The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary

by Joseph Michelli (Author)

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071477845
• ISBN-13: 978-0071477840

Find it here: The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary

(please read the purpose of this and my disclaimer with in it…if you have not already)

This book was chosen, because Starbucks started the trend in the U.S. for being able to sell coffee at a premium price. Most know it is not because the coffee is that much more amazing, but its because of the experience that people have when they go in there…but its the experience that differs for people. One person may think a concert is worth $300 tickets, while another thinks the tickets are not worth $25…so we will all pay a premium for an experience. I believe that we all know this and do our best to work it into our business…but sometimes we struggle with how…so why not read about how a single store was able to do it and turn it into a multi-billion dollar company. Certinantly we must be able to learn at least one thing from this book.

From Principle 1 in the book:

“Most companies chant ‘customer service’ like some mantra, as if printing it enough times in their corporate glossies means they are actually paying more than lip service to the concept.”
Joseph Michelli (Author) page 24

I am sure we all we chant excellent customer service…but do we always live by that? Or are we simply telling ourselves that and hoping that our clients will believe us? I know for me, I have to constantly be aware of making sure I am offering excellent customer service and I do my best to make sure it is more then excellent…I strive to make it as stellar as possible and more than the client expected. However, I do this with honest intentions…not because I hope it will lead to more business, but because my clients deserve it. How are some ways that I offer stellar customer service…I give more then expected…I personally deliver all prints to clients who are with in reasonable driving distance, I always add extra wallets to orders, I answer my phone on the weekends at 8pm or whatever time.

Here is some food for thought… If you won a free night at hotel, what room would you expect? The standard run of mill, the cheapest room they got…would you tell everyone you possibly could and brag about that hotel? More then likely not, you might tell your close friends and family that you won a free room (but that’s because you won something and not because the hotel is nice) and you might tell them the room was clean and the staff was friendly…all this stuff people expect to hear and more then likely know themselves. What happens if you got to that hotel and when you went to check in, they told you that you would be staying in their best suite?! That would not be expected and you would tell everyone! On the surface it may seem super cool that you got a bigger room that you did not expect but below the surface it would be much more then that, it would be that this hotel wants to please their guests and make them happy and they do that by going above and beyond what is expected, when you are not spending a dime there…so can you imagine what it would be like if you were spending money there. This is doing something more then expected and wowing people with your stellar service.

(this was actually discussed on the Fasttrack forums with an amazing person and photog Lain Eubank , and I felt it was fitting to post in relation to this topic)

How you can think outside of the box and offer something so amazingly different in the experience that clients have with you…that your competition can not hold a candle to you? I under promise and over deliver! If a client has paid me to shoot for 2 hours, but I feel 3 is needed…I do it and do not charge them! Again these gestures must be sincere and honest, other wise people will see right through them!

Do not chant customer service…do not even mention it…do it so well that is speaks for itself!

Alright, so this has been in the works for about 3 months now…I read, A LOT! Its usually some form of business book, as I feel that building a business and keeping it growing…it never hurts to read what other successful people have to say. Some of it may be redundant but redundancy is positive and there is always something new to learn and books are so cheap now, that $25 bucks a month is well spent. I read a chapter a night and then ponder on it for sometime and see what I can take away from it and make it work for my business. I chat with other photographers on a regular basis and we of course always chat business and something that I noticed is things I say ring right for them and make sense to them and helped them out and that excites me…I LOVE helping people out in any way I can. I got to thinking, if I happen to spark something for them, I might be able to help others out as well…maybe I should blog about it…and thus you are reading this…

What will happen is that I will take a snippet from a book that I read and post it (with all due credit given to the author of course) and just post my thoughts on it…what I hope comes from this is: 1. It helps people out, does not even have to be life changing (would be awesome if it was, but I am realistic here…LOL)…just maybe a small spark that starts the fire that will create an additional piece of success for them and 2: That it might encourage people to buy a book and read it, these books have so much information beyond what I post from it…so if anything I post intrigues you, get the book, because there will be so much more in it. So many people in our industry want to attend workshops, but just never have the cash to do so, and they seem to give up…DON”T! A lot of what they tell you can be found in books…so read. I am not saying this a replacement for specific based workshops, as there are some super valuable ones out there…but if you can not attend those and even if you can, then you should at least do some reading.

I am hoping and kind of pleading that you get involved with this and ask questions or post your thoughts on your take from it all…What I say will not resonate with everyone, but maybe how you state something will…so PLEASE comment and ask questions…I will respond. You will obviously know what book I am currently posting about, but I will also let you know the book I am going to introduce next (when we are close to the end of the current one), so if you want you can go purchase the book and follow along. There will also be small contests (I mean small, little gift cards or book give aways for people that do participate and they will be random…so hopefully we can get some interaction)…I am also hoping to get some of my photog buds to give their input once a week, so you have another perspective and someone else’s thoughts, besides just mine. At the very least you will more then likely take something away from what the author has written…

Also, I would like to think of a name for these…right now all I have is “Thinking Out Loud”, which is what I am doing…but what the hell; lets have a small contest…if you have some ideas of what you think I should call these post it and if I like one better, I will send an iTunes card…so lets hear them…

Now for my disclaimer on this all…

I AM NOT CLAIMING TO BE AN EXPERT…I’m not a writing expert, I am not a grammar expert, I am not a business expert, I am not a marketing expert…I am just a guy who has shared his thoughts on business and marketing and have received positive feedback. I believe that everyone’s ideas can lead to positive things, if those ideas are really heard and listened too….I just believe what I am thinking in my head makes sense…if I did not feel this way, I would not be doing what I am doing currently. Could I be wrong? YUP and I will be wrong on somethings…but with out really thinking about how to better my business and putting it into action…nothing will get done. Its cool to fail, what matters is if you learn from it and make a change and see if that works for you (Dane Sanders speaks about this in his workshop…I have always felt the same way, but he really drives the point home)…at some point, enough failures and changes of those failures will lead to successes. I am not a poetic writer, I just write how I think and that may work for some and others not…so I guess take it for what it is.

I do encourage you to really try to take something away from what I write and comment with what you think and what you make up in your head (this line was stolen from Dane, LOL…hope you do not mind man)…I am always curious to hear what people come up with…but what you come up with or how you word something, may spark something in someone else. If you wouldn’t have posted it, then that would have never happened…trust me, people learn and comprehend in so many different ways…that just the slightest thing can make that spark happen…so comment!

I hope you enjoy it and if you want to suggest a book for me to read, please do…all suggestions are welcome. Negative and rude ass comments will not be posted and they help no one, so if that’s your M.O., then take it somewhere else.

These will be posted 4 days a week…so check back Mon-Thurs. to see  a new one…I am about 2 months ahead in writing…so there will always be fresh content

One last thing…I will keep doing these if the response is positive…if you find these helpful…tell me, other wise I will not know and they may cease.

The first one Drops on Aug. 30th, 2009…so this coming Monday…I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what was up.

I truly hope that his helps people out and please, please tell others about it, especially if you think it would be beneficial for them.

My father lives in Hood River and I am up there all the time…Its absolutely amazing up there and I had the great pleasure of being able to capture that beauty that is the Hood River, OR area with an awesome senior. Mysty said she wanted me to shoot her senior photos because she did not want the typical senior photos…I think we were able to make that happen, as I pride myself on not shooting your typical senior portraits…Usually I am the one dragging people around and going to weird places to shoot in that usually requires a bit of walking. This was the opposite, Mysty took me to some really cool places and was up for a couple of places I suggested…which is always fun! So it worked out very well…I look forward to shooting more seniors in Hood River and finding more cool spots to shoot at.