The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty by Carmine Gallo Page A

customer emotions that drive or destroy value. Emotions that destroy value are irritation, hurriedness, neglect, and frustration. Emotions that build value are trust, happiness, pleased state, and care. 2 Multitasking leaves everyone feeling as though they have been acknowledged, served, and cared for. That helps build trust, happiness, and pleasure. It’s the Apple way.
    The Apple Store is insanely awesome. You leave the place happy.
    —Carlos B.

Master Multitasking in Three Steps
     
    My wife, Vanessa Gallo, manages our practice, Gallo Communications Group, where we provide communication skills coaching to some of the world’s most admired brands. She has a master’s degree in developmental psychology and worked as an instructor at San Francisco State University as well as a corporate trainer for a large, publicly traded company for years before her role at Gallo Communications. Vanessa applies psychology to all facets of communication and customer service, including the art of multitasking.
    Early in Vanessa’s career, she also managed a tasting room for the largest winery in northern California’s Livermore Valley. If you’ve ever been to a very busy winery, then you know it requires the best multitasking skills an employee has to offer. At any given time there could be dozens of people in the room, some who are enjoying their wine while the staff provides education on each glass. Staff must move from person to person, provide insight, and keep track of where the person is in the tasting process, in addition to closing transactions at the register upon checkouts. Additional patrons are behind the first row of people already at the bar. They are waiting or trying to find room to squeeze in. Meanwhile, an entire tour busof visitors could show up pouring fifty people through the door. When I visited Vanessa, I had two thoughts. The first: I would never want this job! The second: Everyone in the room was calm, perfectly choreographed, and the customers were enjoying a memorable experience.
    When I asked Vanessa about why effective multitasking is so important when handling a packed house, she gave me an interesting way to look at it. When you invite people to your home for a party, the hospitable routine should include greeting your guests upon arrival, directing them where to put their coats, showing them where the drinks and goodies are, introducing them to other guests who’ve already arrived, and possibly giving them a tour. This routine requires a host who can multitask and do so in a way that makes the guests feel welcomed and content, which ultimately leads to a successful party.
    Customer service associates need to put on their party hats and treat their next busy shifts like they are hosting a get-together in their home, to ensure their customers feel welcomed and satisfied when they leave. More times than not, though, associates freeze up when too many customers show up at the same time. The common response is no response. Vanessa recalled a recent visit to a large home improvement store where she stood with an inquiring expression near an associate who was talking with another customer for more than ten minutes before he acknowledged that she was waiting for help! (She would have sought another associate for help had there been one around.) Would you wait ten minutes to greet one of your party arrivals? Not if you’re a good host.

Three Steps to a Happier Customer
     
    Some people are simply better at multitasking than others, but it is a skill that can be acquired and, in the real world, employers may not have the luxury to screen for customer service reps who are multitasking superstars. In her role as a tasting room manager, Vanessa quickly learned that if her employees were skilled at multitasking, customer satisfaction would rise, sales would go up, and bonuses would be bigger! Needless to say, it didn’t take the tasting roomteam long to buy in. The system that Vanessa developed, based on