So, there I was, just dropped the kids at school, rushing to get to the office, and my brain is saying- must have chai, must have chai.  Recently, in an effort to save cash, I have been my own Barista, skipping my morning visit to Starbucks. Today was an exception, in so many ways.

Sitting 8 cars deep at my local Starbucks drive-thru, I am beginning to think- stupid idea.  We start to move along at a decent clip, but my mood is fading- quickly.  I order my venti soy chai, no foam and move forward.  Thankfully no sales pitch for a muffin or some other expensive add on- part of Starbucks brand I don’t like.

I proceed to the window, it opens, and to my surprise, there is the nicest, happiest young hip dude, I think I have every seen.  He says- “Well, good morning, how are you?”.  Me, gruffly, I’m fine.  ”How are you?” He replies “I am amazing!”.  No joke.

In those 3 simple words, my mood has changed from yucky, to approaching some where near amazing.  He asks me if I have a milk allergy and if I like egg nog.  He offers to make me a sample of egg nog and chai for a new holiday treat.  I always wonder where Starbucks finds these people, but today I didn’t care.  I was just thrilled to have someone make my beloved drink for me, and give me a reason to start my day in a better place- an amazing place.  This is the part of Starbucks brand I love!

You can say what you want about Starbucks- too expensive, too corporate etc..  What every company should realize is they get it.  How you treat your customers defines your brand, plain and simple. Your brand is not your logo, your website, or even your product, it is solely built on how you treat your customers- period.

Starbucks employees from the bottom to the top, from the front lines to the exec’s, have worked hard to create a culture that encourages and really demands customers are treated the Starbucks way.  And today, it was Amazing! Which is why their brand thrives even today in tough times.

Tags: Amazing service, Branding, customer experience, customer experience management, customer service, happy customers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.