talkmagic.co.uk

by **Tomo** » Aug 29th, '12, 10:31

Apple's Store Training Manual has been leaked to Gizdomo and makes for pretty interesting reading:

http://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a- ... ing-manual

To me, these verbal techniques are about as smooth as Egyptian whisky or a beauty product advert.

by **A J Irving** » Aug 29th, '12, 13:03

This is the sort of rubbish you get taught in any retail job now, it just looks like Apple have it better organised than other companies. When I worked for a particular well known stationers/bookshop/anythingthatwillsellpleasejustbuystufffromus, the would introduce new flavour of the minute sales techniques every six months or so- usually insulting the long term staff who already knew how to speak to customers.

On one occasion we were taught to always use open questions so instead or asking 'Can I help you?' you had to ask 'how can I help you?' so that you 'start a dialogue with the customer'. I soon found the massive flaw in this when the first person I asked replyed 'You can't'. I walked away feeling like a total tool and never bothered with it again. :oops:

The only staff who ever bought into this garbage would all be quickly promoted for being team players which consequently meant that those who were supposedly excellent at selling because of the training very rarely ventured onto the sales floor. So that worked out well then... :roll:

by **The4thCircle** » Aug 30th, '12, 18:57

I always figured NLP was woofle dust for mentalists...

-Stacy

by **vajra** » Sep 2nd, '12, 11:01

I worked at Starbucks about ten years ago. They had a similar ethos of mangling the English language with a view to 'educating' the customers in coffee house culture. It would be funny if it wasn't so dehumanising.

by **Mandrake** » Sep 2nd, '12, 13:50

Well, if we’re going down that track then here’s my four penn’orth!

The fast food joints, who insist they are actually fast service restaurants, have successfully mangled the language for years! Firstly, they aren’t restaurants, they’re are quick food service outlets on a very limited range of options, all based on grilling or frying meat of one kind or another with ‘sides’ of varying interest. There’s an insistence of referring to a burger as a ‘sandwich’ which it isn’t. McDonalds, Burger King and KFC all fall into this category. I guess Subway are an exception in some ways.

Petrol stations and high street stores all seem to offer ‘meal deals’ which includes a prepacked sandwich – two slices of bread, some spread and varying fillings – plus a packet of crisps/potato chips and a soft drink. That ain’t a meal, it’s a snack.

Transport and haulage firms have long since gone and morphed into ‘Logistics’ companies – what the heck is a logistic? Some assure us that they are delivering solutions- stuff that, if I use their services I want them to deliver my goods! I once asked a logistics rep what it actually meant and he admitted it was just a buzzword and meant diddly squat within the industry!

Banks, insurance companies and other financial outfits all tell us that they have a great range of ‘products’. To me, a product needs to have a physical presence with a shape, size and weight so an insurance policy isn’t a product. If someone can show me how to hold a mortgage or an ISA in my hand I’ll change my opinion.

Bottom line, all these examples are hype and ego boosting misdirections designed to make the activities sound far more important and vital than they actually are. If those firms need to enhance their activities like that then I view them all with a very jaundiced eye indeed! I much prefer to call a spade a spade, or even a bloody shovel, rather than a manually operated excavation device.

OK rant over, normal service has now been resumed....

by **Tomo** » Sep 2nd, '12, 14:09

McDonald's only has to whistle in their TV adverts to call future heart attacks into being.

And no one used the present progressive tense before McDonald's used it in a slogan. Every time I hear someone say "I'm loving it" I ask them why they're selling burgers. :wink:

by **Mandrake** » Sep 2nd, '12, 15:00

Very grudgingly, I have to give them, Coca Cola and similar conglomerates full marks for advertising, marketing and promotion. Shows what sort of profits are being made....

by **seamagu** » Sep 12th, '12, 20:33

I'm loving it....sorry, not sure why I said that.....

but I am

by **kevmundo** » Sep 12th, '12, 20:56

I once saw a sign in a McDonald's window. It said, "we used to be burger company serving people, bit now we're a people company serving burgers." I threw up in my lap. I never did have that burger but I always feel sick whenever I hear that statement. Maybe NLP is real!