Whenever I visit a Starbucks their employees are doing one of three things:
1. Taking my order
2. Making my order
3. Cleaning
I’ve gone into a Starbucks and ordered a hot chocolate and granola bar. One person takes my order and money. Another person grabs the granola bar and another person starts making the hot chocolate.
Starbucks employees act like they are happy I decided to do business with them. They are friendly and efficient. When I was in a store a few weeks back, I sat at a table and noticed the three employees behind the counter weren’t hanging out, but were cleaning the counter and the bakery display. Another employee was sweeping away debris just outside the door.
Contrast this with a grocery store I visited last week. As I approached the check stand, I noticed only two were open yet each line was quite long. Just glancing around I noticed two employees swinging keys around while chatting and another three guys stocking shelves. The impression I was given was that my business isn’t very important. It’s especially frustrating when a business makes it difficult or time consuming to give them my money in exchange for a product or service.
Auto service departments are notorious for this. They make their best customers (those willing to spend more money servicing their vehicle at the dealer) stand in a line to sign papers. Then, once they have gone through that audition, they go stand in yet another line to pay.
Many websites are just as bad. I can think of several examples of finding the product I want to buy, but getting so frustrated with the registration or check out process that I gave up and moved on. Amazon is one of the few that gets this right.
No wonder I do more business with Amazon and Starbucks than their competitors.
Nordquist Blog 