Loyal beyond reason

Here is the post that I have been meaning to get to. I hope I can give it justice from all of the jumble in my brain. My point is to emphasize the importance of customer service from both and employee and client perspective. At my new job at the St. Regis, we had a training about being 'loyal beyond reason.'  


To give a little background/exercise, our presentor asked us, "What brand are you loyal to beyond reason?" I liked this example most so I will use it. Someone said "Starbucks." You know that everytime you go to Starbucks, you will get an amazing drink. If you get a yucky drink, you will most likely still return to Starbucks at another time to get another drink and you will give them another try. Now, how much would it cost you to make a cup of coffee? A teaspoon of beans costs (wholesale) about twenty-cents. So, add your twenty-cent coffee to the price of a cup and any extra add-ins, and you're paying about $1 for your product. Does Starbucks charge $1 for coffee? No. So, what are you paying for? Are you really paying for the coffee, or are you paying for the experience of going to Starbucks? Why don't you take your $5 and get your coffee at the local coffee shop that is closer to your house? You then come to realize that it isn't just about the cup of coffee, that it has to do with more than that-- the ambiance, the service, the experience! Now, what do we love so much about Starbucks?  


People have 5 human needs: We want to feel like we belong, we want to feel special, we want to feel in control, we want to be understood, and we want to reach our potential.  


Is Starbucks not meeting most of these needs? WE BELONG: they call us by name to hand deliver our coffee. FEEL SPECIAL: they make that cup of coffee how ever we want it, and it's made just for us! CONTROL: We tell them how we want it, and we expect it quickly and it is delivered as expected in quality and speed. UNDERSTOOD: If I want my drink a certain way, I make sure that they know it, no matter how complicated it is; after all it is MY drink- they'd better get it right. You can see how much more complex and complicated a cup of coffee has become. Though we may not recognize these steps consciously every time we go, we do think about these things. We trust Starbucks. You are loyal to them beyond reason. When I leave Starbucks, do I remember my cup of coffee and how much it costs, or do I remember the experience/interactions that I had there?  


This concept works at any company that you love. That company that you are loyal to beyond reason should work as hard as they can to meet some of your human needs. On the flip side, as an employee, how are your needs being met? How is your company working with you to understand you, make you feel like you belong and that you're special, etc...? What are you doing to meet your customer's 5 needs? Is the customer going to remember what they ate or bought for dinner? Probably not. But will they remember if you did something to exceed their expectations? Absolutely. Even more importantly, will they remember if something negative happened to them? Yes. They are more likely to remember and share a negative experience than a positive one.  


A customer at a hotel had an issue, and in a hurried attempt to "solve the problem" the manager hand wrote a note and gave him a bottle of wine. The customer was still upset because he wasn't being "understood," just "dealt" with. He was a recovering alcoholic and in the quick attempt to go from "problem" to "solution" his needs were not being met.  


I really like this whole concept of human needs and loyalty, because it does work both ways- employee & customer. Happy employees = happy customers, and vice-versa. After having this training, I could immediately tell a difference in my demeanor as I went to my second job 2 hours later. I could tell I was more friendly and helpful than I usually was after working an 8-hour shift followed by a 4-hour shift. The other cool thing is to look at the brands that you are loyal to (Nike, Adidas, Gap, Costco, Starbucks, Burton, etc…) and to see how you are paying for the name, the experience, and the human needs and that you’re not just buying a cup of coffee.