Newsletter Archives
08.30.05 | Customer Service /Coffee Cruises
The success of your specialty coffee business depends on many variables. Two of the most important are product quality and customer service.
Unless you are buying coffee from a vending machine, your interaction with the people who prepare and serve you your beverage is a significant portion of your experience. Their interaction can either enhance or detract from that experience. In this business, when you are serving someone their morning cup of coffee, you must realize that, in many cases, you may be the first human that this person will come in contact with that day. When someone visits your business outside of those early morning hours, you may well represent a needed and important break from their hectic daily activities. You and your employees' attitudes, your standards of customer service, your ability to make your customers feel comfortable, appreciated, and pampered, will all be major factors in attracting and building a loyal clientele. You and your people can either be the highlight of your customers'day...people they look forward to seeing, or just another typical, cold and impersonal product-for-cash transaction.
Most people...unless their photo is on display in the Post Office, will like to be recognized; they want you to care. When you can remember a customer's special drink, when you are able to greet them by name, and remember something you had talked with them about upon their last visit, you have then mastered a valuable principle of customer service.
We are living in an age that is very impersonal, leaving many people feeling isolated and unappreciated. The only positive aspect of this sad state of affairs is that it provides you with an opportunity to be different than most corporate coffee bars.
You can possess a significant competitive advantage in this business, if you make a commitment to care. Seek out quality employees, people who are upbeat, have great personalities, happy attitudes, and are eager to serve other people. Show them the rewards of service, of making someone's day. Teach them to take their eyes off themselves and to put them on the needs of others.
If you can accomplish these goals, you will have created an atmosphere and attraction that the giants of this industry cannot compete with. A superior service attitude and beverages of uncompromising quality are the foundations of success in this business.
Clarify your mission statement
As an owner, you must make sure your staff understands your mission statement as it relates to the customer. Your mission should be to satisfy your customers' needs (within reason), sending them away happy and eager to return.
When real-life customer situations are bogged down by policies and procedures, your employees can miss the primary goal, which is: Make the Customer Happy!
For example: Telling a customer that they cannot use a coupon because it has expired. This, of course, defeats the coupon's fundamental purpose - to attract customers and capture their willingness to buy. It is better to accept that coupon, even if it is a year old. The only purpose of putting an expiration date on the coupon is to elicit a response within a certain period of time. If a customer presents a coupon that expired two months ago and you say, I'm sorry, this coupon has expired, you will only upset the customer and defeat the intended purpose of the promotion.
Customer service basics
Think in terms of three customer service components that, when combined with quality products, will result in a successful sale:
- The first impression
- The person selling the product
- The lasting impression
When we talk about customer service we are referring to some simple basic rules, such as:
- Greet the customer with a smile.
- Learn the names of your customers.
- Relate to every customer as an individual.
- Recognize people coming in by making voice and eye contact, even when busy.
- Acknowledge the presence and patience of customers waiting in line.
- Maintain a pleasant and friendly attitude.
- Thank them for coming in and invite them to come again.
- Go that extra mile at every opportunity.
- Is this for here or to go?
- Would you like cream and sugar?
- How many sugar packets?
- Would you like skim or regular milk?
- Would you like a single or double shot?
- Would you like whipped cream?
- How about chocolate?
- How about a flavored syrup?
- Would you prefer cinnamon?
- Would you like any of our fresh baked goods to go with that?
- Would you like a straw?
- Can I put a lid on that for you?
- Would you like a napkin?
The customer is always right
Customer service is the attitude that the customer is always right.
If they tell you their blueberry bagel does not have enough blueberries in it, then give them another blueberry bagel, a different flavor, or a refund. If they tell you their coffee drink is not hot enough, pour it back in the pitcher and warm it with the steaming wand.
If they want their milk scalded to 1803⁄4F, explain to them what this does chemically to the milk, but if they still insist...then scald their milk.
The bottom line is you have to give the people what they want.
When things go wrong, subscribing to the principle, "The customer is always right," raises a question: How do you compensate people who are not being taken care of as well as they should be?
This is a policy concern that you need to think through as an owner and make clear to your employees. For example, consider the following scenario:
There are now 15 to 20 people waiting in line for their coffee drinks at your coffee bar. Some of your customers who are standing in line are growing more impatient and irritated with each moment. You know it is unacceptable that they should have to wait so long, but what do you do about it?
We have all had dining experiences where our order was fouled up. Perhaps the kitchen forgot to prepare one of the entrees on your order, and the rest of your party is eating while one person waits 20 minutes for their food. When it finally arrives, everyone else is done eating. The outcome is always burdensome and frustrating, resulting usually in customer dissatisfaction, loss of respect for the service staff, and possible loss of future business. To make matters worse, no one even offered an apology!
You need to establish a policy ahead of time, for dealing with these potentially costly situations in a timely fashion. It is important to set up a policy of compensation that empowers your employees with the freedom to make corrective decisions when you are not there, or to get you involved in making those decisions when you are. You want an employee to be able to say to that customer, "I'm sorry you had to wait so long for your drink, there will be no charge today."
Even though the customer may respond with, "Oh, that's not necessary, it's okay, I understand," You want to be able to say: "No, really. When you come in here we want you to be served in a timely fashion. I don't feel good about how long you had to wait, so please, have today's coffee on us."
Something like a love affair
You need to think of your customer service as a love affair between you and your customers. You express this love for your customers by caring about their welfare, and by serving them to the best of your abilities.
This is why it is so important to search for the right employees with service-oriented attitudes. If you hire someone who is not deeply concerned about other people, and who may feel that customer service is demeaning, the love affair is not going to flourish.
If you are conducting a love affair, you try to do everything possible to make your beloved happy; you buy flowers, candy, listen to them, open the door of the car. Making that person happy becomes your goal in life. Their welfare is always in your thoughts.
In customer service, you express your caring for your customers with thoughts like:
Today I am going to spread as much good will as possible. I will be personally interested in every person I come in contact with today. I will make sure that every person gets the best product and service possible. I will let them know how much they are appreciated, and will definitely invite them back.
All of these behaviors are saying: You are important to me and I care about you.
If you can do these things with every customer, you will be successful. Love your customers, your business will prosper...and on a personal level, you will establish gratifying relationships with your customers.
COFFEE CRUISES: THE ULTIMATE COFFEE VACATION!
Coffee Cruises, sponsored by The American Barista & Coffee School and Fresh Cup Magazine, invites coffee professionals and coffee lovers of the world to set sail on a coffee adventure while relaxing and enjoying exotic ports of call. Mix and mingle with colleagues in specialty coffee. Take classes sponsored by the American Barista & Coffee School and Fresh Cup Magazine, and learn from some of the world's leading coffee experts. Immerse yourself in the brew while cruising the lands of coffee.
The inaugural coffee cruise will take you on an eight-night excursion on the Mexican Riviera, to ports in Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Pureto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.
Coffee Cruise: Mexico sets sail from Los Angeles on February 5, 2006. Pricing starts at $800 for the cruise and $100 for the class registration. Space is limited so book early. For more info visit coffeecruises.com or email info@coffeecruises.com or call 800.655.3955.
