Page 53 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 1

active role at the store, business, and community levels.
Howard Schultz sees the link between involvement and entre-
™
preneurship by noting in an interview with Know , “People
want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They
want to be part of something that touches their hearts.”

Involvement in the Store
One of the best ways to become involved is to look around
your office or store—much like a crime scene investigator—
for clues on how to make the customer experiences and the
business better. One group of baristas at a California Star-
bucks did this and noticed that there were a significant num-
ber of deaf customers visiting regularly. The baristas then
elected to take signing lessons on their own time to commu-
38 nicate with those customers more effectively.
As a result of these efforts, Starbucks reputation in the
deaf community spread well beyond that California location.
In fact, Starbucks is now a prominent meeting location for
deaf patrons in the United States and Canada and is cited on
www.deafcoffee.com, an Internet site with information on
how to join or start a coffee club for deaf patrons. These
clubs serve deaf customers who want to meet, chat, and
drink coffee together at Starbucks and other supportive meet-
ing areas.

In-Store Improvements
Because management encourages Starbucks partners to be
involved in the company, partners often look at how they can
improve the manner in which customer needs are served.
Partner Rick Mace, who worked at the original Starbucks