There are so many ways to connect the idea of the Starbucks effect with THPL, some of them “hokey” and some of them for real (I am hoping that I get it right on this one and you feel it is “real”). And for those of you reading along at home (haha) this blog post is to focused on a way to think about the “Life” dimension of Life, Learning and Fitness.
My observation of people, generally, is that we all like to be treated well, we like choice and we like consistency. We seem to seek out these three attributes when making choices about how to spend our time or our money. And while each of these three attributes are seemingly hard to deliver they do not really cost much to do so – In fact they are essentially free to give anytime and anywhere we offer our product or service to a customer or a friend. The good news is that we have more and more companies (and people) making the time and the effort to ensure that these values / attributes are delivered consistently. And so I suggest that on our THPL mission we need to actively work to maximize the Life component of THPL and we can do this by seeking out those places or people who add to our day and who do not take away from our day (or our life). Think about it this way:
- Why not give people complete choice for how they get a coffee? Or for that matter any made to order product. When you give the power to the consumer to choose they are happy, and you are as well. What the customer orders only has to make sense to them. Too often we try to tell people how they should like something – not sure that gets anyone happy or satisfied – just let go and all will be good.
- Be nice to customers all the time, why not? Seems to me they like it and when they are happy then you are happy.
- Life is so crazy that when your customer finds something they like and they can count on it they become intensely loyal. So, why not just do it the same, great way, each time. Seems so simple and with a great return it should be the base of all we do.
So, this Starbucks Effect thing really does touch Life – it can make the THPL easier to live and also easier for others to embrace. No cost, barely any effort, but tremendous results from the principles of Starbucks written so many years ago, here is an excerpt
The Starbucks Mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit …… and When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers– even if just for a few moments. Sure, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. It’s really about human connection.
THPL in real life, YUP
Ciao
Joe