Carmine Gallo - The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty

Copyright 2012 by Carmine Gallo. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-07-179320-9
MHID 0-07-179320-8

e-book ISBN 978-0-07179321-6
e-book MHID 0-07179321-6

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The Apple Experience is in no way authorized, prepared, approved, or endorsed by Apple Inc.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

To Vanessa, Josephine, and Lela

PART I
INSPIRING YOUR INTERNAL CUSTOMER

PART II
SERVING YOUR EXTERNAL CUSTOMER

PART III
SETTING THE STAGE

The Apple Experience is a collaboration of colleagues, friends, editors, and readers around the world who have requested new content that helps them understand and apply the magic behind the Apple adventure.

Its been a gratifying experience to work with McGraw-Hill Professional. Thanks to everyone at the company in editing, sales, marketing, public relations, and digital who are strong advocates of the book. Special thanks to Philip Ruppel, Mary Glenn, Ann Pryor, and Ruth Mannino for your guidance. Id also like to offer a shout-out to my former editor, Gary Krebs, who shared the vision for a book that could lift the veil behind Apples award-winning customer culture.

Roger Williams takes special care to consider the long-term interests and careers of his clients. Its an honor to call him my agent and friend.

Tom Neilssen and Les Tuerk at BrightSight Group are extraordinary speaking agents who successfully help me share my ideas with audiences around the world. Im grateful for their partnership.

Publicity is a collaborative effort, and an author couldnt have it better than to count on Mark Fortier and his team at Fortier Public Relations.

This book owes its accomplishment to my colleagues at Gallo Communications who dedicated hours of research and valuable insights: Carolyn Kilmer, Sarah Daniels, Tamara Medina, and Vanessa Gallo. Vanessa worked tirelessly to help organize ideas, edit, and format. Her background in psychology and customer service also proved to be invaluable.

Although my family is last in the acknowledgments, they come first in my life. Theyre everything to me and bring me more joy each day. My wife, Vanessa, and girls, Josephine and Lela, are the light of my life. My mother, Giuseppina, and my in-laws, Ken and Patty, all deserve my gratitude, as do Tino, Donna, Francesco, and Nick. Finally, none of my success would be possible if hadnt been for my late father, Francesco Gallo, who had the courage to seek a better life for his family. We owe him everything.

We are at our best when we deliver enriching experiences.

Apple credo

G ary Allen traveled 3,200 miles, crossed ten states, and used 100 gallons of gas to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Apple Store in May 2011. Why would he do such a thing?

When the iPad was introduced, thousands of people camped out overnight at Apple Stores around the world to be among the first customers to buy it. Even Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak stood in line at a store in San Jose, California, more than twelve hours before the device went on sale! Couldnt he have simply called his boyhood pal, Steve Jobs, and ask for an iPad to be delivered to his home?

Comedian Mark Malkoff brought a goat into an Apple Storeyes, a real goatposted the video on YouTube and received nearly one million views. He also decided to test the patience of Apple employees by ordering pizza and having it delivered to him at an Apple location, visiting stores dressed as Darth Vader, and hiring a trumpet player to serenade him and his wife in an actual store. Why didnt Apple Store managers kick him out? The answers to these questions will help you create a one-of-a-kind experience for your customers that will move your brand forward and help you crush your competitors. But to really understand the answers, we have to turn to a higher source.

One of the most intense religious experiences of my life happened when I was a graduate student of journalism at Northwestern University. One Sunday a group of us decided to attend a Baptist church in downtown Chicago. Keep in mind that as a Catholic boy from California this was my first immersive experience outside of a Catholic mass. You could imagine how puzzled I must have been to see nurses standing alongside the walls. Once women started fanning themselves and fainting during the service, I knew why the nurses had been stationed there! When I saw the twenty-member gospel choir starting to rock out to the song Im Going with Jesus and the preacher running full speed around the perimeter of the church with his arms in the air, I realized this would be unlike anything I ever experienced at my church. Those churchgoers were truly inspiredinfused with the spirit.

Many Apple customers are also infused with the spiritthe Apple spirit. In 2011 researchers in the United Kingdom discovered that Apple actually triggers the same areas of the brain that light up during intensely religious experiences. The neuroscientists used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to discover that, for Apple fans, seeing images of Apple products actually lit up the same parts of the brain as images of a deity do for religious people. If youve seen photos or videos of customers whipped up in a sort of evangelical frenzy at Apple Store openings, now you understand why.

Oakland, California, resident Gary Allen is one of the faithful. In May 2011, Allen marked the tenth anniversary of the Apple Store by traveling thousands of miles to visit the first store in Tysons Corner, Virginia. He didnt even fly. He rented a Toyota Yaris and drove for five days. Allen began his trip on Saturday, May 14, headed along I-80 to Denver and through Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and into Virginia. Now get this. Allen didnt even know how Apple would celebrate the anniversary. He just knew how he would celebrateby making a pilgrimage to the place where it all began.

After Allens final long night of driving and getting just four hours of sleep, Allen arrived on the sixth day of his journey at 9:40 a.m. No special event had been scheduled. No reporters were present, and no banners unfurled. But since Allen had been blogging about his journey, the Apple employees knew about his arrival, gave him a tour of the store, and even treated him to cake. Allen was filled with the Apple spirit. For Allen, visiting an Apple Store is a religious experience. Religion gives meaning to peoples lives, and for millions of Apple customers and thousands of employees, the brand gives them a sense of meaning, providing deeply emotional experiences that improve their lives.