Lesson #3: Build a Strong Brand
Lesson #3: Build a Strong Brand
When you go out to buy a coffee, what is it that draws you to the store with that familiar siren logo? Is it the great coffee? Perhaps. Or is it more than that? Schultz believes that he has created a culture and that his company is at the very heart of that culture.
“What Starbucks has created around coffee is an extension of the front porch,” says Schultz. “If you look at the UK, the English pub is an extension of people's homes but for a different beverage. Our stores have become a gathering and meeting place in addition to the coffee.”
From the music that plays throughout the stores to the comfortable lounge chairs to the friendly service, Schultz wanted Starbucks to be a third home away from home for its customers. “We believed very early on that people’s interaction with the Starbucks experience was going to determine the success of the brand,” says Schultz. “The culture and values of how we related to our customers, which is reflected in how the company relates to our [employees], would determine our success.”
It is for this reason that Schultz has maintained strict quality control over all his stores. From a rigorous training program for all employees to one of the most generous compensation packages in the business world today, Schultz has tried to ensure that his staff contribute to keeping a friendly and relaxed atmosphere in his stores. “We thought the best way to have those kinds of universal values was to build around company-owned stores and then to provide stock options to every employee, to give them a financial and psychological stake in the company,” says Schultz. “I would say strongly, the success of Starbucks demonstrates the fact we have built an emotional connection with our customers…Our product is not sitting on a supermarket shelf like a can of Coca-Cola. Our people have done a wonderful job of knowing your drink, your name, your kids' names and what you do for a living.”
Schultz has refused to franchise his stores for this very reason. “It would have been hard to provide the level of sensitivity to customers and knowledge of the product needed to create those Starbucks values if we franchised,” he says. “You can be just as entrepreneurial and experimental in a company-owned model.”
Schultz believes that great brands aren’t built on ads or promotions. In fact, Starbucks has done very little marketing, growing primarily by word-of-mouth. “We look at the brand not as a piece of advertising but everything we do communicates who Starbucks is,” he says. “We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.”
Lesson 3 Build a Strong Brand
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“Starbucks represents something beyond a cup of coffee,” says Schultz. “While we are a coffee company at heart, Starbucks provides much more than the best cup of coffee – we offer a community gathering place where people come together to connect and discover new things. We are always looking for innovative ways to surprise and delight our customers.”
When you go out to buy a coffee, what is it that draws you to the store with that familiar siren logo? Is it the great coffee? Perhaps. Or is it more than that? Schultz believes that he has created a culture and that his company is at the very heart of that culture.
“What Starbucks has created around coffee is an extension of the front porch,” says Schultz. “If you look at the UK, the English pub is an extension of people's homes but for a different beverage. Our stores have become a gathering and meeting place in addition to the coffee.”
From the music that plays throughout the stores to the comfortable lounge chairs to the friendly service, Schultz wanted Starbucks to be a third home away from home for its customers. “We believed very early on that people’s interaction with the Starbucks experience was going to determine the success of the brand,” says Schultz. “The culture and values of how we related to our customers, which is reflected in how the company relates to our [employees], would determine our success.”
It is for this reason that Schultz has maintained strict quality control over all his stores. From a rigorous training program for all employees to one of the most generous compensation packages in the business world today, Schultz has tried to ensure that his staff contribute to keeping a friendly and relaxed atmosphere in his stores. “We thought the best way to have those kinds of universal values was to build around company-owned stores and then to provide stock options to every employee, to give them a financial and psychological stake in the company,” says Schultz. “I would say strongly, the success of Starbucks demonstrates the fact we have built an emotional connection with our customers…Our product is not sitting on a supermarket shelf like a can of Coca-Cola. Our people have done a wonderful job of knowing your drink, your name, your kids' names and what you do for a living.”
Schultz has refused to franchise his stores for this very reason. “It would have been hard to provide the level of sensitivity to customers and knowledge of the product needed to create those Starbucks values if we franchised,” he says. “You can be just as entrepreneurial and experimental in a company-owned model.”
Schultz believes that great brands aren’t built on ads or promotions. In fact, Starbucks has done very little marketing, growing primarily by word-of-mouth. “We look at the brand not as a piece of advertising but everything we do communicates who Starbucks is,” he says. “We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.”
Lesson 3 Build a Strong Brand
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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