Retail Contrarian

Customers Rock Thinks 50 Ways Rocks

For those of you who haven't had the chance to check out Becky Carroll's Customers Rock blog it's well worth a few minutes out of your day. Recently, Becky quoted from Doug's "50 Ways" list within a framework of focusing on the customer experience. While it's not specifically a retail site, Customers Rock is a great place to find ideas and insights on delighting customers and creating a positive experience. Check it out!

Michelli + Fleener = Shared Wisdom

Dr Joseph Michelli, bestselling author of The Starbucks Experience, recently posted a brief podcast on his site in which he talks about our own Doug Fleener's 50 Ways to Improve the Customer Experience. An insightful and outspoken proponent of the customer experience in his own right, Dr. Michelli offers some flattering words for Doug and Dynamic Experiences Group, and shares 12 of Doug's 50 tips with his listeners. It's definitely worth four minutes of your time.

Revisiting (and Fixing) the Generic Email Address Issue

Mike Buckley over at Tacony Corporation's Mine Your Own Business blog picked up on my recent entry about the glut of businesses using generic email addresses. In the short time since my original post ran, I've received quite a few communications from retailers asking how to go about getting a unique domain and/or email address for their business. Mike actually offers quite a few good points, and I encourage anybody who's interested to check out his blog entry on the subject. Getting a unique email address is really not as difficult (or expensive) as it may seem. One reader even reminded me that local schools and continuing education efforts can be a great resource, as they often provide gratis set-up of domain, website, and email services for individuals and businesses as a real-world experience for their students. All you need to pay for is the domain registration fee.

On a sadly ironic note, in the days since I posted that entry I saw perhaps the most graphic example of this communication faux pas. As prominently displayed in its advertisement in a local newspaper, a new business had gone through the trouble of getting a vanity phone number (you know the type - 555-LEAK for a plumber, 555-BABY for a maternity store, etc.), and they even had the city officially change the name of the street where they're located to that of the business. And their website was www.theirbusinessname.com. But their email address? You guessed it. businessname@aol.com!

Retail Academics

Some of the fine folks at the National Association of College Stores recently had the opportunity to hear Doug speak at their Creating Xtreme Customer Experiences Workshop, and they've posted a few of his recently-published comments on their blog (with permission, of course) to share with their members who were not in attendance.  This also serves as a reminder for those who were there and might have missed or forgotten something Doug said.  Ultimately, though, their inclusion of these bits of wisdom reflects what the NACS wants their stores to strive for.  Check out their blog and some of the other valuable insights they're sharing.

Alfred H. Peet 1920 - 2007

There are many ways a retailer or service provider can define success in their business: financial growth and independence, loyal and happy customers, loyal and happy employees, respect from the community, reverence within their industry.  It’s rare that an individual achieves all these things.  Alfred H. Peet was one such individual. 

Long before Seattle assumed the title of coffee capital of the world, Alfred Peet started roasting, grinding, and brewing coffee in a small shop in Berkeley, California. Mr. Peet grew up in the family's coffee and tea business in Alkmaar, Holland. After World War II, he worked in the Indonesian tea trade. At age thirty-five, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and opened his shop in 1966, roasting coffee in the distinctive style he learned from his family.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Peet's Coffee & Tea was a pioneer among other food purveyors in Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto".  Today, Peet’s continues to maintain the traditional values that are essential to creating coffees of distinction: hard work and attention to detail.   Berkeley is still home to Peet’s, but they now have shops throughout the country. In addition, Peet’s coffees and teas are available at peets.com, through mail order, specialty food and grocery stores, offices, fine restaurants and hotels.  Chances are, if you’re a coffee drinker, at some point you’ve sipped a cup of Peet’s.

On August 29, 2007, Alfred Peet passed away, leaving behind a legacy that many can only dream of.  The man’s impact on the lives of those he touched is evident from a unique memorial his employees have constructed.  On the website for Peet’s Coffee & Tea you’ll find a memorial blog where customers and employees alike have shared their thoughts and memories of what Alfred Peet and his vision and values mean to them.  As one reads the kind words that have been written – some of them very moving – it reminds us that true success shines from within us, and is reflected back by the people we serve.