Page 121 - The Starbucks Experience
P. 121
PRINCIPLE 3
caramel Macchiato. When she realized she didn’t have her
wallet, the barista said, “It’s okay, you look like you really
need it. Pay next time.” The result, says Laura, is that “the
worst days of my life are so easily turned around the second
I step into Starbucks.”
If, at the end of each day, you and your colleagues have
invested the extra energy to delight others rather than simply
satisfy them, you will ultimately be rewarded with extraor-
dinary results. Brad Stevens, vice president of Marketing at
Starbucks, sums it up well: “By creating consistently intimate
stores, we have become the living room of the neighborhood.
We are not content to be liked. We want to be loved. We are
not looking for romantic love or the love a mother has for a
child. We are looking for that rare situation where people say,
‘Oh, I love that company.’ Or, ‘I love that drink. I love those
106 guys.’ We want that sense of affinity. I know it’s audacious
to have that as a goal, to want to be a beloved company, but
Create Your Own Experience
• What can you do to enhance the predictability of your
business, either on the product or on the service front?
• How can you ensure that your business delights customers
more consistently and becomes a part of their routines
and rituals?
• How can you achieve status as a beloved company?
• What can you do to turn breakdowns into memorable
breakthroughs for your customers?