The all-electric Tesla Model S is turning heads at the Detroit Auto Show this week. If you want to learn more about the car you might consider heading to the mall. That’s right, Tesla stores are being built where consumers live part of their lives—at the shopping mall. It’s a design philosophy that is not unlike the idea behind locating Apple stores in malls in 2001. Former Apple Retail executive George Blankenship is now Vice President of Sales & Ownership Experience at Tesla.
In his role, Blankenship is reinventing the car buying experience by making sure people leave the store with a smile. “We’re not selling you anything. We want you to feel differently when you leave the store. People start talking about Tesla not because we’re pounding it into them but because they’ve experienced it themselves. The goal is to engage you in a way that you’ve never experience in any other store.”
When I walked in to Tesla’s new concept design store in Santana Row, an upscale outdoor mall in San Jose, I noticed many similarities with Apple stores. “This reminds me of an Apple store. It’s very similar,” I commented to Blankenship. “It’s not similar to an Apple store, it’s exactly like an Apple store, Blankenship explained. Just as Apple had reinvented the computer buying experience, Blankenship is reinventing the car buying experience with a 3-step philosophy: surprise, entice, inform.
Surprise. The six newly designed Tesla ‘concept stores’ are located in malls in suburbs like San Jose, Oak Brook, Bellevue, and Newport Beach. The element of surprise attracts people to enter the store (or to think about going in on their next visit). Most people are caught off guard to see cars next to the Coach store. That’s the way Blankenship wants it. “They say to themselves, I don’t expect to see a car dealer here and I certainly don’t expect to see a car that looks like that.”
Entice. Everything about the store looks and feels different than a typical auto dealer, including the employees. “The product specialist has a single job—to make sure that when you leave, you’re smiling.” Engagement is a key word at Tesla. Employees are not on commission. They are hired because they are passionate about the technology and its opportunity to change the world. They are warm, friendly, knowledgeable, and are taught to answer questions instead of pushing sales. The store design itself is clean, spacious, well-lit, and uncluttered. The store even has small tables and stools facing the front windows. People are encouraged to drop in, sit and relax even if they are not looking at cars. “One night I saw a group of about nine girls in their twenties just chatting. I love to see that because they want to be here.” It doesn’t matter what they’re doing as long as they feel great about being here,” said Blankenship.
Inform. Interactive exhibits and touchscreens are placed on the wall to encourage people to engage with the brand. Videos—“teslamonials”— of current owners are also being shown on the displays. Although the product specialists are knowledgeable, no amount of explanation can replace a one-minute video showing a young boy taking his first ride in a Tesla Roadster. The boy’s exhilarated reaction tells the story.
One touchscreen encourages people to customize their own car by choosing the paint color, wheel, interior, etc. Once its built, the customer ‘throws’ the image and it reappears on the giant digital display covering the back wall of the Tesla store.
“We make it exciting,” says Blankenship. “You remember these things. It’s different. You feel differently about being here than you do at a typical car dealership.”
Everything about the Tesla concept stores, from the open design to the relaxed and passionate employees, is intended to take the pressure and agitation out of the car buying experience. “We’re not selling anything. We’re engaging and informing and we let people ask the questions. We’re delivering information. We’re engaging with people and making them feel good,” says Blankenship.
Blankenship’s experience at Apple and Tesla provides a valuable lesson for anyone who wants to elevate the customer experience. According to Blankenship, “Companies are always trying to figure out how they are going to sell something to somebody. Instead figure out how you want your customer to feel.”