hello everyone marco montemagno here
digital domination summit 2013 and the
next guest I really can I say that I
love the next guest
Carmina gallo hi Carmen how you going I
love you too you know I you know first
of all I’m Italian so I say Carmina but
I always hear people say carmine so I
should I guess the right pronounce is
carmine probably it’s very Americanized
in America they called me carmine but I
prefer the Italian translation which is
Carmina gallo sounds so much nicer
doesn’t it yeah it’s fantastic you know
and for people watching digital
domination summit videos just two words
about Carmina I think we really know
each other virtually for a long time now
years probably I don’t know if he’s
exactly of five six years I think and we
never met each other but this is you
know will happen sooner or later and
obviously guys Carmina is for me one of
the best business coach communication
coach and also my master for
presentation if I have to do a
presentation
I always good to check Carmen books and
try to get ideas for the next
presentation so Carmen is the go-to guy
for me on on these topics which is so
important because you know communication
for four company is such a fundamental
activity so coming up let’s start
immediately from your pre your last book
the Apple experience big success and you
did a very very interesting analysis on
how Apple built that they build their
brand and especially I was really
enjoying the part on Apple Store because
the Apple stores are you know an amazing
idea of how a company should work so
let’s start from a very simple question
how a company can build a brand like
Apple well look you may not have the
type of product right that capture the
imagination
millions of millions of consumers around
the world but you can certainly improve
your product the way is communicated and
the way you deliver the experience to
your customers there is no question in
my mind after spending one year
researching the Apple Retail Store as
well as other companies Marco that
inspired the Apple Store right for
example the ritz-carlton was a direct
inspiration to the Apple Store so I
studied all of the brands related to the
Apple Store and the executives who left
the Apple Store and what they did
afterwards and there are some very
common themes that came out to me
that goes so far beyond the products and
that’s why I really believe that anybody
can learn from what Apple is done
especially as a brand and in its retail
footprint to improve their own company
in any way especially if they’re young
small or medium sized businesses and
what I learned above all marco was that
it goes the the success of Apple retail
there is so far beyond the products they
sell it actually starts with the people
and how they are hired trained motivated
and also taught to communicate to you
and me the customer when we walk into an
Apple Store if ninety it’s 90 percent
communication 10% product and that
applies to any business whether you’re
on the scale of Apple or whether you’re
just starting out excuse me comment but
I was at the Apple store I think three
days ago in London and one thing that I
was really thinking about is the
following if you enter a store usually
in Italy I think the first question that
people say is that when you enter the
store the employee usually say hey can I
help and my classic answer is no I’m
just looking you know that’s that
immediately that my approach at the
Apple store
no one asked me can I help just they
just arrived and they tell me a story
like you have you been here before yes
no if
then they start to tell me a story and
then at the end I say please can you
help me you know they totally revert
this approach is it done on purpose or
the biggest lesson that I learned from
the Apple store is something that I’ve
communicated now for several months to
many other brands and they’re using it
rather successfully the Apple store
teaches its employees to walk the
customer through five steps okay it’s
actually called the five steps of
service and Markel this is written down
it’s given to everybody on a very small
card that fits in their wallet alright
and if you think of Apple as an acronym
a P P L to the beginning of one of the
steps step number one which which you
experience is called approach with a
personal warm welcome
that means greet somebody as soon as
they walk through the door wrong but not
in a not in a canned or phony way just
recognize something about maybe what
they’re wearing or well you know or who
they’re with or why they’re there or if
they’re if they happen to be standing
around the iPod the iPhone table you can
walk by and say don’t those new iPhones
look really cool you know in other words
it’s not a it’s not a phony gesture like
welcome to the Apple Store may I help
you
it’s just it’s a little bit more
informal conversational it is to greet
you and to make you feel welcome as soon
as you get into the store will also
notice if you do talk to a salesperson
for any length of time for more than you
know a few seconds they will get your
name Marco and they will try to use your
name at least twice in the conversation
to come as we all love hearing our name
young yeah but the second the second
step is very important it’s starts with
the first P it’s called probe politely
to understand the customers needs
we’re simply means I’m going to begin
asking you a series of questions open
and closed and in questions that will
help
me direct you to the product that best
fits your needs
right what I really what I really enjoy
about my experience and learning about
the Apple store because they are a
non-commissioned sales floor they are
not pressured to make sure that you buy
a product by the time you enter the
store or by the time you leave they want
to make sure that you feel good about
the experience and that you recommend
the experience to your friends or family
excelling so they they will actually
taught sometimes they don’t like saying
this publicly but sometimes they will
actually talk you down from a more
expensive system that you don’t
necessarily need literally happens in
retail today Marco but their point is
they want to make sure that you having
good experience and that you feel good
about the experience they don’t want to
feel like you were pressured into buying
something it sounds simple but very few
retailers do that today right and to
make India cream so all right a approach
P is good throw politely to understand
your needs all right I don’t I don’t
know what I can what I can offer you if
I don’t really understand what your
needs are right the third step is
present a solution that you can take
home today okay so let’s say Marco you
say you know Carmen it the this iPad is
it’s $800 it’s too expensive I’m gonna
look around I would say that’s fine
please take your time Marco by the way
we have free classes here at the Apple
Store where you can learn so much more
about all the cool things you can do
with the iPad and you don’t need to be
an owner just sign up I can sign you up
for one they happen here every afternoon
okay cool
in other words I’ve given you just a
little something extra and I’ve invited
you back the fourth step is listen for
any issues or concerns that maybe you
don’t even bring up you don’t you don’t
tell me but I’m listening for any issues
that you might have for example if you
told me
well this iPad is too expensive
well maybe you don’t need the
top-of-the-line iPad okay maybe you just
need the 16 gigabyte iPad yeah and
finally and I like this step the best
end with a fond farewell and an
invitation to return and this is that
these are actually the terms they use
markup and with a fond farewell or sedan
but I will invite you to return so I can
say mark well I’m sure you’re going to
enjoy your new iPad you said that you
wanted to learn more about using a photo
albums we have free classes in the store
beginning tomorrow and we’ll teach you
how to use a photo album when you first
make your your first photo album would
you come back to the store and show it
to me
I’d love to see it right yeah you
probably won’t come back to the store
mark but i made me feel really good
about this relationship and at the end
of this entire transaction when they
send you a survey which they do in the
mail right or or by email they send you
a survey Apple does on a scale of 0 to
10 how likely are you to recommend this
experience to a friend there is there’s
no way market you would answer anything
less than 8 9 or 10 young if but if if I
have walked you through those five steps
but see it’s all communication the five
steps are the key to Apple retail
success the most profitable store on the
planet and it’s all communication guy is
amazing I was thinking that I recently
bought a laptop no not I don’t know any
kind of Windows 8 laptop whatever just
to I need backup and I I enter in a
chain of you know selling this kind of
stuff and they did exactly the opposite
of all the steps that you did and when I
came out I thought I will never come
back you know here but I mean it was
nothing related with the product I mean
I’m happy with that product but I’m
really I had an aural experience so and
every time I enter in an Apple store
even if I’m not an Apple evangelist you
know I don’t believe in the Church of
Steve or
right but is an amazing experience and
and I would say a lot of companies they
try to copy it is right they they try to
copy here in the United States we have a
number of companies including Microsoft
okay that built that build stores that
look exactly like the Apple store not a
little exactly okay but there’s
something missing and the reason why
it’s missing is because of this constant
training in the way employees
communicate with their customers but
mercury if I can apply this there was
one thing I learned I’d love to apply
this to your audience today your
audience you have chosen thought leaders
from many different fields that’s the
secret to creativity that is the secret
to unleashing innovation and creative
ideas you don’t want to hear from people
just in your field you want to apply
ideas from completely different pieces
and this is one of the biggest
revelations I learned after studying the
Apple Store
I learned and this is a very few people
actually know this the apples the best
innovations in the Apple Store were
copied from brands and companies
completely outside of consumer
electronics series when you walk into
the when you walk to the back of an
Apple store you see the Genius Bar the
Genius Bar was a direct inspiration from
the ritz-carlton okay executives Steve
Jobs and some other people they decided
what what brands should we study this
was in 2001 when they were about to open
the store what branch should we study
and they decided Steve Jobs said I don’t
want to study another computer company
what is the best experience for people
in terms of the customer service they
said well probably a great hotel like
ritz-carlton young so when you walked in
it in the back of a ritz-carlton there’s
a bar so now there’s a Genius Bar in the
Apple Store instead of a dispensing
alcohol right they dispense advice but
that was a
lesson from the ritz-carlton and also
you may notice something else Martha
when you walk into a an Apple store you
will not find the cashier okay there’s
no cash in apples right over here but
there is a concierge so many of the best
ideas gradually you know many of the
best ideas were copied from different
you know from different brands but that
was the that was one of the brilliant
innovative and creative secrets of Steve
Jobs he always looked outside of this
field for inspiration which is why I I’m
enjoying what you’re doing here today
which is really getting some of the best
and you think Carmina that you can apply
these principles even if you’re not a
multi-billion dollar brand who already
has you know amazing successful products
and everything because as you say you
know I would think yeah it’s just
communication communication principles
right let me give you let me give you
one true example that actually surprised
me I received a an email few months ago
and now I’ve become a started
relationship with this physician he’s a
doctor here in the United States he’s
actually in Dallas he read the book he
looked through the five steps of service
just as you and I are talking and he
said to himself well we’re building a
new hospital here in Dallas why can’t we
apply the five steps to the patient the
patient and the doctor experience so now
when you walk into this new hospital
that they’re still building they’re
gonna have six steps it’s called we we
care wec ar e right now they’re very
similar steps that apply to the patient
block their experience so again they’re
it’s forcing people to think just a
little differently about how they
communicate their brand their
organization and what they’re doing
through their customers
amazing one thing coming that I’m
curious about is just a off topic this
but
when you enter in an inn in an apple
store now okay or when you have to deal
with Apple I mean you are the person who
probably studied more deeper you know
the Apple system Apple bread and also
before I just remember to to the guys
watching this video I mean Carmina wrote
two books about Steve Jobs presentation
secrets of Steve Jobs which is the Bible
of presentation for me and innovation
secrets of Steve Jobs I problem with the
title because in Italian was translated
with totally different titles so I have
is there is the right title but one one
war was more about the presentation
technique and strategy from Steve Jobs
and the other one was more about
innovation and innovation business
overall Steve Jobs and so when you have
to deal with Apple they see you you know
like when someone go in a casino and win
everything and cuz you know say no
please don’t come anymore or they see
you know as a resource for them to keep
on working on their bread all the way
that’s a very good question the reason
why I actually wrote the Apple
experience I wrote a book that you know
the presentation secrets of Steve Jobs
because I consider Steve Jobs I still
consider Steve based on YouTube probably
the best presenter of corporate
information young chronics you know that
anybody can ever do i I’m on YouTube
every day it’s very hard to find a
better presenter than those old clips
from Steve Jobs introducing the MacBook
Air or the iPhone for the first time
they’re just really wonderful
presentations I received a call from a
manager at via at one of the Apple
retail stores here in the US okay and
although Apple corporate doesn’t promote
my books of course they’re very
secretive some managers within some of
the Apple stores were using presentation
secrets to give to their new employees
to teach them how to communicate better
and that’s when I realized and this is a
true story the manager said carmine even
though we’re not giving a power
point presentation we’re presenting all
the time yeah think of this Dale’s floor
as the stage and that’s when I realized
oh there’s more to it maybe I should
write a book just on Apple retail but
the one thing I want to tell all of our
viewers Marco is that there are great
presenters everywhere it could be it
could be in the cubicle next to you it
could be your boss it could be your CEO
many people do things they may not have
a complete package like Steve Jobs did
but they do things that you can learn
from you should always be looking have
different communicators and thinking
what is it that they do that connects
with their audience you can because
there’s a lot of things that you can
learn obviously from pretty much anybody
and one of the one of the great lessons
that I got when this was in 2009 I
believe that’s when you and I first
first met I saw a presentation that you
gave and I believe it was on YouTube or
maybe it was on on your website where
you got the audience this was in Italy
you actually got them engaged if you
were you were doing exercises and
activities they got the entire audience
participating and interacting and I
learned something from that I didn’t
know you at the time but I thought wait
a minute I should be creating more more
opportunities within my own
presentations where I can engage and get
the audience to participate in that
presentation not just deliver
information but get them to participate
and I learned that directly from you and
I consider you a absolutely magnificent
presenter and I’m not just saying that
you know the point is you can learn from
so many people you don’t have to just
think about Steve Jobs although we did
it well every many there are many great
presenters in different countries and
the beauty of YouTube now speaking of
digital domination is that you can
actually see these presenters for
yourself see exactly what they’re doing
to connect with their audience
but one thing coming up I’ll be back on
presentation topic in in a minute
I was curious to have your opinion about
several you know we have so many social
media platform at the moment so I was
thinking when you do your your business
coaching activity your communication
coaching activity how do you what do you
suggest to to your clients I mean for
instance Twitter is so powerful in this
moment it’s any tip that you can give on
how to survive all this platform around
that so many so many times you know
companies try or to use everything or to
use nothing or they do little tests that
there is a little bit of confusion I
think on on this topic what’s your take
on it yeah I am I am NOT a big fan of
the way many brands and individuals are
using Twitter I think Twitter is one of
the great platforms for reaching and
connecting with your customers and in
ways that we’re never possible before
Twitter and I know you you accept that
but so many brands just don’t seem to
take advantage of that they use Twitter
as a broadcast medium so every once in a
while they’ll post a press release
instead the brands that are that are
really using Twitter effectively our
brands like virgin they’re in the States
we have Virgin America I know in the UK
obviously you have Virgin Atlantic but
here in the States Virgin America is
very active on Twitter if you tweet and
go ahead and try this some of your
viewers go ahead and try this if you
tweet at Virgin America most likely they
will respond to you and they have fun
with you I have actually been on a
number of planes because they have Wi-Fi
on their planes where people are
interacting with the Virgin America
brand that they have about three
full-time social media experts on the
plane okay and they’re seen and what
they like or what they don’t like or
they’re posting pictures and they get
responses
in other words there’s a real person
behind the Twitter account and they’re
having fun with customers they were
answering questions by their customers
true story I was on a Virgin America
plane and I forgot something in the seat
I forgot a file folder so I tested them
this was a Sunday afternoon I was in a
grocery store and I forgot the plane
ride was on Saturday so I said to myself
well let me see if they leave an answer
so I tweeted them in a grocery store and
I said what I forgot my folder I on this
plane on this flight what should I do
about it
you know by the time I left the grocery
store a few minutes later on a Sunday I
had a response directly from Virgin
America and it was a very customized
response oh so sorry to hear that
here’s exactly what you should do and
they sent me a link
the point is Marco that I cannot tell
you how many brands I interact with and
I’m a journalist yeah I write for
forbes.com so I’m constantly asking
individuals and brands if they wanted me
in my column or I’m asking them
questions I can’t tell you how few
brands I actually get a response from
Khomeini foremost nobody there’s only a
handful of people or brands that respond
on Twitter so if you’re gonna have a
social media presence would you please
use it something with it yeah you’re
right absolutely right I was thinking
that I I had a problem once in Italy
with a telecommunication company and not
only they they did every answer to my
question okay but they when they reply
they were pissed off with me so they
were attacking their client yeah so this
is crazy
you brought up a good point you brought
up a good point on twittering and you
ask the question you know what’s the one
thing that that brands an individual
should can do more effectively okay pick
a social media platform
don’t try to be everything to everybody
okay there’s a million platforms
understood go with some of the biggest
for you know to start with especially
but if you’re gonna if you’re gonna use
a platform use it you know have real
conversations with people don’t just use
it the broadcast marketing messages that
doesn’t get us anywhere
I hope this this phrase is in Creative
Commons Carmina if you’re gonna pick a
platform and if you think I use it use
it because yeah actually company forget
this little detail but it’s very
important and another point Carmen
obviously I always stay here to talk
hours with you but I have a few minutes
more so I’ll try to be to zip all my
questions
another point is about the story of a
company and everyone say are now so
important story is so important you have
to tell a good story story tell there
are the new superheroes and everything
but few people say yeah but how should I
deliver my story how should I create my
story so that that’s the point you know
because you can create an audible story
so a story enough is not it’s not it’s
not it’s not enough so what do you think
what’s your your deep on this point for
business who want to create a good story
that’s a very good question because
you’re right I think we hear so much
about storytelling you know what does
that mean a good story the best advice I
can offer it is personal as you can it’s
amazing in corporations today people
want to look and sound just like
everybody else
I just just few days ago I talked a web
designer we’re working on a financial
website and the words they use or not
they’re just regular everyday plain
English common words it has to be
there’s very formalized they’re really
financial sound okay because everybody
else sounds like that well how are you
going to differentiate yourself if you
don’t have fun with your brand right if
you don’t seem to be able within a very
you know – well the reason when I
visited as a journalist headquarters
they ain’t let me interview because they
were confident of the people they hire
and it confident about the wind and so I
welcome that they wanted me to take
pictures they wanted me to take the
video and do all the loading on YouTube
but to show people having fun and having
a conversation in other words they way
they could win a story by letting people
in and showing you their alter and
talking about their culture our YouTube
website Instagram and again this is not
a matter of product I mean it’s a matter
of culture is a matter of communication
is a matter of you know creating a
a situation where this kind of approach
become doable for everyone so it’s
really interesting that we’ll sell shoes
yeah shoes there’s a million companies
that sell shoes Yeah right special yeah
because it goes it’s culture I had the
opportunity to do an interview with Jeff
basis once and I remember it was I think
one month after they both Zappos and so
I say sorry Jeff I don’t understand
anything probably of this world and you
know much better than me but why did you
buy a company who sells shoes so I
exactly ask these kind of things and he
was looking at me like oh you really
don’t get it Jeff whatever you say it’s
communist let me end this shot I was
really enjoy really talking with you
Kerry I’m so happy to have you but let
me finish about presentations every
company do presentation presentations
every day and as you say in an Apple
Store I mean those guys they do a
presentation every second we do it
customer they are on stage and I think
startups entrepreneurs wanna preneur
they have to pitch their company their
startup to investors or to find partners
or co-founders and so on can you try to
give you know very simple tips for
creating a better presentation which is
obviously a topic where you know you
could speak ears but did you discover
any kind of pattern that you see when
you when you see successful present
presenters you think gosh those guys
they more or less have always this kind
of of the habits yeah absolutely
obviously you and I could talk for for a
long time on this topic let me give you
your viewers something very tangible and
actionable and we this gets back to
school
before you create a presentation that’s
mission critical in any way it’s
pitching to investors that you need
customers explaining your product and
strategy before you create a
presentation remember it has nothing to
do with PowerPoint or Prezi you know one
of the other topper – you’re discussing
it doesn’t matter what the tool is it’s
all about the story so have a story
first
don’t Oh they’ve been PowerPoint or
Prezi or Apple Keynote think about what
your story is what is the story behind
the product and then you can create a
multimedia presentation that complements
a story well what do I mean by
multimedia presentation well if the
story has something to do with something
you experienced I don’t want to see a
table I don’t want to see a pie chart I
want to see a picture of you having that
experience if the story has to do with
something youyou saw online or a video
you saw on YouTube let’s see let’s see
the video right my chart and always and
always remember that the city rules we
the science of this smart go so take my
word for it people do not process the
information well when there are too many
words on the slide there’s a science
behind why that’s why that’s it so very
simple slides or images and text few
words and make sure that you tell the
story first compliment a story it’s not
about the slide it’s about the story I
so I don’t remember when but there is a
legendary video from Bobby Bobby
McFerrin the the singer and once he had
to do a presentation to explain music I
don’t know and instead doing
presentation he just started to make the
audience sing why he was moving and it
was an amazing video I mean I thought
gosh you see he could start with slaw
it’s an everything or talking about
music he just you know did a different
thing and audience were so happy what a
and and anyone can actually look that up
I know what’s on YouTube yeah but it was
brilliant he didn’t use slides he didn’t
give a formal presentation
he just said here’s how musics created a
little audience participation he’s
saying a note they sing and no you know
he walking the audience through the
sequence and then in the end he said and
that’s it yeah it’s very memorable
Gabrielle last question um what are your
favorite tools for business productivity
or to be more efficient
do you have three apps or three website
or three tools that you particularly
love well the first the first one has to
do with communication right and it’s in
that SlideShare SlideShare not mom
that of course is the is the premier
website for uploading and sharing
presentations when especially in a
corporate environment if you have a
brand and you are delivering
presentations that talk about your
product or your service go ahead and
upload it to SlideShare comm share your
presentation share and openly they get
30 million 40 million something like
that visitors per month and it’s just an
another way of branding yourself and
getting your content down there
SlideShare I visit every week I also use
tweet excuse me Carmen you you did some
amazing presentations I remember one
about Foursquare for instance so guys go
have a look to come in a presentation
because our excellent templates to fall
also to create interesting presentation
to post on SlideShare sort and I think
you’ll learn something also for the
presentations that I uploaded I wish I
could take credit for them I used a
professional presentation design firm
right that doesn’t mean you have to
spend a lot of money
but some people are just better than
others at visually displaying
information on so go ahead a look around
it’s okay for you not to design every
one of your slides maybe you can have
somebody else do it might be a better
designer yeah absolutely and you have a
couple of other tools yes the other one
is TweetDeck okay what I really like
about TweetDeck remember we talked about
you have to be very engaged on Twitter
if you do want to send things out you
can actually schedule tweets on tweet
that so that they can go out during
certain times of the day rather than you
physically having to tweet it out as a
single time so that as I say as an
entrepreneur and a small business owner
myself I find that has been very helpful
so I can tweet out information at all
times of the day even when I’m sleepy so
I use the app that’s been very powerful
finally well because that’s what I heard
this name is something I a column on
leadership and communication for
forbes.com
and I write quite frequently every week
so you can follow me on for topic we’d
like to be more excellent carmina thank
you so much Carmina Gallo I just check
tell me can you your website Carmen
Gallo com
that’s the easiest one all right calm
and then from there you can go deep in
all the activities Carmen thank you so
much and good luck for everything thanks for inviting me
digital domination summit 2013 and the
next guest I really can I say that I
love the next guest
Carmina gallo hi Carmen how you going I
love you too you know I you know first
of all I’m Italian so I say Carmina but
I always hear people say carmine so I
should I guess the right pronounce is
carmine probably it’s very Americanized
in America they called me carmine but I
prefer the Italian translation which is
Carmina gallo sounds so much nicer
doesn’t it yeah it’s fantastic you know
and for people watching digital
domination summit videos just two words
about Carmina I think we really know
each other virtually for a long time now
years probably I don’t know if he’s
exactly of five six years I think and we
never met each other but this is you
know will happen sooner or later and
obviously guys Carmina is for me one of
the best business coach communication
coach and also my master for
presentation if I have to do a
presentation
I always good to check Carmen books and
try to get ideas for the next
presentation so Carmen is the go-to guy
for me on on these topics which is so
important because you know communication
for four company is such a fundamental
activity so coming up let’s start
immediately from your pre your last book
the Apple experience big success and you
did a very very interesting analysis on
how Apple built that they build their
brand and especially I was really
enjoying the part on Apple Store because
the Apple stores are you know an amazing
idea of how a company should work so
let’s start from a very simple question
how a company can build a brand like
Apple well look you may not have the
type of product right that capture the
imagination
millions of millions of consumers around
the world but you can certainly improve
your product the way is communicated and
the way you deliver the experience to
your customers there is no question in
my mind after spending one year
researching the Apple Retail Store as
well as other companies Marco that
inspired the Apple Store right for
example the ritz-carlton was a direct
inspiration to the Apple Store so I
studied all of the brands related to the
Apple Store and the executives who left
the Apple Store and what they did
afterwards and there are some very
common themes that came out to me
that goes so far beyond the products and
that’s why I really believe that anybody
can learn from what Apple is done
especially as a brand and in its retail
footprint to improve their own company
in any way especially if they’re young
small or medium sized businesses and
what I learned above all marco was that
it goes the the success of Apple retail
there is so far beyond the products they
sell it actually starts with the people
and how they are hired trained motivated
and also taught to communicate to you
and me the customer when we walk into an
Apple Store if ninety it’s 90 percent
communication 10% product and that
applies to any business whether you’re
on the scale of Apple or whether you’re
just starting out excuse me comment but
I was at the Apple store I think three
days ago in London and one thing that I
was really thinking about is the
following if you enter a store usually
in Italy I think the first question that
people say is that when you enter the
store the employee usually say hey can I
help and my classic answer is no I’m
just looking you know that’s that
immediately that my approach at the
Apple store
no one asked me can I help just they
just arrived and they tell me a story
like you have you been here before yes
no if
then they start to tell me a story and
then at the end I say please can you
help me you know they totally revert
this approach is it done on purpose or
the biggest lesson that I learned from
the Apple store is something that I’ve
communicated now for several months to
many other brands and they’re using it
rather successfully the Apple store
teaches its employees to walk the
customer through five steps okay it’s
actually called the five steps of
service and Markel this is written down
it’s given to everybody on a very small
card that fits in their wallet alright
and if you think of Apple as an acronym
a P P L to the beginning of one of the
steps step number one which which you
experience is called approach with a
personal warm welcome
that means greet somebody as soon as
they walk through the door wrong but not
in a not in a canned or phony way just
recognize something about maybe what
they’re wearing or well you know or who
they’re with or why they’re there or if
they’re if they happen to be standing
around the iPod the iPhone table you can
walk by and say don’t those new iPhones
look really cool you know in other words
it’s not a it’s not a phony gesture like
welcome to the Apple Store may I help
you
it’s just it’s a little bit more
informal conversational it is to greet
you and to make you feel welcome as soon
as you get into the store will also
notice if you do talk to a salesperson
for any length of time for more than you
know a few seconds they will get your
name Marco and they will try to use your
name at least twice in the conversation
to come as we all love hearing our name
young yeah but the second the second
step is very important it’s starts with
the first P it’s called probe politely
to understand the customers needs
we’re simply means I’m going to begin
asking you a series of questions open
and closed and in questions that will
help
me direct you to the product that best
fits your needs
right what I really what I really enjoy
about my experience and learning about
the Apple store because they are a
non-commissioned sales floor they are
not pressured to make sure that you buy
a product by the time you enter the
store or by the time you leave they want
to make sure that you feel good about
the experience and that you recommend
the experience to your friends or family
excelling so they they will actually
taught sometimes they don’t like saying
this publicly but sometimes they will
actually talk you down from a more
expensive system that you don’t
necessarily need literally happens in
retail today Marco but their point is
they want to make sure that you having
good experience and that you feel good
about the experience they don’t want to
feel like you were pressured into buying
something it sounds simple but very few
retailers do that today right and to
make India cream so all right a approach
P is good throw politely to understand
your needs all right I don’t I don’t
know what I can what I can offer you if
I don’t really understand what your
needs are right the third step is
present a solution that you can take
home today okay so let’s say Marco you
say you know Carmen it the this iPad is
it’s $800 it’s too expensive I’m gonna
look around I would say that’s fine
please take your time Marco by the way
we have free classes here at the Apple
Store where you can learn so much more
about all the cool things you can do
with the iPad and you don’t need to be
an owner just sign up I can sign you up
for one they happen here every afternoon
okay cool
in other words I’ve given you just a
little something extra and I’ve invited
you back the fourth step is listen for
any issues or concerns that maybe you
don’t even bring up you don’t you don’t
tell me but I’m listening for any issues
that you might have for example if you
told me
well this iPad is too expensive
well maybe you don’t need the
top-of-the-line iPad okay maybe you just
need the 16 gigabyte iPad yeah and
finally and I like this step the best
end with a fond farewell and an
invitation to return and this is that
these are actually the terms they use
markup and with a fond farewell or sedan
but I will invite you to return so I can
say mark well I’m sure you’re going to
enjoy your new iPad you said that you
wanted to learn more about using a photo
albums we have free classes in the store
beginning tomorrow and we’ll teach you
how to use a photo album when you first
make your your first photo album would
you come back to the store and show it
to me
I’d love to see it right yeah you
probably won’t come back to the store
mark but i made me feel really good
about this relationship and at the end
of this entire transaction when they
send you a survey which they do in the
mail right or or by email they send you
a survey Apple does on a scale of 0 to
10 how likely are you to recommend this
experience to a friend there is there’s
no way market you would answer anything
less than 8 9 or 10 young if but if if I
have walked you through those five steps
but see it’s all communication the five
steps are the key to Apple retail
success the most profitable store on the
planet and it’s all communication guy is
amazing I was thinking that I recently
bought a laptop no not I don’t know any
kind of Windows 8 laptop whatever just
to I need backup and I I enter in a
chain of you know selling this kind of
stuff and they did exactly the opposite
of all the steps that you did and when I
came out I thought I will never come
back you know here but I mean it was
nothing related with the product I mean
I’m happy with that product but I’m
really I had an aural experience so and
every time I enter in an Apple store
even if I’m not an Apple evangelist you
know I don’t believe in the Church of
Steve or
right but is an amazing experience and
and I would say a lot of companies they
try to copy it is right they they try to
copy here in the United States we have a
number of companies including Microsoft
okay that built that build stores that
look exactly like the Apple store not a
little exactly okay but there’s
something missing and the reason why
it’s missing is because of this constant
training in the way employees
communicate with their customers but
mercury if I can apply this there was
one thing I learned I’d love to apply
this to your audience today your
audience you have chosen thought leaders
from many different fields that’s the
secret to creativity that is the secret
to unleashing innovation and creative
ideas you don’t want to hear from people
just in your field you want to apply
ideas from completely different pieces
and this is one of the biggest
revelations I learned after studying the
Apple Store
I learned and this is a very few people
actually know this the apples the best
innovations in the Apple Store were
copied from brands and companies
completely outside of consumer
electronics series when you walk into
the when you walk to the back of an
Apple store you see the Genius Bar the
Genius Bar was a direct inspiration from
the ritz-carlton okay executives Steve
Jobs and some other people they decided
what what brands should we study this
was in 2001 when they were about to open
the store what branch should we study
and they decided Steve Jobs said I don’t
want to study another computer company
what is the best experience for people
in terms of the customer service they
said well probably a great hotel like
ritz-carlton young so when you walked in
it in the back of a ritz-carlton there’s
a bar so now there’s a Genius Bar in the
Apple Store instead of a dispensing
alcohol right they dispense advice but
that was a
lesson from the ritz-carlton and also
you may notice something else Martha
when you walk into a an Apple store you
will not find the cashier okay there’s
no cash in apples right over here but
there is a concierge so many of the best
ideas gradually you know many of the
best ideas were copied from different
you know from different brands but that
was the that was one of the brilliant
innovative and creative secrets of Steve
Jobs he always looked outside of this
field for inspiration which is why I I’m
enjoying what you’re doing here today
which is really getting some of the best
and you think Carmina that you can apply
these principles even if you’re not a
multi-billion dollar brand who already
has you know amazing successful products
and everything because as you say you
know I would think yeah it’s just
communication communication principles
right let me give you let me give you
one true example that actually surprised
me I received a an email few months ago
and now I’ve become a started
relationship with this physician he’s a
doctor here in the United States he’s
actually in Dallas he read the book he
looked through the five steps of service
just as you and I are talking and he
said to himself well we’re building a
new hospital here in Dallas why can’t we
apply the five steps to the patient the
patient and the doctor experience so now
when you walk into this new hospital
that they’re still building they’re
gonna have six steps it’s called we we
care wec ar e right now they’re very
similar steps that apply to the patient
block their experience so again they’re
it’s forcing people to think just a
little differently about how they
communicate their brand their
organization and what they’re doing
through their customers
amazing one thing coming that I’m
curious about is just a off topic this
but
when you enter in an inn in an apple
store now okay or when you have to deal
with Apple I mean you are the person who
probably studied more deeper you know
the Apple system Apple bread and also
before I just remember to to the guys
watching this video I mean Carmina wrote
two books about Steve Jobs presentation
secrets of Steve Jobs which is the Bible
of presentation for me and innovation
secrets of Steve Jobs I problem with the
title because in Italian was translated
with totally different titles so I have
is there is the right title but one one
war was more about the presentation
technique and strategy from Steve Jobs
and the other one was more about
innovation and innovation business
overall Steve Jobs and so when you have
to deal with Apple they see you you know
like when someone go in a casino and win
everything and cuz you know say no
please don’t come anymore or they see
you know as a resource for them to keep
on working on their bread all the way
that’s a very good question the reason
why I actually wrote the Apple
experience I wrote a book that you know
the presentation secrets of Steve Jobs
because I consider Steve Jobs I still
consider Steve based on YouTube probably
the best presenter of corporate
information young chronics you know that
anybody can ever do i I’m on YouTube
every day it’s very hard to find a
better presenter than those old clips
from Steve Jobs introducing the MacBook
Air or the iPhone for the first time
they’re just really wonderful
presentations I received a call from a
manager at via at one of the Apple
retail stores here in the US okay and
although Apple corporate doesn’t promote
my books of course they’re very
secretive some managers within some of
the Apple stores were using presentation
secrets to give to their new employees
to teach them how to communicate better
and that’s when I realized and this is a
true story the manager said carmine even
though we’re not giving a power
point presentation we’re presenting all
the time yeah think of this Dale’s floor
as the stage and that’s when I realized
oh there’s more to it maybe I should
write a book just on Apple retail but
the one thing I want to tell all of our
viewers Marco is that there are great
presenters everywhere it could be it
could be in the cubicle next to you it
could be your boss it could be your CEO
many people do things they may not have
a complete package like Steve Jobs did
but they do things that you can learn
from you should always be looking have
different communicators and thinking
what is it that they do that connects
with their audience you can because
there’s a lot of things that you can
learn obviously from pretty much anybody
and one of the one of the great lessons
that I got when this was in 2009 I
believe that’s when you and I first
first met I saw a presentation that you
gave and I believe it was on YouTube or
maybe it was on on your website where
you got the audience this was in Italy
you actually got them engaged if you
were you were doing exercises and
activities they got the entire audience
participating and interacting and I
learned something from that I didn’t
know you at the time but I thought wait
a minute I should be creating more more
opportunities within my own
presentations where I can engage and get
the audience to participate in that
presentation not just deliver
information but get them to participate
and I learned that directly from you and
I consider you a absolutely magnificent
presenter and I’m not just saying that
you know the point is you can learn from
so many people you don’t have to just
think about Steve Jobs although we did
it well every many there are many great
presenters in different countries and
the beauty of YouTube now speaking of
digital domination is that you can
actually see these presenters for
yourself see exactly what they’re doing
to connect with their audience
but one thing coming up I’ll be back on
presentation topic in in a minute
I was curious to have your opinion about
several you know we have so many social
media platform at the moment so I was
thinking when you do your your business
coaching activity your communication
coaching activity how do you what do you
suggest to to your clients I mean for
instance Twitter is so powerful in this
moment it’s any tip that you can give on
how to survive all this platform around
that so many so many times you know
companies try or to use everything or to
use nothing or they do little tests that
there is a little bit of confusion I
think on on this topic what’s your take
on it yeah I am I am NOT a big fan of
the way many brands and individuals are
using Twitter I think Twitter is one of
the great platforms for reaching and
connecting with your customers and in
ways that we’re never possible before
Twitter and I know you you accept that
but so many brands just don’t seem to
take advantage of that they use Twitter
as a broadcast medium so every once in a
while they’ll post a press release
instead the brands that are that are
really using Twitter effectively our
brands like virgin they’re in the States
we have Virgin America I know in the UK
obviously you have Virgin Atlantic but
here in the States Virgin America is
very active on Twitter if you tweet and
go ahead and try this some of your
viewers go ahead and try this if you
tweet at Virgin America most likely they
will respond to you and they have fun
with you I have actually been on a
number of planes because they have Wi-Fi
on their planes where people are
interacting with the Virgin America
brand that they have about three
full-time social media experts on the
plane okay and they’re seen and what
they like or what they don’t like or
they’re posting pictures and they get
responses
in other words there’s a real person
behind the Twitter account and they’re
having fun with customers they were
answering questions by their customers
true story I was on a Virgin America
plane and I forgot something in the seat
I forgot a file folder so I tested them
this was a Sunday afternoon I was in a
grocery store and I forgot the plane
ride was on Saturday so I said to myself
well let me see if they leave an answer
so I tweeted them in a grocery store and
I said what I forgot my folder I on this
plane on this flight what should I do
about it
you know by the time I left the grocery
store a few minutes later on a Sunday I
had a response directly from Virgin
America and it was a very customized
response oh so sorry to hear that
here’s exactly what you should do and
they sent me a link
the point is Marco that I cannot tell
you how many brands I interact with and
I’m a journalist yeah I write for
forbes.com so I’m constantly asking
individuals and brands if they wanted me
in my column or I’m asking them
questions I can’t tell you how few
brands I actually get a response from
Khomeini foremost nobody there’s only a
handful of people or brands that respond
on Twitter so if you’re gonna have a
social media presence would you please
use it something with it yeah you’re
right absolutely right I was thinking
that I I had a problem once in Italy
with a telecommunication company and not
only they they did every answer to my
question okay but they when they reply
they were pissed off with me so they
were attacking their client yeah so this
is crazy
you brought up a good point you brought
up a good point on twittering and you
ask the question you know what’s the one
thing that that brands an individual
should can do more effectively okay pick
a social media platform
don’t try to be everything to everybody
okay there’s a million platforms
understood go with some of the biggest
for you know to start with especially
but if you’re gonna if you’re gonna use
a platform use it you know have real
conversations with people don’t just use
it the broadcast marketing messages that
doesn’t get us anywhere
I hope this this phrase is in Creative
Commons Carmina if you’re gonna pick a
platform and if you think I use it use
it because yeah actually company forget
this little detail but it’s very
important and another point Carmen
obviously I always stay here to talk
hours with you but I have a few minutes
more so I’ll try to be to zip all my
questions
another point is about the story of a
company and everyone say are now so
important story is so important you have
to tell a good story story tell there
are the new superheroes and everything
but few people say yeah but how should I
deliver my story how should I create my
story so that that’s the point you know
because you can create an audible story
so a story enough is not it’s not it’s
not it’s not enough so what do you think
what’s your your deep on this point for
business who want to create a good story
that’s a very good question because
you’re right I think we hear so much
about storytelling you know what does
that mean a good story the best advice I
can offer it is personal as you can it’s
amazing in corporations today people
want to look and sound just like
everybody else
I just just few days ago I talked a web
designer we’re working on a financial
website and the words they use or not
they’re just regular everyday plain
English common words it has to be
there’s very formalized they’re really
financial sound okay because everybody
else sounds like that well how are you
going to differentiate yourself if you
don’t have fun with your brand right if
you don’t seem to be able within a very
you know – well the reason when I
visited as a journalist headquarters
they ain’t let me interview because they
were confident of the people they hire
and it confident about the wind and so I
welcome that they wanted me to take
pictures they wanted me to take the
video and do all the loading on YouTube
but to show people having fun and having
a conversation in other words they way
they could win a story by letting people
in and showing you their alter and
talking about their culture our YouTube
website Instagram and again this is not
a matter of product I mean it’s a matter
of culture is a matter of communication
is a matter of you know creating a
a situation where this kind of approach
become doable for everyone so it’s
really interesting that we’ll sell shoes
yeah shoes there’s a million companies
that sell shoes Yeah right special yeah
because it goes it’s culture I had the
opportunity to do an interview with Jeff
basis once and I remember it was I think
one month after they both Zappos and so
I say sorry Jeff I don’t understand
anything probably of this world and you
know much better than me but why did you
buy a company who sells shoes so I
exactly ask these kind of things and he
was looking at me like oh you really
don’t get it Jeff whatever you say it’s
communist let me end this shot I was
really enjoy really talking with you
Kerry I’m so happy to have you but let
me finish about presentations every
company do presentation presentations
every day and as you say in an Apple
Store I mean those guys they do a
presentation every second we do it
customer they are on stage and I think
startups entrepreneurs wanna preneur
they have to pitch their company their
startup to investors or to find partners
or co-founders and so on can you try to
give you know very simple tips for
creating a better presentation which is
obviously a topic where you know you
could speak ears but did you discover
any kind of pattern that you see when
you when you see successful present
presenters you think gosh those guys
they more or less have always this kind
of of the habits yeah absolutely
obviously you and I could talk for for a
long time on this topic let me give you
your viewers something very tangible and
actionable and we this gets back to
school
before you create a presentation that’s
mission critical in any way it’s
pitching to investors that you need
customers explaining your product and
strategy before you create a
presentation remember it has nothing to
do with PowerPoint or Prezi you know one
of the other topper – you’re discussing
it doesn’t matter what the tool is it’s
all about the story so have a story
first
don’t Oh they’ve been PowerPoint or
Prezi or Apple Keynote think about what
your story is what is the story behind
the product and then you can create a
multimedia presentation that complements
a story well what do I mean by
multimedia presentation well if the
story has something to do with something
you experienced I don’t want to see a
table I don’t want to see a pie chart I
want to see a picture of you having that
experience if the story has to do with
something youyou saw online or a video
you saw on YouTube let’s see let’s see
the video right my chart and always and
always remember that the city rules we
the science of this smart go so take my
word for it people do not process the
information well when there are too many
words on the slide there’s a science
behind why that’s why that’s it so very
simple slides or images and text few
words and make sure that you tell the
story first compliment a story it’s not
about the slide it’s about the story I
so I don’t remember when but there is a
legendary video from Bobby Bobby
McFerrin the the singer and once he had
to do a presentation to explain music I
don’t know and instead doing
presentation he just started to make the
audience sing why he was moving and it
was an amazing video I mean I thought
gosh you see he could start with slaw
it’s an everything or talking about
music he just you know did a different
thing and audience were so happy what a
and and anyone can actually look that up
I know what’s on YouTube yeah but it was
brilliant he didn’t use slides he didn’t
give a formal presentation
he just said here’s how musics created a
little audience participation he’s
saying a note they sing and no you know
he walking the audience through the
sequence and then in the end he said and
that’s it yeah it’s very memorable
Gabrielle last question um what are your
favorite tools for business productivity
or to be more efficient
do you have three apps or three website
or three tools that you particularly
love well the first the first one has to
do with communication right and it’s in
that SlideShare SlideShare not mom
that of course is the is the premier
website for uploading and sharing
presentations when especially in a
corporate environment if you have a
brand and you are delivering
presentations that talk about your
product or your service go ahead and
upload it to SlideShare comm share your
presentation share and openly they get
30 million 40 million something like
that visitors per month and it’s just an
another way of branding yourself and
getting your content down there
SlideShare I visit every week I also use
tweet excuse me Carmen you you did some
amazing presentations I remember one
about Foursquare for instance so guys go
have a look to come in a presentation
because our excellent templates to fall
also to create interesting presentation
to post on SlideShare sort and I think
you’ll learn something also for the
presentations that I uploaded I wish I
could take credit for them I used a
professional presentation design firm
right that doesn’t mean you have to
spend a lot of money
but some people are just better than
others at visually displaying
information on so go ahead a look around
it’s okay for you not to design every
one of your slides maybe you can have
somebody else do it might be a better
designer yeah absolutely and you have a
couple of other tools yes the other one
is TweetDeck okay what I really like
about TweetDeck remember we talked about
you have to be very engaged on Twitter
if you do want to send things out you
can actually schedule tweets on tweet
that so that they can go out during
certain times of the day rather than you
physically having to tweet it out as a
single time so that as I say as an
entrepreneur and a small business owner
myself I find that has been very helpful
so I can tweet out information at all
times of the day even when I’m sleepy so
I use the app that’s been very powerful
finally well because that’s what I heard
this name is something I a column on
leadership and communication for
forbes.com
and I write quite frequently every week
so you can follow me on for topic we’d
like to be more excellent carmina thank
you so much Carmina Gallo I just check
tell me can you your website Carmen
Gallo com
that’s the easiest one all right calm
and then from there you can go deep in
all the activities Carmen thank you so
much and good luck for everything thanks for inviting me
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