Posted on 02/21/2015 1:17:41 PM PST by Star Traveler
Apple is the fastest growing retailer in history and has dominated the holy covet of retail metrics, sales per square foot, almost since its inception, which currently sits at $4,551.
Pair that with rampant expansion plans that puts the technology giant at 420+ stores around the world, and we're talking some serious revenue numbers, approximately $170 billion worth (2013).
Keeping all that in mind, more and more retailers are trying to figure out Apple's "secret sauce" when it comes to its retail experience, specifically when it comes to customer service, hoping to inspire the same degree of customer loyalty or "cult following" that Apple has.
In this post, I'll dissect some of the core elements that Apples uses to train its retail staff when it comes to delivering a great customer experience so that you as a small business retailer can walk away with some gems of how you can rethink customer service in your own store to inspire greater brand loyalty.
(Excerpt) Read more at shopify.com ...
So just who goes thru life with "homo" on their mind?.........Sheesh!
“APPLE PRODUCTS CURE CANCER!!!!You paid Apple trolls stealing FR’s bandwidth with crap stories like this?? You idiots are way too obvious. “
Codetoad,
In your post, it is obvious your system is infected with the red.windows.font virus. You should probably get that looked at... it’s a windows virus or malware thing that takes over your forum accounts, posts histrionic items and then enlarges every font. Yeah, it’s that bad.
Thought you should know.
Yep, that’s a good unofficial way to gauge customer interest and sales!
Then what are you blaming Apple for? It was handled in the appropriate and legal way.
yet he continually post in Apple threads with the intent to disrupt the threads, make them unwelcoming to those who would prefer to discuss issues, and to lie about fellow Freepers. He does this repeatedly. . . which practice makes him a THREAD TROLL.
Nice try. . . But Apple has a 98% customer satisfaction rate and only 1.7% report problems.
I figured you and your pals would say enough.
http://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-apples-secret-employee-training-manual
A - Approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome.
P - Probe politely to understand all the customer's needs.
P - Present a solution for the customer to take home today.
L - Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns.
E - End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.
Windows tech supporters have a system too...
W - Welcome the victim in Swahili or broken engrish.
I - Insist they provide a 40 digit Real Windows registration number before helping them - do this in broken engrish.
N - Never admit the Windows operating system is at fault or flawed.
D - Don't sympathize ever - it's their problem.
O - Offer to change the registry. Do this in a way that can solve one problem while creating at least two problems.
W - Waiting: put them on hold while you go out for lunch, read magazines, talk about the game with your fellow foreigners, etc.
S - Solution is always to REINSTALL Windows - after all, they haven't done it for more than 30 days! It's time! After that, they must reinstall all applications, Windows updates, virus definitions, drivers, etc. Another day shot.
They wouldn’t cooperate with the bank or the police so no charges could be filed. There was enough $$$ charged that the moron would have gotten time behind bars.
And blame the local cops for not putting more pressure on but they didn’t want to due to the jerk being out of state.
Nothing. It was a put up campaign of FUD. Apple sold over 60,000,000 iPhone 6 and 6+ in the last quarter and almost 90,000,000 to date and have had a total of under 100 complaints of bent iphones. . . most of which it was determined were deliberately bent as people tried to duplicate what they saw on YouTube. Apple replaced the bent iPhones.
If others did the same, businesses like Rotten Robbie's and Arco Stations would be way up there. They don't "pump" up their store figures the way Murphy seems to be doing with yard sales.
I love PCs and build them/program/use them the most now, but I also have continuously had Apple products since I commandeered my then still-future mother-in-law's Apple II in 1977; and since my first Mac in 1984 when I borrowed money to get it. I am not a "fanboi" but have watched and studied and even programmed Apple products for years. (I have other Apple connections too.)
After you get used to working well on Windows, the Mac interface and dumbed-down functionality (and worsening, just like Windows too is being more toasterized!) (including on "i" products) just drive you BATS! You can customize Mac a lot to compensate for the default Apple interface problems, but that's one more thing to maintain, and when you are doing that on multiple computers it becomes impractical. And iOS (iPhone, iPad) is great for the grandbabies but its dumbed-down-ness is baked in.
Anyway, despite the above I overall LIKE both Apple products, and Windows powered products (even fully updated Vista 64 which is actually a great OS). And I want an Apple Store closer than 100 miles!
SO, more to the point...
I do not think that enough Radio Shack locations are very good any more, so I do not think the idea of using their stores is great. (Personal observation as a real devotee to Radio Shack since the 1960's, though they too dumbed themselves down into oblivion.)
However, the initial point you were responding to was by SamAdams76, that Apple does not have enough stores. Especially in smaller cities. I agree with SamAdams76, and wish they had more stores.
But Apple gets more stores, I do not think they all need to be as big as their present average size which you cite.
I live fairly centrally within a 400,000 population center of about 4+ cities and many burbs, and towns, but I have to drive about 100 miles north or south to get to the nearest Apple Store.
We have a little Apple table in our relatively little Best Buy (and I think the Samsung people mess with it from time to time). We have the usual few Apple things at places like Target. And we have some Apple stuff in the bookstore of our major and well known university if you are in the mood to venture there and get your car ticketed. That's it.
You can't even buy "AppleCare" on a new iPhone (if you delay much after buying it) without taking it 100 miles to be inspected in person at an Apple Store!
A lot can still be done over the phone in handling issues, but Apple misses out on really endearing themselves to their customers by only being in the really big cities.
No surprise, then, that Apple leans toward "blue," a company whose products seem disproportionately favored by liberals (and others with fascist tendencies): their stores are mainly in the "blue" zones where liberals live!
But Apple does need more stores in my opinion, and those stores in the smaller cities could be SMALLER in size than the giant size you quote, if there were more of them.
The main problem, of course, is not just location and space, but the cost of maintaining trained people to work when they are so spread out. They might have to hire more orthodox Americans, too! Maybe that's the problem?
No doubt hyper-successful Apple has already considered everything being suggested here, and have their own studied reasons for not doing just what I want! Dang it!
... LOL ...
That's BS. You certify it is fraud on your account. The credit card issuer prefers the charges. A subpoena will get the information on the account. Apple will be charged back the losses from the bank. If they choose to eat them it's their loss not yours. In all the times my card was abused, no one provided anything like the kind of feedback you are claiming to have received. I don't even get that level of feedback as a defrauded merchant. Part of the merchant agreement to even accept credit cards requires cooperation in credit card fraud investigations. Non-cooperation will void the agreement. So, Sorry. I'm calling BS on your story.
Now you suddenly know the "guy was out of state," but you claim Apple did not cooperate? How did you learn any facts at all about him if Apple did not disclose them? Sorry, you can't have it both ways. You are making this up as you go. Credit card fraud is a federal crime, by its very nature. It's a crime that crosses state lines. . . and banks are federally chartered. Since you even pointed out the miscreant was out of state, your local police cannot investigate this crime, much less effectuate an arrest. I suspect you local police never subpoenaed the data. . . or the Feds did and the Federal Attorney decided it wasn't worth pursuing. You are blaming the wrong people for your problems. . .
You know ... one shouldn’t obsess about how the bank (or the police) handle their business in this matter. I mean, you do it the way you’re supposed to ... the bank cancels the card immediately (usually before you even finish talking to them on the phone), you get your money restored to you ... and then YOU’RE DONE WITH IT! You’re out of the picture now.
The rest of the stuff is really not your problem and obsessing about it to the point of complaining about what goes on with the matters in the bank’s control ... simply aggravates you for no good purpose or outcome.
BUT ... GOING FURTHER into this issue in a POSITIVE WAY ... I would say that you should consider APPLE PAY, because that service that Apple has provided for its customers makes it IMPOSSIBLE (from a technical standpoint) for this to even happen!!
Get Apple Pay, and what you described will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! Without Apple Pay, this kind of thing can happen with all the other companies you deal with!
You said, “No surprise, then, that Apple leans toward “blue,” a company whose products seem disproportionately favored by liberals (and others with fascist tendencies): their stores are mainly in the “blue” zones where liberals live!”
I think you’re seeing a “purpose” that does not really exist in Apple’s corporate policy. You make it sound like someone at Apple, in charge of the Apple Stores, is saying something like ... “Let’s look for where the Liberals mostly congregate, and then build stores there, because we favor liberals in doing our business!”
What is going on ... actually ... is that Apple is looking for the most concentrated population areas, first, in order to get “more bang for their buck” for that store. I mean, if you’re doing a “study” to see where to place your business, you want a high volume traffic area with a high population, because it’s going to provide more business for your startup company (if you’re a retail establishment).
The fact that these stores are in “Liberal areas” (mostly) results from the fact that high population areas and high retail traffic areas are already Liberal areas, not that Apple is “looking for liberal areas”.
It’s like the telecommunications companies, when they roll out a newer high speed data service for their mobile devices. WHERE EXACTLY are those companies going to place their first implementation of those new data services. They are ALWAYS going to pick the LIBERAL AREAS! Why are they going to pick the Liberal areas, first?! Is it because these companies are trying to favor the Liberal element of our populations? NO, it’s because that is where the most concentrated populations are, and that means MORE CUSTOMERS for a certain amount of cost for rolling out the new data service. The fact that there are a bunch of liberals there is INCIDENTAL!
The trouble with being highly concerned about Liberals, is that this kind of concern has the tendency to produce the idea that there is the devil under every rock and behind every tree. In real life, this is not the case, overall, in everything that goes on in society.
It’s not the case that Apple is looking to place their stores in “Liberal areas” in order to favor the liberals. They are “doing business” and this is what produces a lot of business ... being located in high population areas.
I personally don't own any Apple products, although I appreciate them. They are sleek & beautiful. But I know I could never get that intensely involved with them.
I wouldn’t have any problem working for Apple in one of their Apple Stores. They are selling Apple products and helping customers with any problems they may have. Those are things I’m perfectly happy with doing.
I don’t qualify to do that however, but if I were younger and had some additional technical qualifications, I would do it ... :-) ...
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