(If you have been referred here from my twitter account @jasondowns and you are looking for details on the coffee give-away, they can be found at the end of this post ~ cheers, Jason.)
(UPDATE: The coffee has been claimed.)
The following is a great lesson in knowing what your business’ strategic imperative is and sticking to it… even when you make a mistake.
I buy my coffee from Monk Bodhi Dharma (@monkbodhidharma). They are all the way over in St Kilda, some 40 minute drive from where I live. Yes, 40 minutes. Their coffee is THAT good. Quality, through and through. And when you drink long blacks (as I do), the quality of the coffee is EVERYTHING. To top it off, the guys that run it are nice and I always feel welcomed there. Not surprisingly, business is good.
But what sets these guys apart in an already crowded market is their uncompromising commitment to great coffee. It’s the kind of uncommon, single-minded focus that tells you that these guys are experts. Seriously knowledgeable about their product and willing to put their reputation on the line in a very public way: with every cup they pour. One bad coffee and their reputation suffers. They have to get it right each.and.every.time.
Well, today they got it wrong.
They made a mistake.
Not a huge mistake by any stretch of the imagination but a mistake none-the-less.
Uh-oh.
Here’s what happened: I’d ordered some coffee for home (single origin, el Salvador coffee if you don’t mind) ground for my espresso machine. Serious coffee. Great coffee. A little cup of Heaven in my kitchen.
And at $72/Kg, it would want to be good.
So I’m chatting to one of the guys while Martin is off freshly grinding my coffee ready for me to use in my machine, when he comes back and begins to apologise. He’d ground it too course. It would be great used in a plunger, but no good in an espresso machine. Sorry.
Now here was the moment of truth: I was going to politely tell hime that I *REALLY* wanted it ground for espresso, not a plunger, and ask if he could fix it when he said:
My mistake. Sorry. You can have that one for free. I’ll go and grind you another one.
Just.like.that.
No trying to weasel his way out of it like others may have tried to do. No trying to ‘rectify’ the mistake by trying to grind it further (somehow) which may have resulted in a poorer experience for me and my machine. He just went and ground me another bag and this time he got it right. Quality in action.
Quality is #No1 for these guys and Martin instantly recognised that what he had made was not what I’d asked for. What he had done was not the quality that I expected and it wasn’t of the quality that they demand of themselves.
Their strategic imperative? Quality.
Their operationalisation of this strategic imperative? Never compromise the quality of the product or the experience.
The lesson here for all businesses is instructive: A single-minded commitment to your strategic imperative can mean that even when you make a mistake, if you act in an authentic manner and in line with your strategic imperative, you can turn a mistake into a positive experience for the customer.
So, I have a couple of questions for you: Do you know what your business’ strategic imperative is? Do you or your employees know what it takes to fulfil that strategic imperative each and every time? Even when you make a mistake?
I, for one, will be back.
This is the coffee I'm giving away. Be quick!
[As promised, I have 250g of freshly ground "el Salvador Finca Alaska" coffee to give away. Yes, the same coffee that was ground for plunger by mistake. If you live in Melbourne and you are willing to pick it up from me in the city on Monday, it can be all yours. Trust me, you won't regret it. All you have to do is tweet me @jasondowns and ask for it. First in, best dressed].
[UPDATE: The Coffee has been claimed]
