2. Turning a Complaint into a Latte
Starbook’ baristas can react fast and serve you in double speed because they have become masters in the art of repeatable routines through extensive training and drilling. Starbucks employees have dozens of routines which they can apply when things become hectic. There is the ‘Connect, Discover and Respond’ system for taking orders when there are a rising number of people waiting in the queue, or the ‘What What Why’ approach to communicate or to give criticism. This is why you can walk into a Starbucks and anticipate exactly what you can expect.
We discovered that many of our employees were having problems dealing with cranky under-caffeinated customers. Therefore, it developed a series of steps for their staff to go through to help them improve the way they respond. It is called the ‘Latte Method’ of responding to unpleasant situations and it involves:
Listen to the customer
Acknowledge their complaint
Take action to resolve the problem
Thank the customer for bringing the situation to their attention
Explain the customer why the problem occurred
The staff can work out their own personal ways to handle each step and then they have to role play it over and over again in difficult situations with imaginary customers, until it becomes automatic.