DISCUSSION

Apple Genius Training Secrets Revealed!

September 14, 2012Written by Tom Ryan

In leaking a recent copy of Apple's "Genius Training" manual, Gizmodo writer Sam Biddle at one point described the document glowingly as "an exhaustive manual to understanding customers and making them happy." At the same time, with its role playing, suggested phrases and even banned words, he described it more darkly as a handbook in "psychological training."

The confidential manual reportedly details the intensive 14-day training period that trainees have to undergo. It includes technical skills but focuses heavily on guiding customer interactions, particularly around diffusing tense situations and subsequently empowering them.

"Show empathy," the manual advises. "Our stores are a happy place...We deepen and restore relationships, we help them discover, we enrich their lives."

A nifty acronym — (A)pproach, (P)robe, (P)resent, (L)isten, and (E)nd — guides the steps to any customer encounter.

Being that it's Apple, the extreme elements received major media attention:

Banned words: Strict guidelines are set for what geniuses can and can't say. Banned words include "bomb," "crash" or "hang" while milder suggestions to describe computer problems include "unexpectedly quits" or "stops responding."
Non-verbal cues: One page provides lessons on reading customers' nonverbal communication. For example, "Unbuttoned coat" signals cooperation; "Short breaths" spells frustration.
Associate call outs: A section called "Fearless Feedback" suggests phrases to express criticism to other associates, such as "deadly dull" or "disorganized."

Mr. Biddle states that the term "empathy" is "repeated ad nauseum" throughout the manual. One section offered role playing exercises for turning a negative viewpoint from the consumer into a positive. It instructs geniuses to follow the "Three Fs: Feel, Felt and Found. This works especially well when the customer is mistaken or has bad information."

If customers complain that Apple's prices are too expensive, for example, genius staff are told to say: "I can see how you'd feel this way. I felt the price was a little high, but I found it's a real value because of all the built-in software and capabilities."

Also being that it's Apple, the manual received some praise for its empathy obsession while critics found the suggested wordplay and approaches to be manipulative and robotic.

Some wondered whether associate-training manuals from retailers with similar hyperbolic advice was standard protocol. A few reported Apple geniuses responding to the article indicated many of the extreme lessons — such as staff criticism code words — were generally ignored on the selling floor.

Gizmodo's Mr. Biddle appears to conclude that regardless of the psychobabble, creating "good vibes" has been instrumental to Apple Stores' success. Wrote Mr. Biddle, "No matter how much the Apple Store comes off as some kind of smiling likeminded computer commune, it's still a store above all — just one that puts an enormous amount of effort behind getting inside your head."

Discussion Thread0