Page 119 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 3

Delighting Customers Even When
Things Go Wrong
Mistakes happen. In business, what often matters most is
how a company and its staff respond when a mistake is
brought to their attention. Companies often hope that a mis-
take can be remedied in a way that salvages their relationship
with the customer. But, what if the breakdown leads to a
breakthrough that actually delights!
Starbucks leadership understands that unhappy customers
represent opportunities to improve the experience. Gregg
Johnson, Starbucks senior vice president of Emerging Busi-
nesses, notes, “While we don’t always get the opportunity to
have a second chance with a customer, occasionally people
will let us know how we could have made their experience
better. When that gift is given, we need to seize it. By exam-
104 ining an individual customer’s dissatisfaction, we have a
chance not only to regain the trust of that customer, but to
more broadly fix a process that is likely affecting other cus-
tomers as well.”
For example, Starbucks encourages all partners to do what
they can to please customers when their exact needs are not
met. One customer, Darrick Rochili, reports, “I went to the
Starbucks near my office to get a grande white chocolate
mocha. The server told me that they were out of white choco-
late. He asked if he could make me another drink. I asked
for a regular mocha, and guess what? He told me that the
drink would be on the house because they ran out of what
I wanted. I say that’s great customer service. I would have
been okay without the free drink, but by doing this, Star-
bucks got a repeat customer who will spread good words
about the company.”