Double Shot: More on Starbucks-Style Service
November 11th, 2008 by Jeb Foster
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Starbucks’ service, but there was another admirable thing I forgot to mention: they don’t assume they’ve earned your business the second you’ve walked in the door.
Contrast that with how most businesses operate: they figure if they see you at the door (or hear you on the other end of the line), you’re already sold, no extra effort on their part required. The customer came to me, the misguided thinking goes, now it’s just time to efficiently take their order and shoo them away to make room for the next guy.
Back to Starbucks. For one thing, you can usually count on a greeting when you walk in the door, not just when you approach the cashier. When you leave, coffee in hand, you often get a parting thank you. It’s fast-food expediency minus fast food indifference.
In essence, Starbucks treats their customers like perennial prospects–people who aren’t sold once, but rather, must perpetually be sold, day after day, morning after morning. It’s the mentality that acknowledges that customers are indeed a scarce resource.
