The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty Read Free Page B

If Brooks had played only his hits during the Wynn performance, it would have been a richly satisfying experience for Garth fans. But by taking his audience on a journey through the music that inspired him, Brooks created an unmatched and memorable experience for everyone in his audience, country and noncountry fans alike. So let’s steal a page from the Garth Brooks songbook and start from the real beginning of the Apple experience.
    If every retail store had customer service like Apple, the world would be a better place.
    —Michael M.

The One Question That Unleashed Apple’s Success
     
    When the Apple Store celebrated its ten-year anniversary on May 19, 2011, the media focused on the growth story: one billion visitors, 325 stores, $10 billion in sales, and so on. The numbers were and continue to be astonishing: $6 billion in quarterly revenue, $4,700 in sales per square foot, and 22,000 weekly visitors in a typical store. But numbers alone won’t teach you anything. It’s the story behind the numbers where you’ll learn how to turn your business into an experience so thrilling that your customers will become true advocates for your brand.
    The story of the Apple experience did not begin with the opening of the first Apple Store at Tysons Corner, Virginia, in 2001. It began forty years earlier with the founding of another brand that would be credited with completely reinventing the customer experience—the Four Seasons. When Steve Jobs first decided to enter the retail business, he hired former Target executive Ron Johnson. Jobs challenged Johnson with this question: who offers the best customer service experience in the world? The answerwas not another computer retailer—or any retailer for that matter. The answer turned out to be the Four Seasons hotel. Just as Garth Brooks did not invent country music, Steve Jobs did not invent exceptional customer service. Both artists, however, copied a great idea, refined it, and took it to the next level.

The Brand That Inspired Apple Retail
     
    Isadore Sharp founded the Four Seasons in 1960, but it took another decade for the brand to become synonymous with luxury. Prior to building his first luxury hotel in London in 1970, Sharp’s experience had been limited to building homes, apartments, and small motels in Toronto. But homes were too small for Sharp’s outsized ambition. Sharp’s goal—his vision—was to create a worldwide luxury brand that would offer an unparalleled customer experience. Most bold visions are met with a high degree of skepticism, and Sharp’s vision was no exception. Sharp’s wife, Rosalie, admits that she didn’t share Sharp’s confidence, but thankfully for the Fours Seasons, Rosalie kept her reservations to herself.
    Like Steve Jobs, Sharp was a dreamer. He refused to settle for anything less than excellence. “So much of long-term success is based on intangibles. Beliefs and ideas. Invisible concepts,” 1 Sharp once said. Once Sharp’s vision was set—a worldwide brand of luxury hotels that offer exceptional customer service—he had to fill in the blanks. Sharp asked, “What would that luxury experience look and feel like?” You might be surprised to learn that the innovations that follow are all thanks to Sharp and the Four Seasons:
     
 
Travel-Size Shampoo. Having grown up with three sisters, Sharp learned a few things about women and their travel habits. He learned that they didn’t like to wash their hair with soap, so they carried small bottles of shampoo. The Four Seasons was the first hotel to put shampoo bottles in every room. Would you expect anything less today, even from the lowest budget chain?
     
Fitness Rooms. Sharp liked to exercise, and he knew that travelers would need a revival, especially after long flights. The FourSeasons was the first hotel to provide fitness centers. The next time you jump on the treadmill at your hotel, you’ve got Sharp to thank.
     
Comfortable Beds. Sharp’s first hotel in