MODERN COMPANY
Embedding amazing customer service through
storytelling By Shawn Callahan
If you peer through the glass doors of an Apple outlet just before opening time , you ’ ll see the blue-uniformed employees huddled in the middle of the store in focused conversation . One of the topics will be the previous day ’ s net promoter scores , where employees have asked customers to rate the possibility , based on the service they ’ ve received , that they ’ ll recommend the store to their friends and families .
If an employee has scored a 10 , which means ‘ Most definitely ’, the manager says to the group something like , ‘ Yesterday Jen got a 10 ’. Everyone claps . The manager then says to Jen , ‘ Why don ’ t you share what happened when that guy came in with the iPad mini ’. After Jen has told the story , the manager praises her for her good work . The other employees have just vicariously experienced what is takes to give outstanding customer service .
At Apple stores , there are no inspirational posters or snappy sales-process acronyms . Instead , every day staff hear at least one
14 ModernBusiness May 2016