Page 42 - The Starbucks Experience

Make It Your Own

nia, for example. Lydia met the love of her life in Starbucks.
While that meeting alone created a special connection to the
coffee shop for Lydia, partners strengthened that connection
in genuine ways.
Lydia reports that she felt the staff cared about her, and so
she kept them posted on the development of her relationship
and her engagement. Lydia says, “When we went back and
told the two clerks at Starbucks, they were so excited! They
put our picture up on the board, and we were like celebrities
at that store.”
Lydia invited the partners to her wedding, and they, in
turn, donated coffee for her special event. Unfortunately, in
the first year of their marriage, Lydia’s husband was diag-
nosed with cancer. Starbucks again served as an important
connection: “While he was in treatment, in and out of the
hospital, there were only two things he wanted—his Grande 27
Drip and his Hazelnut Sticky Bun.” Lydia’s husband died just
after their first anniversary. Lydia recalls, “When he passed
away, I was devastated. Amazingly, the clerks from Starbucks
came to the funeral, and you could see that they were gen-
uinely affected by the loss.”
Who wants to get connected and have to feel the roller
coaster of emotions that comes with that? In many busi-
nesses, connections never happen. It’s simply a matter of
transactions. Then again, what’s the value to customers if a
service business offers only bland, sterile service? And why
would employees want to participate in such empty
exchanges? Ultimately, by connecting on a personal level,
both customers and employees find enhanced meaning in
ordinary moments.
When it comes to the ability of human contact to enhance
™
a product, Howard Schultz, in an interview with Know , put
it this way: