“The enemy.” In a recent conversation with one of my co-workers, he asked me if he should consider another local coffee shop to be “the enemy” now that he worked here. I told him my take is that there is absolutely no reason he should feel that way, and for two reasons: Value and trust.
The short and sweet of the situation is that I see lot of customers come in, day after day, and they pay us a fair bit of their earned dollars to prepare them coffee. Some of them are regulars whose orders are an almost-automated dance that commences the moment they open the door and walk in. Others have never been to Quills, let alone Louisville, but they made a very special trip from out of town, found an odd, almost-illegal parking spot on a side street, and made their way into line at a spot that looked like it might be where they should queue up to order. For both types of customers — and everything in between — I’m grateful. I want them to experience great coffee and wonderful service in equal measure. They should feel that they are getting a freakishly great steal on their espresso or pour-over or whatever it is they purchase. And if not? If they feel like they could be getting better value elsewhere at another coffee shop?
They should go there, because we don’t deserve their business, period. If they get better value elsewhere, and I really care about the value my customers receive… well, you see where I’m going with this, right?
That’s not to say that I don’t like to hear about great experiences they’ve had in other shops, because I do. I’ve often made recommendations, telling customers to go to Sunergos on a certain day and time because Kenny or Jesse will be on bar, and I know those two will take care of anyone I send their way. The great thing about that? If my customers have great experiences, they’ll come back and thank me, telling me about the wonderful cappuccino they had. That, friends, is yet another way to build trust between you and your customers. It shows you’re confident in your ability to consistently deliver value, and that you truly care about them, the customer, even if you may lose just the teeniest bit of business in the short-term. In the long-term, though? They still think of you as the expert, the expert they trust.
lachris
November 29, 2011
I’ve been doing that exact thing since we’ve been open here in LaGrange and before, while we were selling pourovers at the farmers market. We frequently direct our customers to Baxter and Preston to find good coffee and service, no matter who is working. I figure whoever is working at one of these shops, someone I send that way should be able to find good coffee. What goes around, comes around!