THE
STARBUCKS EXPERIENCE - Your Professional Services Guide to
the Best Customer Service Attitude
Have you read "The Starbucks Experience - 5 Principles
for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary" by Joseph A.
Michelli? If not, get yourself to the nearest bookstore and
buy it (yes, buy it, it's a keeper).
The little coffee company from the West Coast has increased
their stock price over 5000 percent since 1992 - so if you
had purchased $10,000 in the Starbucks IPO your investment
would be worth approximately $650,000 today!!
They open 5 stores A DAY every day of the year!
They serve over 35 million customers per week!
They are consistently recognized by Fortune as one of
America's "most admired" companies and best employers.
But what does this mean to you and your professional
services firm? Nothing and everything.
Nothing
- in that you're not a retail, service outlet selling grande
non-fat mocha latte's.
Everything
- in that they have a lot to teach ANY business who would
like to truly understand the following principles for
success:
How to -
· create a personalized customer experience
· stimulate business growth
· generate profits
· energize employees
· secure customer loyalty
· reach out to communities
· listen to individual team members and clients
· seize growth opportunities
· custom design an experience that benefits everyone
involved
ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Very successfully.
They accomplish all of this by focusing on the following 5
Key Principles, which are thoroughly discussed in the book:
1-Make It Your Own
2-Everything Matters
3-Surprise and Delight
4-Embrace Resistance
5-Leave Your Mark
There is also an internal book that Starbucks gives to its
partners (employees) called The Green Apron Book. It
talks about 'ways of being' to be successful at Starbucks.
These are the ways:
Be welcoming
Be genuine
Be knowledgeable
Be considerate
Be involved
If you consider these 'ways of being', isn't it possible,
even likely that these 'ways' would be very useful in the
professional services business world?
Let's look at each one in the context of your firm:
Be welcoming:
reassess your front office policies and presentation and your own
presentation when greeting clients in the office. Be
welcoming - it's powerful.
Be genuine:
In ANY business or human interaction I think that this is
important and very effective for building relationships. Be
genuine and trustworthy.
Be knowledgeable:
This is something that clients will generally expect from their
accounting professionals anyway, but make sure you truly are
knowledgeable - keep current, pursue professional
development on a regular basis, and develop a genuine love
of lifelong learning. Also, broaden your knowledge base to
include more subjects outside your profession. Be
knowledgeable about life.
Be considerate: Treat people with respect. All people. It will not only show
respect to your clients, but you'll also show respect to
people who will become clients due to the way you deal with
people. Be considerate to all people.
Be involved: Do more than just report on your clients financial activities
from last year. Find out about your clients. What are their
goals? What are their challenges? When do they need a
succession plan in place? How is the family? Develop a
relationship with them, beyond the simple transaction you
complete. Be involved and care.
Read this book. Learn the 5 Principles and apply them to
YOUR business. Starbucks has a lot more to offer us than
just coffee.
Debra
Power Your Practice© 2007
Power
Your Practice does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of
any statement or other information and materials provided in
this newsletter. All articles and other information and
materials in this newsletter are provided for general
information purposes only.
