So Apple is going to take an hour's worth of time from a Mac Specialist to help one customer buy one product, when in that amount of time that same person can sell 10 iPods, a few printers, some software, and some iPod accessories, and maybe 1/5 of them become switchers because their kids liked playing on the iMacs so much.
Why not offer this service on the machines themselves, and save the invaluable resource and time of the employee to offer much-needed assistance to the overwhelming crowds of people that want to spend money?
Don't be so certain that Apple won't be hiring more people.
A computer program can never deal with the issues that come up when two perple are talking.
Have you found that most FAQ's, for example, don't have the answer to YOUR question? Or if it does, it isn't quite what you need?
And, what makes you think that these people won't be spending money? That's the purpose, to help people decide what they need, and how they can use it.
Actually, they could have an online Mac Talk call centre. The customer clicks the Mac Talk button on any floor model, and a special VNC-enabled variant of iChat is booted with the Mac Chat consultant starting a video-chat and having complete control over the Mac to show any and everything the person is interested in. The virtual Mac Chat consultant could easily alert a member of the store's staff for any particular issue requiring in-person handling... such as a sale.
The customer could have the choice of an on-the-spot or "on demand" virtual Mac Chat, or book an appointment for an in-person Mac Chat. Plus, the virtual Mac Chat would be demonstrating -- leveraging -- OS X's capabilities right before the customer's eyes!
Is this a bad idea?
I agree with the others. I have always found that unless a customer is in a hurry, they want to talk a bit, and consult with someone who knows what they are talking about, and who isn't trying to push them into buying something they don't need, or want. Having that person in front of them is the best method. People feel more comfortable. They can also have a physical interaction with the product that they can't get if the other person is sitting inside the screen.
Do you get a thousand people in your store every day? Even the small stores get several hundred.
Not thousands but we can get hundreds. ANY establishment will scale their staffing needs to the customers demand. Ergo, IF we had a thousand customers a day we would have more staff.
Not thousands but we can get hundreds. ANY establishment will scale their staffing needs to the customers demand. Ergo, IF we had a thousand customers a day we would have more staff.
You're doing pretty well then. Most Mac retailers I've been to over the years could barely entice a hundred customers into their store in a day, 50 would be more like it. Which store are you with? That's pretty large for a Mac establishment. I only know of a few around the country that big.
Apple has to think broadly however. No one else has a 'Genius" bar, or most all of their products out for use, in multiples the way they do.
The flashing GREEN SCREEN seems a little embarassing. I don't know if I would want to have verybody POINTING and STARING at me because I need assistance. Perhaps they could just have some computer by the genius bar that says, computer 3 needs help... they could just tag the computers like a restaurant tags a table.
Let's pile on Apple while assuming the worst!! Yea!!!
I assume that you only get a Green Screen IF you click on a screen button that requests it and I think this would help people who are MORE embarrassed about tracking down the help on their own. Someone who really doesn't want to be disturbed should be able to play with the Mac and maybe even NOT be bothered while the screen stays UNGreen. Thus you get a green screen when you want it.
This way if Apple employees are distributed throughout the store they can always see a flash of green in the corner of their eyes to alert them to a need. A good store (meaning one with a good manager) can communicate well enough to each other to keep things moving.
Also these only initiate a 2-minute opportunity to help a customer about the specific device that she/he is exploring. The one-hour times are only for newbies. YOU with all your skills and knowledge can still walk up to someone with any sophisticated question you might have.
My own observations in Apple Stores are that sometimes the sales assoc. are either all busy or standing around waiting. This gives a good team the ability to flatten the peaks and valleys of service.
Also the biggest problem seems to be people crowding the Genius Bar, waiting their turn. I was in one that was full when a whole class of 6th graders came herding thru the store with chaperones. (I sure never went to shopping mall field trips when I was in school!) But the Apple magic dust fell upon them and I'm sure they are customers for life now.
service is really bad @ the Apple Retail Stores... At least the ones that I have been in here in Nor. Calif. Which is kind of sad since they are only a few minutes from "Corporate HQ"
6-7 minute wait? That's kind of a short wait time from what I noticed. Almost as bad as some cellphone retail stores .
Of course, I would still trust these folks WAY more then the sharks @ Fry's Electronics or some of the PC sales crowd.
BTW: Anyone else notice the Xserve has listed a shipping date of 1-3 days? I wonder why no one has bothered to notify the world a new Mac is being sold?
They should make Rhonda into an actual lady that appears onto the screen and helps you. Sort of like the lady from the fictitious company "The Hanso Foundation" from the TV show LOST.
Let's pile on Apple while assuming the worst!! Yea!!!
I assume that you only get a Green Screen IF you click on a screen button that requests it and I think this would help people who are MORE embarrassed about tracking down the help on their own. Someone who really doesn't want to be disturbed should be able to play with the Mac and maybe even NOT be bothered while the screen stays UNGreen. Thus you get a green screen when you want it.
This way if Apple employees are distributed throughout the store they can always see a flash of green in the corner of their eyes to alert them to a need. A good store (meaning one with a good manager) can communicate well enough to each other to keep things moving.
Also these only initiate a 2-minute opportunity to help a customer about the specific device that she/he is exploring. The one-hour times are only for newbies. YOU with all your skills and knowledge can still walk up to someone with any sophisticated question you might have.
My own observations in Apple Stores are that sometimes the sales assoc. are either all busy or standing around waiting. This gives a good team the ability to flatten the peaks and valleys of service.
Also the biggest problem seems to be people crowding the Genius Bar, waiting their turn. I was in one that was full when a whole class of 6th graders came herding thru the store with chaperones. (I sure never went to shopping mall field trips when I was in school!) But the Apple magic dust fell upon them and I'm sure they are customers for life now.
As for the location, that, sir, shall remain a mystery. Wouldn't want Apple opening up a location right across the street from us, now would we.
I hope you're kidding!
As for the whole service side of things, Apple's stores get lots of people in every day just playing around or checking their e-mail and stuff. Most independent Apple retailers don't get those kinds of patrons or are as open to them. It looks like the whole idea is to better identify the customers who need help from the "visitors."
As for the whole service side of things, Apple's stores get lots of people in every day just playing around or checking their e-mail and stuff. Most independent Apple retailers don't get those kinds of patrons or are as open to them. It looks like the whole idea is to better identify the customers who need help from the "visitors."
Suffice it to say, we're not in your neighbourhood. (There's a hint in my spelling.) No need to awaken the giant. It's difficult enough to compete with your largest supplier (online store) already.
As for the 'visitors' we get our fair share of them as well. There are polite ways to deal with them such as pointing out some of our clients who happen to offer the services that these 'visitors' require.
They should make Rhonda into an actual lady that appears onto the screen and helps you. Sort of like the lady from the fictitious company "The Hanso Foundation" from the TV show LOST.
Apple reps can be quite hard to track down - esp. when trying to buy a computer. I hope they increase their presence over the holiday periods - this new system may help; but then so would blocking email from the computers!
It looks like Apple is doing pretty well with their customer service. With these enhancement that will make it even easier cuz I went the their 24h store in Manhattan and I had to wait in line for a while before getting to speak the a Mac genius...
Instead of an hour with the salesperson, funnel the extra money into customer service. Make the Mac have thhe best follow-up care in the industry. IMHO, Macs have less issues by far than do PCs. I have worked with both and see a major difference. This may cost Apple a bit in salaries, but the PR would be significant.
Suffice it to say, we're not in your neighbourhood. (There's a hint in my spelling.) No need to awaken the giant. It's difficult enough to compete with your largest supplier (online store) already.
As for the 'visitors' we get our fair share of them as well. There are polite ways to deal with them such as pointing out some of our clients who happen to offer the services that these 'visitors' require.
And that's the difference between the independents and Apple.
At least in the larger stores here in NYC, you can actually bring your project in, and work on it in the store. Bring own CD, or DVD (or buy themn there), and finish it too. The only thing Apple will kick you out of the store for doing, is causing a commotion, or visiting porn sites (it IS a family store after all).
You can also bring your PC laptop and hang out while using the WiFi.
Until independents can match those services, they shouldn't complain. Tekserve in NYC does about the same, but they don't have a lot of Apple machines you can use.
I'm not interested in whether a store goes out of business because Apple moves to their city. If Apple is a better experience, more power to them.
It's rather disengenious to say that you don't want to waken Apple to your presense, isn't it? If they don't already know EXACTLY how much product you move, then they wouldn't be a very good company. They probably know more about the "store" you work for, then you do.
Rhonda is actually named after a VP or something within Apple named Ron. The whole help screen is his 'baby' so it's named after him.
Also, the Talk Mac demo includes a run through of iPhoto, not Microsoft Word...at least that's what we were told to do.
As for the appointments with Mac Specialist, it's actually showing to have a 'huge' success rate, somewhere in the upper 80%. Considering a typical store doesn't come anywhere close to a CPU per hour per Mac Specialist, it's well worth their time. This could be huge for Apple.
Comments
Regarding MacTalk..
So Apple is going to take an hour's worth of time from a Mac Specialist to help one customer buy one product, when in that amount of time that same person can sell 10 iPods, a few printers, some software, and some iPod accessories, and maybe 1/5 of them become switchers because their kids liked playing on the iMacs so much.
Why not offer this service on the machines themselves, and save the invaluable resource and time of the employee to offer much-needed assistance to the overwhelming crowds of people that want to spend money?
Don't be so certain that Apple won't be hiring more people.
A computer program can never deal with the issues that come up when two perple are talking.
Have you found that most FAQ's, for example, don't have the answer to YOUR question? Or if it does, it isn't quite what you need?
And, what makes you think that these people won't be spending money? That's the purpose, to help people decide what they need, and how they can use it.
Actually, they could have an online Mac Talk call centre. The customer clicks the Mac Talk button on any floor model, and a special VNC-enabled variant of iChat is booted with the Mac Chat consultant starting a video-chat and having complete control over the Mac to show any and everything the person is interested in. The virtual Mac Chat consultant could easily alert a member of the store's staff for any particular issue requiring in-person handling... such as a sale.
The customer could have the choice of an on-the-spot or "on demand" virtual Mac Chat, or book an appointment for an in-person Mac Chat. Plus, the virtual Mac Chat would be demonstrating -- leveraging -- OS X's capabilities right before the customer's eyes!
Is this a bad idea?
I agree with the others. I have always found that unless a customer is in a hurry, they want to talk a bit, and consult with someone who knows what they are talking about, and who isn't trying to push them into buying something they don't need, or want. Having that person in front of them is the best method. People feel more comfortable. They can also have a physical interaction with the product that they can't get if the other person is sitting inside the screen.
Really?
Do you get a thousand people in your store every day? Even the small stores get several hundred.
Not thousands but we can get hundreds. ANY establishment will scale their staffing needs to the customers demand. Ergo, IF we had a thousand customers a day we would have more staff.
Not thousands but we can get hundreds. ANY establishment will scale their staffing needs to the customers demand. Ergo, IF we had a thousand customers a day we would have more staff.
You're doing pretty well then. Most Mac retailers I've been to over the years could barely entice a hundred customers into their store in a day, 50 would be more like it. Which store are you with? That's pretty large for a Mac establishment. I only know of a few around the country that big.
Apple has to think broadly however. No one else has a 'Genius" bar, or most all of their products out for use, in multiples the way they do.
As for the location, that, sir, shall remain a mystery. Wouldn't want Apple opening up a location right across the street from us, now would we.
Service?
I actually waited 6-7 minutes to putchase a giftcard. The longer I was waiting at the check-out counter, the less the amount of the giftcard.
Apple's really's bad. This, alas, was not my only bad Apple retail store experience.
The flashing GREEN SCREEN seems a little embarassing. I don't know if I would want to have verybody POINTING and STARING at me because I need assistance. Perhaps they could just have some computer by the genius bar that says, computer 3 needs help... they could just tag the computers like a restaurant tags a table.
Let's pile on Apple while assuming the worst!! Yea!!!
I assume that you only get a Green Screen IF you click on a screen button that requests it and I think this would help people who are MORE embarrassed about tracking down the help on their own. Someone who really doesn't want to be disturbed should be able to play with the Mac and maybe even NOT be bothered while the screen stays UNGreen. Thus you get a green screen when you want it.
This way if Apple employees are distributed throughout the store they can always see a flash of green in the corner of their eyes to alert them to a need. A good store (meaning one with a good manager) can communicate well enough to each other to keep things moving.
Also these only initiate a 2-minute opportunity to help a customer about the specific device that she/he is exploring. The one-hour times are only for newbies. YOU with all your skills and knowledge can still walk up to someone with any sophisticated question you might have.
My own observations in Apple Stores are that sometimes the sales assoc. are either all busy or standing around waiting. This gives a good team the ability to flatten the peaks and valleys of service.
Also the biggest problem seems to be people crowding the Genius Bar, waiting their turn. I was in one that was full when a whole class of 6th graders came herding thru the store with chaperones. (I sure never went to shopping mall field trips when I was in school!) But the Apple magic dust fell upon them and I'm sure they are customers for life now.
6-7 minute wait? That's kind of a short wait time from what I noticed. Almost as bad as some cellphone retail stores .
Of course, I would still trust these folks WAY more then the sharks @ Fry's Electronics or some of the PC sales crowd.
BTW: Anyone else notice the Xserve has listed a shipping date of 1-3 days? I wonder why no one has bothered to notify the world a new Mac is being sold?
Because I don't want to be bandwidth stealer (sorta)...http://digitalhooligans.com/blog/upl...nso-711262.png
Let's pile on Apple while assuming the worst!! Yea!!!
I assume that you only get a Green Screen IF you click on a screen button that requests it and I think this would help people who are MORE embarrassed about tracking down the help on their own. Someone who really doesn't want to be disturbed should be able to play with the Mac and maybe even NOT be bothered while the screen stays UNGreen. Thus you get a green screen when you want it.
This way if Apple employees are distributed throughout the store they can always see a flash of green in the corner of their eyes to alert them to a need. A good store (meaning one with a good manager) can communicate well enough to each other to keep things moving.
Also these only initiate a 2-minute opportunity to help a customer about the specific device that she/he is exploring. The one-hour times are only for newbies. YOU with all your skills and knowledge can still walk up to someone with any sophisticated question you might have.
My own observations in Apple Stores are that sometimes the sales assoc. are either all busy or standing around waiting. This gives a good team the ability to flatten the peaks and valleys of service.
Also the biggest problem seems to be people crowding the Genius Bar, waiting their turn. I was in one that was full when a whole class of 6th graders came herding thru the store with chaperones. (I sure never went to shopping mall field trips when I was in school!) But the Apple magic dust fell upon them and I'm sure they are customers for life now.
?????
As for the location, that, sir, shall remain a mystery. Wouldn't want Apple opening up a location right across the street from us, now would we.
I hope you're kidding!
As for the whole service side of things, Apple's stores get lots of people in every day just playing around or checking their e-mail and stuff. Most independent Apple retailers don't get those kinds of patrons or are as open to them. It looks like the whole idea is to better identify the customers who need help from the "visitors."
I hope you're kidding!
As for the whole service side of things, Apple's stores get lots of people in every day just playing around or checking their e-mail and stuff. Most independent Apple retailers don't get those kinds of patrons or are as open to them. It looks like the whole idea is to better identify the customers who need help from the "visitors."
Suffice it to say, we're not in your neighbourhood. (There's a hint in my spelling.) No need to awaken the giant. It's difficult enough to compete with your largest supplier (online store) already.
As for the 'visitors' we get our fair share of them as well. There are polite ways to deal with them such as pointing out some of our clients who happen to offer the services that these 'visitors' require.
They should make Rhonda into an actual lady that appears onto the screen and helps you. Sort of like the lady from the fictitious company "The Hanso Foundation" from the TV show LOST.
Or the wildly sucessful Ms. Dewey.
--------------------------
Wanna get the most out of your mac?
Visit www.MostOfMyMac.com
And you want good deals for your Xmas shopping?
Just visit our Shopping Corner
Suffice it to say, we're not in your neighbourhood. (There's a hint in my spelling.) No need to awaken the giant. It's difficult enough to compete with your largest supplier (online store) already.
As for the 'visitors' we get our fair share of them as well. There are polite ways to deal with them such as pointing out some of our clients who happen to offer the services that these 'visitors' require.
And that's the difference between the independents and Apple.
At least in the larger stores here in NYC, you can actually bring your project in, and work on it in the store. Bring own CD, or DVD (or buy themn there), and finish it too. The only thing Apple will kick you out of the store for doing, is causing a commotion, or visiting porn sites (it IS a family store after all).
You can also bring your PC laptop and hang out while using the WiFi.
Until independents can match those services, they shouldn't complain. Tekserve in NYC does about the same, but they don't have a lot of Apple machines you can use.
I'm not interested in whether a store goes out of business because Apple moves to their city. If Apple is a better experience, more power to them.
It's rather disengenious to say that you don't want to waken Apple to your presense, isn't it? If they don't already know EXACTLY how much product you move, then they wouldn't be a very good company. They probably know more about the "store" you work for, then you do.
Or the wildly sucessful Ms. Dewey.
hey i hadn't seen that one! hehe that's nice... oh and its from microsoft. that's cooler than msn search haha
Rhonda is actually named after a VP or something within Apple named Ron. The whole help screen is his 'baby' so it's named after him.
Also, the Talk Mac demo includes a run through of iPhoto, not Microsoft Word...at least that's what we were told to do.
As for the appointments with Mac Specialist, it's actually showing to have a 'huge' success rate, somewhere in the upper 80%. Considering a typical store doesn't come anywhere close to a CPU per hour per Mac Specialist, it's well worth their time. This could be huge for Apple.