Hey Starbucks Here's What Your Missing

The news has not been great for Starbucks as of late. Earnings are way down. The company known for progressive employee recruiting and development now finds itself having to layoff. Stores that once seemed to crop up on every corner are now being boarded up like an empty carcass of hip coolness.

Has the caffeine buzz worn off? Maybe. Has the world decided to that a Venti dark roast Americano is too expensive, especially now that the doom and gloom of the economy seems to be here for at least the foreseeable future. Perhaps. Or maybe it's the business model that Howard Schultz and company once evangelized is in need of a second shot of espresso and drastic real community focused overhaul.

Hmmmm I will go with door number three.

This morning I had the significant and overly caffeinated pleasure of spending time at both a Starbucks and an independent coffee shop called Progress in downtown Austin. Both businesses were a bustle with a lot of SXSW conference goers as well as the usual stream of business professionals, moms, dads, kids and those who seemed intent on camping out with laptops and iPods.

The biggest difference?

At Starbucks there was no cheeriness. There was not a constant stream of people who recognized one another, stopped to chat and share "the latest haps." There was no "loud buzz" of heated and excited conversation. There was just a subdued mood amongst the Starbucks patrons I witnessed, many looking as if their sheepish habits forced them to be there.

Quite a contrast to the feverish funk of Progress I found myself at later on in the morning. People were engaging. People were smiling. There was a sense of unique energy and hip coolness that no matter who you were, young, old, business professional or something else, it was apparent that you were a part of something. Your only ticket to join was the purchase of a delicious baked good or tasty coffee or beverage of your choosing. There was nary a table and you know what, no one cared. People stood wherever. People chatted, cajoled, joked and in general seemed to be having a great time. Just by stepping inside you were part of a hustling and bustling community, conversation and a spirit of creativity that maybe once existed at Starbucks but clearly went somewhere else.

In comparison Starbucks seemed less inviting. Few people stayed - most were "grab and go customers" as I like to call them. Those that did stay seemed to lack genuine enthusiasm. Many looked like lost school children waiting for the teacher to dole out which table to sit at and who to make friends with. These people, your customers Starbucks, were desperate for some sort of engagement (you could see it in their eyes) with anyone other than a moody-over-the-top barista and yet somehow they just didn't find it.

It was no where to be found.

So Starbucks what are you missing? Well you can't push coolness...I get that. I also know you can't force wholesaled changes in your customer's behavior to make your environments more like what I saw at Progress. Or can you. I believe you can.

I contend that for Starbucks to turn their fortunes around they will have to acknowledge, understand and leverage the home court advantage they already have. Starbucks, even with all of the closings, still has locations virtually everywhere. They have an addicted customer base - let's face it they are our legal drug pusher with our drug of choice being caffeine. So if they have both the location and the customers why does a coffee shop like Progress have a decided advantage?

Starbucks lacks connection. They fail to make it fun and easy for people to engage, connect and commune with one another. Think about it, unless you are headed to Starbucks to meet someone you have already made arrangements to meet there, how often do you reach out to connect with another patron? Rarely if ever right? Come on you can tell me because I so know!

Starbucks you are missing the boat by not becoming our community conduit. You so need the Ripple of Connection. Our society longs for it. Our world needs it. Oh and your business can be improved because of it.

Have Ripple and still waiting to have that cup of coffee with you Mr. Schultz. And yes...the offer still stands....I will buy.

Ripple On!!!

Starbucks the Vote

It's all about the marketing. Starbucks has jumped on the Tina Fey Sarah Palin parody bandwagon by sponsoring this week's Saturday Night Live's opening segment to encourage us to vote this coming Tuesday.

Hey Howard Schultz, we still need to talk. Though I applaud your company's effort to reward us on November 4th, why not give your customers something more powerful...a reason to Ripple every day! Still ready to talk when you are and of course the offer still stands; I'll buy you a cup of Pike Place Roast you just name the location.

In the mean time, enjoy Tina Fey and the real John McCain from last night's SNL.


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Naked, Dripping & Focusing

Who do you need to connect with? Do you have a list? Do you take the time to review and focus on it daily?

If you answered no then you're missing the boat.

Each day I wake up and take a few minutes to go over in my head the people and companies I most need to make a connection with. Sometimes I think of the people I need to reconnect with, you know, those people that it's been too long since we last spoke and I need to reengage them to see what's going on. Sometimes it's people I need to introduce to one another because it would be of mutual benefit for them to meet. Oftentimes its companies or organizations I want to most connect with so that I can discuss opportunities to present at an internal training or upcoming corporate conference. More often than not, it's someone who appears on my allstar list and I need to take some decisive action forward to make the possibility of connecting with that person possible.

The entire process takes a matter of minutes and is something I do each day - often while I am toweling myself off from the shower. It's one of these few times in my day that I can put my actual physical being on autopilot and let my mind focus on what and where I direct it. By taking the time to focus, even for a few minutes, I allow my mind to get really creative. Some of my best ideas about how to connect people or how to take that next important step to meet someone like a Howard Schultz or Steve Jobs come during these times.

I leave the house each morning (of course dry) charged up and ready to take the next step and let me tell you this little bit of focus has made a world of difference in the amount of connections and Ripples that have come into my life. Though I am quite certain many of the people I've thought about would not take too kindly to my thinking of them while I am naked and dripping wet -you and I will just keep that our little secret okay?

Don't just take my word for it give it a try for yourself. What do you have to lose? You're already dripping wet and naked in the morning anyway....I'm just saying might as well use that time more wisely!

Ripple On!!!

Why Starbucks? Howard Understands Why!

So I received a number of interesting emails and Twitter messages yesterday basically asking me why I was so fixated on Starbucks. Well without going into too much detail about my "great idea" let me explain.

You see Starbucks became a trusted friend as I started my second company. Call it caffeine induced delirium or my just plain craziness, Starbucks became a favorite early morning haunt of mine in the late 1990's. As I began my second company I did not sleep much - if at all. I was constantly worrying about closing the deals we needed to close in order to keep the lights on and people employed. With worry comes stress and with stress comes panic. I realized, much to my amazement, that panic when it sets in so much easier to control and extinguish when it happens in public. It is so much better to handle panic and stress by drinking a no foam latte and eating a sweetroll than it is hiding behind a dark desk in the wee hours of the early morning.

Starbucks became somewhat of a respite from my stress. I could stop by there on my way to the office, grab a cup of coffee and actually force myself to think about my business with each long sip of dark roast. The environment was laid back and instantly made me feel comfortable so I began stopping by more and more - okay I admit it...daily. Sometimes I would even stop by during the middle of the day just to catch my breath and to relax. Somehow stress seemed to never want to follow me inside a Starbucks I assumed because the smell of the sweet coffee aroma is somehow its kryptonite equivalent.

Starbucks you see became my little sanctuary, my little space. A place I could come and hang out and let my creativity flow. It was where I first started pounding on my keyboard - first penning a new strategy for my company then more compelling proposal formats. Soon my writing turned to more personal issues like journaling and even creating some pretty interesting fictional stories and poems. No matter what it was, a little caffeine, the environment, a little soft ambient jazz playing in the background, my creativity just flowed.

And I like so many millions of Americans began to drink the Starbucks Kool-Aide.....oops I mean coffee!

Something else happened at Starbucks. I met people. I started having amazingly interesting conversations with complete strangers and loving it. Me and introvert....can you believe it? It was incredible the random faces you would see day after day but oddly enough after a period of time didn't seem so random anymore (see how I becamse a Starbucks Stalker Series). I realized very quickly that Starbucks had a real sense of community in the people that frequented their favorite locations. It was a community I took pride in being a part of.

Any of the articles you read about Howard Schultz's vision revolves around having passionate customers and creating community. His desire was to create a space where people could interact and connect. I think they hit that concept very well early on but today there seems to be less emphasis on it - at least here in Austin and several of the other cities I have traveled to recently. Today's Starbucks there is something missing and when I read they need to close 600 stores and layoff 12,000 workers I wonder, could this be part of the reason why?

Sure there are still people around and the rich aroma of coffee roasting in the back still permeates throughout, the sense of community and connection seem to be gone. People that hang out don't talk to one another - they are too busy plugged into their iPods or using their laptops almost as a shield to fight of approaching conversation (sad really). Employees seem less enthusiastic and far too quick to make you feel inadequate for failing to say a complicated drink correctly. Stores are becoming smaller and there is no real draw to stay and so you see many more people grabbing their drinks to go.

Where did the community vision go?

I am not really sure. But I know we can get it back. We can make our local Starbuck's stores our own little communities again. We can make it both hip and cool to want to connect with others and why not do it over a little cappuccino?

Imagine the Ripple!

Howard the offer still stands...I'll buy the first cup!

Ripple On!!!

Howard Schultz - I'll Buy The First Cup

A little over two years ago I approached Starbucks with an idea. It was an idea that if executed correctly could enhance the customer experience, build even stronger community and yes even help build their bottom line. It was a little idea I admit but with a real spark of potential. So I did what you are supposed to do when you have a spark...I tried to coax a fire to start.

I tried and tried to get the attention of Howard Schultz but with no luck. I received a not so nice response from their Director of Marketing who somehow failed to realize that I was a Starbucks fan and more importantly a customer first and an entrepreneur second. I was not deterred and just kept trying. Finally in the fall of of 2006 progress - a response from Jim Donald the CEO of Starbucks himself (or his assistant - hard to tell). It was a response requesting that I send some information to him and he promised to review it.

I excitedly kitted up my presentation and sent it on to Mr. Donald and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I followed up. No response. I followed up again. No response. Getting desperate, I cut a creative Podcast to both Howard Schultz and Jim Donald and sent little cds up to their offices. Finally a response - from the woman I had been in contact before. She was even less enthusiastic and more direct this time around. Buzz off (no caffeine implied humor here) little Ripple Man - buzz off!

Discouraged and smarting from the frustrating circus of trying to persuade my hero Howard Schultz to allow me to buy him a cup of coffee and discuss an idea, I did what I tell my clients never to do (shhh don't tell them okay), I gave up. I put the ginormous file I had created away and haven't looked at it since.

Sure my Ripple friends that knew about the idea still peppered me with articles about Starbucks this and Starbucks that. I still got lots and lots of people telling me how badly Starbucks needed my Ripple idea. I myself go to countless Starbucks locations along my journey and grow even more discouraged at the level of disconnectiveness (my word - my spelling) their store employees are from the mission Howard Schultz onces so proudly proclaimed.

Yesterday a number of stories broke about Starbucks actually trimming back their expansion plans and even laying off 12,000 workers and closing up to 600 stores. Jim Donald left the company this past January and Howard Schultz assumed the reins of CEO yet again. The emails started flying yesterday - "Steve they need you." "Steve, maybe now's the time to hit them again." "Steve they need the idea now more than ever!" You gotta love people who support you. I know I sure do!

I admit I thought about pulling out the file last night and taking a stroll down memory lane. All the hours of research and the brainstorming sessions that went into a simple little idea that I believe still could make a huge impact on so many levels. But am I glutten for another round of punishment? That's the real question. This morning as I sip my dark roast I contemplate whether it would be worth another go at the behemouth task of getting Mr. Schultz's attention.

So Mr. Schultz in the off chance you are listening, the offer still stands.....I'll buy the first cup.