Words of wisdom from the architect of Starbucks' phenomenal success:
Whether you have 30 customers or 30 million (like Starbucks), customers are fickle. They're bombarded with newer products and snazzier messages every day. Companies must continue to prove their worth -- or lose it. Says Schultz: "We know we need to win back our customers' loyalty every day. Our success is based on their continued trust in our people and our environment over long periods of time."
Redefining the industry you're playing in doesn't just mean hiring an agency to think up a fancy new slogan. To make it work, you have to offer high-quality new products and services that customers actually want, and that will reinforce the value offered by your core brand and expand the emotional connection your customers feel with it.
When launching a new product, service, or business unit, remember that experience still counts. Even though the Hear Music Coffeehouse experience is unique, developing it with folks familiar with the music business was vital. "It's always best to surround yourself with people who've done it before, in some form or another," Schultz says.
Customers can tell when a new product or service is an authentic outgrowth of the company's mission, and when it's an overblown gimmick designed to feed the buzz machine. Be aggressive with your business performance goals -- not your ego.
Alison Overholt (aoverholt@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company staff writer with a penchant for tall soy lattes and compilations of jazzy lounge music.
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
