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The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

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Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#81

Post by mistercow »

azurelogic wrote: post #78
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Regardless of the questions about the story, as a former Apple retail employee, I can tell you that this isn't an unrealistic story. I had a few interactions with people who were deaf that worked much like this. It was always a memorable and uplifting experience to find ways to use our demo units for more productive purposes.

As an also former Apple retail employee, I disagree with you that this isn't an unrealistic story. There are a lot of red flags here, many of which are not Apple Store specific, and some of which are.

The fact that a Mac sales guy was walking back and forth from stockroom to floor, fetching each MacBook for 15 students individually, and no manager took him aside to ask what the hell he thought he was doing, did he not notice that [unidentified product X] had just launched and that the store was full of waiting customers... does not ring true.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#82

Post by rdl »

azurelogic wrote: post #78
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Regardless of the questions about the story, as a former Apple retail employee, I can tell you that this isn't an unrealistic story. I had a few interactions with people who were deaf that worked much like this. It was always a memorable and uplifting experience to find ways to use our demo units for more productive purposes.

There's also the "use Google Translate to talk (in writing) to someone in a foreign language, without a language in common" that I've done several times.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#83

Post by charlieok »

webwielder wrote: post #68
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Come to think of it, this story isn't about Apple or the Apple Store at all. A better title would be "The Time I Wasn't Mean to Fake Deaf Kids and Felt Great About It".

The Apple Store part was to get internet points.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#84

Post by rdl »

pseut wrote: post #69
guptaneil wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, a more apt comparison would if they were all sent to a car dealership, and the dealer was told they will all buy a car and just need help picking a color. I'm sure they'd get fantastic service. Having said that, Apple is pretty well known for offering great customer service, even when it's clear you're not purchasing anything.

I've been in that situation at a car dealership and the service was pretty poor (AAA pre-negotiates prices with many dealers; if you call in advance you get the car at AAA's price without haggling). Basically, they know you're not going anywhere else, so they don't feel any urgency. It was much less stressful overall, but not because of the service. Just an FYI. I don't know that the innate economics of Apple are any…

AAA, Costco, etc. are all nice for having pre-negotiated prices, but IMO the best way to buy a car is something like CarWoo -- that way you might actually get a "deal" if you pick the right make/model, vs. a global price. I'd use them for my next car except I plan to either get a used diesel truck or a Tesla, and they only do new cars (and probably not Teslas).

(Although the absolute best deals I've found on cars have been deployed military BMW/Audi sales programs)

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#85

Post by rdl »

typpo wrote: post #2

Perhaps the students were treated better at the Apple store because they were buying 15 macbooks. Surely they didn't spend that much money at all the other mall stores.

There are some stores that just treat their employees better, even though they're selling similar products, as a matter of culture.

In the low end/mall type environment, look at In-N-Out or Chick-Fil-A vs. a badly-run Arby's franchise. Essentially the same product, but different culture. (McDonald's is even more interesting; they have great systems and generally hire younger or less experienced and more short-term workers, but don't seem to be as happy as the other places. McDonald's does do a great job of hiring disabled people, though -- and for a McDonald's job, a developmentally disabled person who is motivated and happy and has worked there 5 years is probably going to be a far better employee than a normal high schooler who is bitter about having to work.)

Generally "better" stores have higher margins, but not always higher prices -- Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both beat Safeway as a place to work.

If I lived in Iowa, I'd love to work for a place like Brownell's or in Colorado, Magpul, even for a lower wage than a company with less-good internal culture.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#86

Post by nsp »

hkmurakami wrote: post #33
dktbs wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of the Apple store, these kinds of sales are the last thing a salesperson wants. Apple salespeople are not paid on commission, and since the guy was told exactly what the students were buying and that they already had the money distributed to them on gift cards, he knew he couldn't upsell them on a warranty or in-store training. Selling a baseline macbook is easy, people line up to buy them. It is the ups…

Out of curiosity, how do Apple stores track how well an employee upsell products? Is there an expected model that sells for each product line, and if an employee exceeds this level on average (say, the EV is a Macbook Air 13 inch and 10% chance of warranty contract but the employee "averages" a 13 inch MBP + 25% success on a warranty), does she get a bonus?

Apple tracks a bunch of different metrics regarding sales. There are no bonuses for performance on any of them, and its quite difficult to get fired lack of sales. The metrics they use are (in rough order of decreasing importance): Net Promoter Score ~25ish% of people who purchase a 'hero product' (iPhone, Mac, iPod, or iPad) get an email asking them to rate their experience. One of the questions asks how likely you are to recommend apple based on your experience on a scale of 1 to 10. People who give a 9 or a 10 are considered promoters, and those who give below a 7 are detractors. Your net promoter score is % of people who give a 9 or 10 minus % percent below 7. The 5th avenue store's average score was around a 52.

This matters a lot, consistent negative reviews are one of the few things that can get you fired.

- AppleCare %- This is the extended warranty apple offers. This is emphasized pretty hard, managers frequently cite studies that show higher satisfaction for people who buy warranties etc. The official target for this is 50%, but getting over 20% puts you in the top tier, and anything below 10% gets you negative attention. Store average was around 13-17%. Its pretty rare you actually changes someone's mind on buying it, most people come in decided.

- 1 to 1 % - this is % of computers you sell with one to one, which is a year of as-many-as-you-want hour longs training sessions on basic computer stuff. A 6% 1 to 1 rate was outstanding and over 10% was unheard of, but official corporate expectation was 25%

- Sales $

- personal setup % - how many people you can get to sit with an apple employee and be walked through setup of iDevice.

While I was at Apple, they were pretty good about just letting you do whatever you felt was best for the customer. There's was never any pressure to force a sale, and you were encouraged to talk to customers for as long as they wanted.

source: I worked at 5th ave, Apple's busiest US retail store for 6 months in 2011-2012. The store gets over 50% international customers (who often can't use the warranties/upsells in their home countries) so %ages may be drastically different from other stores.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#87

Post by boldfield »

mistercow wrote: post #77
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Also, Mac Specialists at the Apple store don't go in the back to fetch inventory. They call it back.

It hasn't always been that way actually. I worked apple retail while in college for 2 years, and we only had 'runners' to bring inventory up from the back the last 6 months I was there... and the white macbooks were released at the time the "Specialists" (salespeople) were responsible for doing the running themselves.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#88

Post by nsp »

mistercow wrote: post #81
azurelogic wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of the questions about the story, as a former Apple retail employee, I can tell you that this isn't an unrealistic story. I had a few interactions with people who were deaf that worked much like this. It was always a memorable and uplifting experience to find ways to use our demo units for more productive purposes.

As an also former Apple retail employee, I disagree with you that this isn't an unrealistic story. There are a lot of red flags here, many of which are not Apple Store specific, and some of which are. The fact that a Mac sales guy was walking back and forth from stockroom to floor, fetching each MacBook for 15 students individually, and no manager took him aside to ask what the hell he thought he was doing, did he no…

I worked at the store the OP worked at, and his story seems accurate. The 5th avenue store does more $/sq foot than anywhere else in the US, and grosses more than any other retail store in New York. In early 2012 the 5th avenue store got 'runners', who would bring the computers out to you, but it was often faster to run back and get it yourself. I sold ~30-50k of macs a night and would frequently be seen running back and forth to the floor with my arms full of laptops - this didn't attract negative manager attention - I was making sales.

His story checks out - I'm happy to answer any other questions re: 5th ave

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#89

Post by rtrunck »

pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Classic Hacker News any more - top comment is a cynic. Even if this isn't true, what would the point be for lying? And what really is the harm done?

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#90

Post by newbie12 »

rtrunck wrote: post #89
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

Classic Hacker News any more - top comment is a cynic. Even if this isn't true, what would the point be for lying? And what really is the harm done?

Not a cynic, a skeptic. And that's pud, who's a pretty major hacker.
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