MY CAFé EXPERIENCE

“Mandy, I know you are not a fan of pastries and milk-based products but you should try out this place, you would love it.” This is how my close friend asked that we visit this café in town for our usual catch-ups. “The pastries and latte were simply out of this world and the ambiance is great,” my friend said raising my expectations even higher. In fact, if you need a hype girl for your brand, very few people can do it better than this friend.

On the day itself, we got to the café and she requested her usual latte only to be told by the attendant that they had run out of milk. “Run out of milk? How!?” My friend asked. The attendant affirmed what she said earlier and left without any further comments as to whether they were expecting some milk any time soon or not. Then my friend pressed on to suggest if it would not be possible to bring in some from their other branches since the base of most of their product is milk. She said, “Oh yes, they have requested for some and should receive it soon”. All this while the spectacle took me by surprise, but I tried to keep my cool. I proceeded to put in my request for “passion-pineapple” juice from the menu, but she said there was none unless I want passion juice only or pineapple juice only because the passion-pineapple mixture was only for a limited quantity.

She then suggested that if I can get my friend to buy pineapple juice then I can also get the passion juice so that she can mix it up for us. The whole service spectacle was beginning to shock me. (you should see my surprised look). Again, I tried very hard to keep calm.?

Then I decided to take something else, I asked for a strawberry milkshake. “There’s no milk,” she said. So, at this point, I asked, how can you run out of milk when the base of most of your product is milk? Then she said, “I don’t know, it is not my fault” at this point truth be told, I was stunned by her response because knowing the kind of brand they are, their target audience and how they have positioned themselves, I was not expecting this kind of response or service.

She was practically very unconcerned about what or how she was rendering the service.? I guess I was in a good mood that day, so I just went ahead to let her know if I walk out and I decided to share my experience, I won’t mention her name as an individual but I will certainly mention the brand. She just looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, raised her eyebrow and pouted her mouth as if to say I don’t care. At this point, all my friend just had to let out was, “You have disgraced me” she told the attendant.

My friend walked to the lady at the counter just to see if she would receive a better response from her. When she asked why they have run out of milk knowing very well the base of their product is milk, the lady at the counter's response was even more pathetic or should I say heartbreaking, “ It is normal, it happens”? she said. At this point, all I wanted to do was to vanish.

My friend obviously felt terrible about the experience after all the “hype” she gave and concluded that, until you experience an issue with a brand and see how they recover or respond to the issue, never be too quick to say they provide a good experience.?

Why am I sharing this, It's because it shows a deep connection of how everything we do as a business, comes together to give customers that experience we normally preach about.

Some few things for you to chew on;

1. Who was supposed to ensure that milk was in stock??
2. What processes are put in place when key ingredients are running out of stock??
3. How do we communicate with clients in such difficult business circumstances?
4. How empowered are our employees to take proactive steps to satisfy customers?
5. Do employees understand the role they play in delivering on the brand promise?
6. Do employees know how their actions affect the overall experience of customers?
7. Do supervisors, managers and business owners know how their actions affect the overall experience of customers?
8. Do businesses solicit feedback from customers and to what use do they put this feedback?

With the current economic condition where customers are concerned about their expenses, the least you can do is give them the best experience and make their time with your brand worthwhile. We need to revisit our strategy table and pay attention to the overall experience we provide to customers. There is a lot more we can do to improve our customers’ experience.

Amanda Akushie ( Customer Experience Consultant & Coach)