The Starbucks Experience
Consultant's distillation of Starbucks service principles.
Summary
The reference has not verified this book in detail; the summary states only what the title, author and subject establish.
Joseph Michelli, a consultant who writes books about customer experience at well-known companies, produced this account of Starbucks organised around five principles he draws from its practice.
The principles are stated as make it your own, meaning that employees are given latitude to personalise interactions; everything matters, meaning attention to the details of the store environment and product; surprise and delight, meaning unplanned gestures toward customers; embrace resistance, meaning treating criticism as information; and leave your mark, meaning community involvement. Each is illustrated with anecdotes from stores and from employees.
The reference has not verified this book's contents in detail. It is a consultant's treatment based on company access and interviews rather than independent research, and its method is to extract principles from anecdotes without testing whether they explain the company's results. It was published in 2006, before the 2008 decline and Howard Schultz's return, before the store closures and the retraining day, and before the current labour organising. Readers wanting the company's history should go to Schultz's own accounts, which are also promotional but at least first-hand.
Key takeaways 6
- Michelli extracts five principles from Starbucks practice and illustrates each with anecdotes from stores and employees.
- Giving front-line employees latitude to personalise interactions is presented as the company's central service mechanism.
- Attention to the physical detail of the store environment is treated as part of the product rather than as presentation.
- Treating customer criticism as information rather than as complaint is presented as a deliberate practice.
- The method extracts principles from anecdotes without testing whether they explain the company's financial results.
- The book predates the 2008 decline, Schultz's return and the current labour organising.
Who should read it
Readers wanting a consultant's account of Starbucks service practices, with the caveat that this entry is not verified in detail.
Where it sits in the reference 2
Similar books 6
Chosen by shared topics, the entries that hold them, and the people who recommended both.
