&T, and many other brands will let you know what the wait time is when you call for help. AT&T and Amazon phone reps ask customers for permission before putting them on hold and will get back on the phone every minute or two to offer a status update. Visit the support page for Symantec, which makes the popular Norton antivirus suite of products, and the wait time is clearly posted on the website for its 24-7 phone support (Amazon offers this as well). Think about it. What would leave you feeling better about the conversation, sitting on hold for six minutes or being told up front that the wait time will be six minutes? The latter, of course.
Disney has more experience than any brand in creating smiles. But as many of the 30 million visitors a year to Walt Disney World can tell you, the “happiest place on earth” experience can be compromised by standing in long, long lines. The smartphone era has bred a generation of impatient guests, and Disney is constantly working on its customer service to stay relevant and to improve the overall experience.
Disney technicians and Imagineers (the folks who come up with ideas for new rides and attractions) have had to develop ways to keep people informed and entertained during their wait. Although Disney doesn’t use the phrase “reset internal clocks,” it’s exactly what they do when they dispatch Captain Jack Sparrow to entertain people when a line gets too long. Yes, there is actually a nerve center under Cinderella’s Castle with flat screen TVs showing wait times at all the attractions. Technicians will even launch miniparades to keep guests occupied or to siphon people to a less-congested part of the park. If a restaurant is too busy, technicians will dispatch “greeters” to hand out menus to people in line. They are even experimenting with offering short video games (about 90 seconds in length) to keep people occupied while they are waiting. The goal at Disney, of course, is to make its guests happy, and Disney has found that the less time you perceive waiting in line, the happier you’ll be.
If you study the great customer service brands of our time, including The Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons Hotels, Zappos, Nordstrom, Starbucks, FedEx, and Apple, you will find a common theme. Each brand has learned that customers or guests want three things—smart staff, a friendly face, and fast service.
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?
Customer service blunders are inevitable. Customers complain, and there will be times they have to wait, no matter where they are. Resetting your customer’s clock is even more important in these delicate situations. Salespeople need to be smart, friendly, and fast. They also need to be skilled at smoothing things over for disgruntled customers. The process works much better if employees are trained to go on the offense instead of playing defense.
My wife writes a customer service column on our site, and she receives great customer service stories from people around the country. Here’s one story of how an Outback Steakhouse in Louisville, Colorado, played offense and hit a home run.
My wife and I entered an Outback Steakhouse one evening for a quick dinner. The hostess took our name and the need for a table for two. As we sat there, additional parties came in and then we noticed a trend. Numerous parties of three and four were being seated but we were not—the bypassing of us for larger parties continued past the time when we should have been given a larger table. Once I addressed the issue with the manager on duty, we were quickly seated, with a sincere apology and an appetizer “on the house.” At that point, we were satisfied with the quick response and enjoyed our free appetizer.
As it turns out, the owner of this and several other Outback locations was in the building and came over to our table, offered a sincere apology, and indicated that the hostess was new and that he had replaced her for the evening and would provide her with additional training. He took the blame, placing it on himself as a training failure instead of the typical “blame it on the employee” response. He then asked if he could talk to us again after our meal and offered to buy our desserts.
He spent twenty minutes talking to us, gathering our opinion on a number of topics related to his restaurant and our overall observations and experience. This was a great way to handle such a simple service failure, well beyond what we expected. We were happy after the free appetizer and even more so after the free desserts and the personal attention from the owner.
But the purpose of this tale is what happened next—the owner picked up the tab for our entire meal, asking only that we tip the waitperson on the total bill. This was a fantastic response for having us wait a bit longer than we should have for a table and a great example of dealing with a customer service failure. Then he totally blew us away … he handed us a card and offered to buy us another complete meal, an appetizer, two entrées, two drinks, and two desserts, if we would come back two weeks from that night, give them another try, and give our comments to the duty manager that evening.1
Vanessa usually paraphrases stories she mentions in her articles, but she couldn’t trim this one, nor could I. This Outback owner could start a customer service training school for restaurant managers and waitstaff! Now I challenge all customer service professionals to stay off the defense for a change and go to this measure every time a customer is unhappy. If you do, you are sure to reset your customers’ clocks, strengthen their perceptions of your brand, and keep them for life.
If your staff is not greeting customers and resetting internal clocks, then shut this book now and schedule a training session to coach your team right away on this very important skill. Go ahead. I can wait. Nothing else in the book will matter if your staff doesn’t understand or cannot execute the steps in Chapters 8 and 9. Part III will be a waste of time, like putting lipstick on a pig. But take your time. When you come back, we’ll pick up where we left off and, in Chapter 10, discuss the content of the sales conversation.
1. Review all of your customer touchpoints. Are you and your staff greeting customers warmly? Are you making them feel as though they have entered an organized, helpful environment? Are you letting them know how long it will take to address their needs or answer questions?
2. Train your staff to reset internal clocks. If you manage a business of any type with a physical location or phone support, every person on your team must be coached in the five steps and in the proper way to reset their customers’ perception of time.
3. Provide training consistently. Apple managers are providing constant feedback or praise for their staff. AT&T managers hold coaching sessions once a week where they review the greeting and even conduct role-playing exercises to make sure every employee is proficient at providing a superior customer experience.