You are familiar with a company called Starbucks, right?
Howard Shultz is Starbucks founder and CEO. He was being interviewed last week and I happened to catch a bit of the conversation. I thought there was a lot to learn from what he had to say ...
Starbucks sells a commodity product, coffee. People have been selling coffee as long as any living soul can remember.
So who would have ever believed you could build a company selling very high priced coffee on the street corner that in 2005 did $6.5 billion in sales?
Howard says they open 5 new stores a day -- and he believes the market can easily handle at least 30,000 stores.
What's the lesson here?
I think it's this ... (In America at least) there never has been, is not now, and never will be a lack of opportunity for those people who use their imaginations and follow through on their vision.
Almost everybody told Howard Shultz he was crazy. "There is no way people will stand in line to cough up $3 to $5 bucks a pop for a cup of coffee!"
Sound familiar?
This has been true for almost every great entrepreneur. "It'll never never work."
You've probably heard the story of Fred Smith and Fed X. Fred turned in a paper to his college professor laying out this strategy for Fed X package delivery -- pick up the package, ship them all to one central location in Tennessee and then ship them all out again overnight around the world.
His professor gave him a failing grade on that paper!
Now, here's the part of this interview I think we can really learn from ...
Danny Deutch asked Howard his thoughts on branding Starbucks. Now remember, Danny Deutch is one of the most respected advertising executives in America ... and Starbucks has become a global brand with no close challengers.
Here's what Howard said ...
"Actually, we don't spend that much on advertising. In fact, we spend more money on training than we do on advertising. Making the coffee is not a big secret. It's out there for everybody to see. There are no secret recipes or ingredients or anything like that. Our success is built on our relationship with the customer. Our goal is to make coming into Starbucks a great experience for the customer."
Howard Shultz has taught us that ven with a commodity product like coffee -- amazing things are possible. He has taken the simple cup of coffee and turned it into a worldwide brand by focusing on one thing ... to make coming into his stores a great experience for the customer!
So there it its ...
Lesson 1 -- Don't pay sanction what other people say about what's possible for you. They have no idea.
Lesson 2 -- Use your imagination to design your business. Trust your creative intincts.
Lesson 3 -- Build your business around your relationship with your customer. There is no other way.
dh
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