Want to know the secret behind Apple’s highly-regarded retail experience? Then today’s you’re lucky day. The company’s ‘Genius Training Student Workbook’ has just leaked onto the internet.
The contents of the book are quite fascinating, essentially telling Geniuses-in-training how to think and what to say in nearly every kind of customer situation, and how to “sell gadget joy.”
Gizmodo, the site that originally posted the Workbook, reports:
“The Genius Training Student Workbook we received is the company’s most up to date, we’re told, and runs a bizarre gamut of Apple Dos and Don’ts, down to specific words you’re not allowed to use, and lessons on how to identify and capitalize on human emotions. The manual could easily serve as the Humanity 1010 textbook for a robot university, but at Apple, it’s an exhaustive manual to understanding customers and making them happy.
Sales, it turns out, take a backseat to good vibes—almost the entire volume is dedicated to empathizing, consoling, cheering up, and correcting various Genius Bar confrontations. The assumption, it’d seem, is that a happy customer is a customer who will buy things.”
Sales, however, are still important to the company. There’s a section in the Workbook that discusses “Selling Gadget Joy” by way of the Genius Skills, Behaviors, and Values Checklist — Approach, Probe, Present, Listen, End. Geniuses are also instructed to use the Feel, Felt, Found method — a popular tactic for salesmen in any industry. Example:
“Customer: This Mac is just too expensive.
Genius: I can understand why you’d feel this way. I felt the price was a little high myself. But after doing some research, I found that it’s a real value because of all the built-in software and capabilities.”
While the Workbook may seem like just a corporate handbook to some folks, it does provide an interesting behind-the-scenes look at Apple’s retail training — which is highly regarding in the industry. If you’d like to read more, Gizmodo has exposed several other sections of the book, which you can read here.
What do you think of the Genius Workbook? Any surprises here?