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Standard customer service really. This is nothing new, just a well-executed image and customer relationship plan with a system to put it in place effectively ac

Standard customer service really. This is nothing new, just a well-executed image and customer relationship plan with a system to put it in place effectively across their whole company. Customer service and sales is apparently is A-OK if done by any other company, but if done by Apple suddenly it's "manipulating customers?". Absolute hogwash.

autophil 14y ago
I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but I personally found value in the article. Thanks for the comment and listening to my feedback. And thanks for "giving it!"
- calinet6 14y ago
  Oh I found value in the article, it's very interesting; just think the title was a bit inflammatory. :)
danudey 14y ago
The post was obviously written by someone who's never worked in sales. This is all basic diplomacy, situation defusing, and empathy. There's nothing new here, other than (potentially) the level of polish provided by Apple. I learned the same techniques working at Radio Shack and EB Games, and no one there accused me of 'manipulating customers'. I think what a lot of people miss is that if you 'manipulate' someone into buying what they don't want or what isn't right for them, then at the best case you've lost a return customer and all their associated referrals, and at the worst case, you'll have a return to deal with, as well as a lost return customer and referrals, plus a negative reputation with them and their friends. Sales, good sales anyway, isn't about tricking someone into buying your product. It's about finding out what it is that they really need (not what they think they need, or what they want), and providing that to them first. Sometimes that does mean upselling them to a better system. Sometimes it means downselling them to a cheaper system with upgrades. If someone is mostly going to work at home with an external monitor, and they're mostly going to use Aperture or Lightroom, a 13" Macbook Pro with 8 GB of RAM may be better than a 15" Macbook Pro with 4 GB of RAM. If it's an iMac for a classroom, a larger screen will be better so more people can see what's happening at once. Best Buy (and other customer-hostile stores) do this by convincing people not to buy Macs, opting instead for Windows laptops that will need more maintenance (upselling them with service packages, Geek Squad, etc). That's the sort of 'manipulation' that people associate with sales, and it's really too bad.
michaelcampbell 14y ago
Indeed. In other words, Apple is using tactics known to sales oriented organizations for decades.

autophil 14y ago

I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but I personally found value in the article. Thanks for the comment and listening to my feedback. And thanks for "giving it!"

calinet6 14y ago
Oh I found value in the article, it's very interesting; just think the title was a bit inflammatory. :)

danudey 14y ago

The post was obviously written by someone who's never worked in sales. This is all basic diplomacy, situation defusing, and empathy. There's nothing new here, other than (potentially) the level of polish provided by Apple. I learned the same techniques working at Radio Shack and EB Games, and no one there accused me of 'manipulating customers'. I think what a lot of people miss is that if you 'manipulate' someone into buying what they don't want or what isn't right for them, then at the best case you've lost a return customer and all their associated referrals, and at the worst case, you'll have a return to deal with, as well as a lost return customer and referrals, plus a negative reputation with them and their friends. Sales, good sales anyway, isn't about tricking someone into buying your product. It's about finding out what it is that they really need (not what they think they need, or what they want), and providing that to them first. Sometimes that does mean upselling them to a better system. Sometimes it means downselling them to a cheaper system with upgrades. If someone is mostly going to work at home with an external monitor, and they're mostly going to use Aperture or Lightroom, a 13" Macbook Pro with 8 GB of RAM may be better than a 15" Macbook Pro with 4 GB of RAM. If it's an iMac for a classroom, a larger screen will be better so more people can see what's happening at once. Best Buy (and other customer-hostile stores) do this by convincing people not to buy Macs, opting instead for Windows laptops that will need more maintenance (upselling them with service packages, Geek Squad, etc). That's the sort of 'manipulation' that people associate with sales, and it's really too bad.

michaelcampbell 14y ago

Indeed. In other words, Apple is using tactics known to sales oriented organizations for decades.