Categorized | All, Engagement

Send your customers away

by Kevin Stirtz

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • PrintFriendly
  • Share

Send your customers away Send your customers away

There’s a coffee shop in London where the owner sends his customers away, into the arms of his competitors. He does this knowing they’ll come back. And when they come back, they’ll probably be more loyal to his coffee shop.

His strategy is surprising but simple. He wants his customers to understand his product. He wants them to know what is available in their market, the good, the bad and the ugly. The more they sample other coffee shops, the more they will develop their own taste in coffee, the beverage and in coffee, the  experience.

He does this for two reasons.

One is he’s a champion barista. He is an acknowledged expert at making coffee. Being an expert means he knows what good coffee is all about. So he’s confident he can compete with anyone on the quality of his product.

But he also does this to engage his customers. He wants them to have an amazing experience in his coffee shop. And they can do that better if they experience more than just his shop. This gives them a frame of reference. It gives them something to compare and contrast against his coffee.

It also starts conversations.

By giving his customers a good reason (free coffee) to sample his competitors and then return to his shop, he is setting the stage for lively and interesting conversations with them. He gets his customers talking with him about something they both enjoy. He creates an experience that goes well beyond a tasty cup of java.

His customers learn more about coffee, helping them discover and refine their preferences. He learns more about them and what they want in their coffee drinking experience. They both win.

How could you engage your customers like this? What might you do to help them be smarter consumers of your product or service while you learn more about what they want?

Other articles you might like:

How to Exceed Your Customer’s Expectations

Customer Service Training 101

Tags: , , , , ,

Categories: All Engagement

This article was written by:

Kevin Stirtz - who has written 621 posts on AmazingServiceGuy.com.

Kevin Stirtz is the Amazing Service Guy, a speaker and trainer who helps organizations of all kinds deliver Amazing Customer Service. His recent book: "More Loyal Customers" has won 5 star reviews at Amazon.com. Kevin lives in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul). More at: author's website.

Contact the author

2 Responses to “Send your customers away”

  1. Interesting – you can use a similar idea when training your employees to give the best customer service.

    Send them to competitors to experience them, come back and discuss!

    They will see many ways they give great service already and many options to do even better!

    Regards

    Martin

Trackbacks/Pingbacks


Leave a Reply

Service Recovery

5 Steps to Avoid “Doing a Toyota.”

When a company makes a mistake, it can be the brightest moment in their history.

Toyota had that opportunity. But they missed their moment. Big time.

How a company reacts, removes the pain, and repairs the emotional connection shows the true colors of that organization more than almost any situation they might encounter.

Technology

Peachtree knows that customer service is cool

Customer service is the new marketing because now companies can no longer control what people are saying about them. Everyday, customers and prospects are ranting and raving about your company on social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Companies that don’t get customer service and don’t react to what customers are talking about are doomed to fail.

Feedback

Focus on customer service in 2010 (finally?)

This may be it. This may be the year that it finally happens. 2010 may just be the year that companies start to focus on their customers and serving them well.

Now, I am cautiously optimistic about this focus on customer service, but let me tell you why I feel this way.

1. Brands are using a focus on customers as a competitive differentiator in their advertisements.

Free Customer Service Tips

Train the Trainer – Amazing Service Toolkit

Now you can improve customer service and save money.

Our new Trainer's Toolkit enables you to conduct a professional customer service seminar in your organization at a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional trainer. Click here to learn more.

Customer Service Tools

Training Courses

Archives