Would You Let Apple Store Employees Give You Fashion Advice?

As the debut of the Apple watch approaches, Apple is training its employees to offer consumers fashion advice.

In order to showcase and sell the Apple Watch, retail employees will be trained to provide personal fashion and styling advice to customers, according to employees briefed on the plans.

Apple is training its retail force to “build trust, enabling the employee to serve as a valued fashion advisor during the purchase process.” The  new sales techniques will “encourage iPhone upgrades, assist with gifting, and guide customers in watch and strap choices.”

Some of the things you might hear if you approach an salesman in an Apple store are:  “you seem to have a fun style. I think the Pink Sport band would match your style perfectly,” or “the white strap looks great on you.”

Other sales guidelines:

• Make comments about why you think an option is a good choice rather than discussing why an option may not be a good choice.
• Explain how earlier customers made decisions between models.
• Use other accessories [already] on a customer as examples for which model would look best.
• If the customer is with another person, make sure to get the opinion of that person on which model should be purchased.
• Don’t focus on price as a reason to recommend an option because many customers may be willing to spend more for a model that makes them feel good.

The Apple Watch will go on sale April 24th.