August 16, 2006,
Dear
{FIRST_NAME},
A regular
customer went into the local Starbucks and wanted a cinnamon roll.
He was in luck—there was one left. The guy made a point of
starting his day at Starbucks with a coffee and cinnamon roll.
Charlie
was carrying the hallowed last cinnamon roll to the register when
it fell on
the floor. "Uh oh, I’m toast," Charlie
said to himself.
Charlie
confessed to the customer, "I’m so sorry. I
can’t believe it, but I dropped your cinnamon roll. Can I get
you an apple fritter or donut instead?"
The
customer was not happy and vented his frustration Lori at the register. “Why don’t you get more cinnamon rolls?” asked
the guy. “You are constantly running out of them. You guys
used to get what your customers really wanted. I think Starbucks
is just getting too corporate.” Lori had no explanation.
“I guess I’ll
just have to go to another Starbucks and see if they can help me.”
Lori
handed the customer his coffee and he left scowling. From then
on he was known as Grumpy Cinnamon Roll Guy.
Grumpy
Cinnamon Roll Guy came in a few days later for his coffee and cinnamon
roll.
Lori waited on him again and was able to give
him a cinnamon roll that hadn’t hit the floor. Because Starbucks
creates a climate of wanting to provide excellent customer service,
Lori apologized again for the previous problem and asked him his
name, which was Paul.
The
next time Lori worked she had a hunch Paul would be in so she set
aside a
cinnamon roll in a little box and wrote Paul’s
name on it and drew a little smiley face.
Sure
enough, Paul did come in. He ordered his usual and by the time
he got to the register his personalized cinnamon roll was waiting
for him. Lori was working at the coffee bar and watched for his response.
He looked down in surprise at the box, saw Lori across the store,
and broke into a shy grin. He was no longer Grumpy Cinnamon Roll
Guy.
Do we cater to people who are grumpy and demanding by giving them
what they want? Not always. Do we put a little thought into how we
can serve our customers better? Absolutely.
It takes
creativity, consistency and skill to get to a place of service
on par with
Starbucks. We have opportunities like this every
day to go the extra mile. It’s easy to take a few minutes to
set aside a $2 cinnamon roll. It’s a lot harder to be gracious
with a $10,000 project that has gone awry. But in the long run, it’s
about asking how we can best create satisfied customers.
 |
Dave Carlson
Owner, Green Chair Marketing Group
|
P.S.
Despite his threats, Paul continues to come back. And he gets other
things besides cinnamon rolls now. Maybe it wasn’t so much
about the cinnamon roll as it was the need to feel heard and appreciated.
WEB SITE SPOTLIGHT
 |
Jump
Beverages
Our client is introducing
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or carbs and taste great. I've been enjoying the Sentinel
Vigilant Energy, which tastes like Fresca with a kick.
Our client is in the process of getting distributors and
you should see these
drinks soon in a convenience
store near you.
Visit the Jump Beverages
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|
CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
On
my way to the office every morning I pass by the park where the
Columbine Memorial will be built, which is right next to Columbine
High School. Andrew
Hudson, VP of marketing for Frontier Airline, recently remarked
in his newsletter that the memorial is being built "as a reminder
for all of us today and for generations to come to be committed
to doing everything possible
to prevent
this type of senseless tragedy from every occurring again." The
organizers
of the memorial are still $250,000 short of their goal of $1.5
million. I would encourage you to click on the graphic above
to visit the
Columbine Memorial web site and see how you can help bring
this memorial to fruition.
ARTICLE
Spotting
a Phony Search Engine Marketing Company within Three Minutes
Raise your hand
if you’ve ever received an email promising
top 10 placement on the search engines. I get them all the time,
and I’m in the business. Often these kinds of companies use “blackhat” tactics
that can get you kicked off the search engines. These tactics would
include hidden text, doorways pages that the public can’t
see, link farms, and a variety of other strategies... [ Read
the rest of the article ]
JOKE OF THE MONTH
POLICE
VIDEO COMMENTS
The
following Police Comments were taken off actual police car videos
around the country.
"Relax,
the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out
after you wear them a while."
"Take your hands off the car, or I'll make your birth
certificate a worthless document."
"If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."
"Can you run faster than 1,200 feet per
second? In case you didn't know, that is the average speed of a
9 mm bullet fired
from my gun."
"So, you don't know how fast you were going?
I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?"
"Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor,
but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I am the
shift supervisor?"
"Warning? You want a warning? O.K., I'm
warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."
"The answer to this last question will determine
whether you are drunk or not: Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"
"Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen...fair
is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy, and
step in monkey
doo."
"Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets
and my wife gets a toaster oven."
"No, sir, we don't have quotas anymore.
We used to have quotas, but now we're allowed to write as many
tickets as we want."
"Just how big were those two beers?"
"In God we trust; all others we run through
NCIC."
"I'm
glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours.
At least you know someone who
can post your bail."
Please visit
our site at www.GreenChair.net to
see the many services we have to offer. Also, feel free to forward
this to friends who might be interested in improving their marketing
and communication strategies.
Services Green Chair Marketing Group offers:
