Slow morning traffic on Friday? Try offering and promoting a free shot of espresso during a daypart that could use a boost in traffic. Giving away a free shot to customers is an inexpensive way to add value to a customer’s overall experience.  

Let’s do the math. Giving away a single espresso shot only costs the business owner around a dime, or about .20¢ for a double. The perceived value to the customer is much higher than the .20¢ investment per customer.

Not only can implementing this “value-added” strategy help bring in customers in who weren’t visiting anyway, it’s also a goodwill gesture to your loyal regulars who are in all the time.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of bad customer service. Recently I attempted to purchase an appliance from a large retailer close to my home. After I noticed a mistake made by the salesperson who sold me the equipment, I made multiple attempts to visit and call to correct the situation. After being bounced around and brushed aside one too many times in calling queues and personal visits over the course of three weeks, I lost my cool, canceled my order and took my business elsewhere. Long story short, I’ll never set foot inside this store ever again.

In retrospect, the one thing that really set me off was that nobody seemed to care. Bad customer experiences almost always seem to start this way, regardless of the industry, and are fueled by the perceived inability to find anyone able or willing to resolve an issue. The good news is that almost every negative customer experience can be recovered from and instead of losing a customer forever, a retailer can gain a loyal fan for life.

In the specialty beverage industry, service recovery begins and ends with three key points:

1) Listening
Truly listening to their concerns starts the road to recovery. Without listening to the problem, how would anybody know how to solve it?

If a customer is particularly upset and vocal, don’t take it personally. Keeping cool, calm and concerned is the only way to gain control of the situation to your benefit. Also, even if the customer is the one in the wrong, don’t try to deny their beef. That will only compound the problem.

2) Apologizing
“I am very sorry you had a bad experience so, please…

3) …I hope you’ll allow me to make it up to you.”
Here’s where the deal can be sealed, so finish strong. Be sure and ask, “What can I do to make things better?” 99 times out of 100 they aren’t going to ask for free drinks for a year. In almost every instance, disgruntled customers will request much less than what you would have ultimately been willing to give them. Always close with a card for a free drink of their choice and a big smile to encourage them to come back.

Dealing with an upset customer can be one of the most difficult ordeals any business owner or employee can experience, however, if managed correctly, an irritated customer can become a lucrative opportunity. I’ve heard from numerous businesspeople who’ve told me irate customers have miraculously transformed into a loyal converts and fans for life.

Mike Adams
Stockton Graham & Co.

You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy this smoothie. Savor the taste today of a crisp red delicious apple swirled in sweet caramel, the ultimate smoothie experience!

CARAMEL APPLE SMOOTHIE

Yield: 16 oz. finished beverage

2 oz. water
3 oz. Dr. Smoothie Northwest Apple Orchard Concentrate
2 oz. – 3 oz. caramel sauce
15 oz. cup of ice

• Add the ingredients in the order listed above and blend.

Taste Profile: Just like taking a bite out of an actual caramel apple, only smoother.

BOO! Did I scare you? Probably not, but something that will drive fear into the hearts of cafe owners is the thought of turning away paying customers because they’ve run out of a popular seasonal flavor.

Stockton Graham is gearing up for fall by accepting pre-orders for seasonal syrups and sauces. It’s important to note that, because of the heavy demand for these products, it is critical to get orders placed as early as possible to guarantee product availability throughout September, October and November.

We plan to stock, for a limited time only, pumpkin flavored syrups (and sauces, where available) from Monin, Torani and DaVinci Gourmet. Based on our experience, the customers who have pre-ordered their seasonal syrups are the happiest when it is all said and done. If you need to know how many bottles or cases you purchased last year to plan for this year, give your customer care associate a call at (800) 835-5943 and they will be happy to assist you.

Also, don’t forget our selection of perennially popular fall coffees like Pumpkin Spice, Autumn Harvest Blend, Pumpkin Cheesecake and much more! They are available in 5 lb. bulk and retail quantities.

Harvest Pumpkin Latte

2 shots of Espresso Milano
5 pumps of Pumpkin syrup
12 oz. steamed milk

Yield: 16 oz. drink

Combine Milano and pumpkin syrup in a cup; stir. Add steamed milk. Garnish with sprinkled cinnamon and whipped cream.

Stockton Graham & Co. will be closed on Monday, September 6th in observance of Labor Day. Please allow an additional transit day as FedEx will also not pick up or deliver on the 6th.

All orders received after noon on Friday, September 3rd will not ship until Tuesday, September 7th. We invite you to head over to FedEx.com to calculate the transit days to your area from our ’27612′ zip code.

FOR LOCAL CUSTOMERS: All pick-ups must be made by 3:00 pm on Fri., Sept. 3rd. Pick-up orders must be placed by the end of the prior business day.

We will resume our normal business schedule on Tues., Sept. 7th.

We wish you all fun, happy and safe Labor Day.

I’d like to offer flavored coffee but I don’t want to invest in a new grinder. What are my alternatives?

Grinding My Gears

Dear Grinding,

With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is a highly topical question. It is wise that you are not putting flavored coffee through your bulk grinder. It will certainly contaminator your single origin and blended offerings. If you cannot afford a dedicated grinder, you should think about purchasing the coffee from us, pre-ground.

Some may gasp at this assertion, especially one from a specialty coffee roaster, but as your trusted advisor, please believe that this will be alright for you and your customers.

Now, I would never recommend this for a natural coffee because the degradation of the bean would be too much to bear. Once a coffee bean is ground, the surface area dramatically increases, making the coffee lose its flavor profile quickly, resulting in a pretty poor cup. However, with ground flavored coffee, the flavor additions help preserve the coffee and thus, cover up the imperfections resulting from grinding instantly. You should be able to turn over five pounds of ground flavored coffee in less than one week, for quality control purposes.

If you’d like to discuss the purchase of a new grinder or look at the possibility of us doing the grinding for you, give your Customer Care Associate a call at (800) 835-5943.

Yours in coffee,

Josephius A. Graham
Stockton Graham & Co

Imagine having this conversation with a customer:

You: Thank you so much for dropping in, Jen! Enjoy your latte!

You: Wait! Why don’t you check out the place down the street sometime? They pull some incredible shots. Let me know what you think!

While it might be considered unconscionable to send a customer to a competitor, this conversation and others like it are taking place in a few independent cafes in the United States and abroad. Disloyalty cards are being distributed in cities like London, Seattle and Atlanta with more coffee communities embracing the idea every month.

The concept is attributed to former World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies and the idea behind it is relatively simple: If you purchase a drink at 8 – 10 quality-focused, independent cafes in a specific area, you receive a free drink of your choice at any of the participating businesses. The card itself has the name of the cafes that have partnered with each other listed on the back, along with a space to stamp confirmation of a visit.

If you’re in a community struggling to fight against bigger competition, trying something like this could help pull back some lost customers. Do you think this would work in your area?

Mike Adams
Stockton Graham & Co.

Like most social media start-ups, Foursquare faces its fair share of eye rolls and abuse from all kinds of naysayers. Yet despite the criticism Foursquare is poised to become a necessity for retailers across the country, taking its place beside Facebook and Twitter.

Foursquare is the best and most-popular example of location-based social networking that encourages customers to check in using a GPS-enabled mobile device each time they visit an area, specific place or, most apropos, your business. The real genius of Foursquare is not that it can pinpoint a user’s location but that it creates a fun competition from visiting places as many times as possible and encouraging exploration.

Foursquare users start by downloading the application directly to their iPhone, Blackberry or Android smartphone and setting up a personal profile. Whenever they visit a restaurant, park, grocery store, cafe, smoothie shop, etc., the user can choose to check in or log their visit using the app. Their location is pinpointed and verified by the GPS capability of their smartphone. Most Foursquare users also choose to integrate their updates with Twitter and/or Facebook, alerting their followers and friends of what they are up to.

Upon checking-in, the user is able to unlock special discounts, share helpful tips to potential new customers, compete to be the “Mayor” of a business, win badges for being active, etc.

So, how can this technology benefit you? Foursquare has the potential to be an incredibly handy tool to increase sales, especially in the world of specialty beverage retailing. I spent a weekend using the app on my phone to do some research. Truthfully, I was a previously vocal critic of the app before I became a participant. I thought it was slightly ridiculous. I now consider myself a convert.

Over the course of my first weekend using Foursquare, here is what I found to be extremely useful from a retailer’s perspective:

-Foursquare notifies users of places nearby that offer discounts for checking in. I chose to visit a restaurant that offers free chips and salsa with a lunch purchase for two over a multitude of other available options. I probably wouldn’t have visited the place otherwise and now I’m much more likely to come back.

-I synced my Foursquare account with my Twitter, so when I visited a place, it tweeted my whereabouts to my followers. This is optional and a user can choose to check-in privately. For fear of annoying my friends (and allowing too much of my personal info to be made available for all to see), I chose to only tweet my location out a couple of times. Essentially, I put the name of a business in front of a bunch of eyes. Maybe they will join me next time or visit on their own.

-You can get real-time updates of your customer base using Foursquare’s analytics. Find out what time of day most people check-in, who your most regular customers are, how many check-ins are being posted to Facebook and Twitter, etc.

What to look out for:

-The person who checks in the most at your location over the last 60 days becomes the “Mayor” of your business. A few retailers choose to offer big discounts to their Mayors only, but I think that is a mistake. Why? Because smartphone technology relies on cell phone towers to locate users, Foursquare can’t pinpoint exact locations. For example, from the desk in my office at Stockton Graham I can check-in to over 25 places without ever setting foot inside. Better to offer a smaller discount or special for all check-ins that encourage and reward visits rather than a big discount to someone who could cheat their way to the top and abuse your generosity.

Geo-locating applications like Foursquare can be a boon for business. If you’re interested in getting started, head over to the business page at foursquare.com to learn more and claim your venue. Also, feel free to contact me at (800) 835-5943 ext. 3552 if you have any additional questions or comments.

Mike Adams
Stockton Graham & Co.

Thanks to Beyu Caffe owner Dorian Bolden and his staff for letting us have some fun in his shop on Wednesday night. The competition was so fierce that even Mr. Bolden decided to hop behind the bar to pour!

We also had other incredibly talented baristas show up from all over the Triangle, including Larz from Electric Beanz, James from Bean Traders on 9th and Curtis from Beyu. The competitors each poured twice and the highest combined score determined the winner.

3rd place: Michael Harwood – Caffe Driade, Chapel Hill, NC
2nd place: Lem Butler – Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC

…and your winner, by a single point, Simon Aceves from La Farm Bakery in Cary, NC.

Congrats to Simon and thank you to all the competitors for a great night!

Be sure to check out all the pics:

Mike Adams
Stockton Graham & Co.

I am calibrating my espresso machine, and all my adjustments don’t seem to be helping me to make a proper shot. What am I doing wrong?

George

Dear George,

Assuming that dosing and packing are correct and consistent, and attempts at grind adjustment do not seem to correct the espresso, check the boiler pressure gauges on the machine to ensure the equipment is in proper working order. Also make sure the portafilter is not leaking or overflowing, and that the machine is set on a level surface.

If your portafilter keeps leaking even if it is tightly secured, or if the gauge is brewing lower than 8 or higher than 10 bars, contact your service technician. Keep up with ongoing cleaning and maintenance and yearly preventative maintenance from your tech for best results.

We sell Cafiza powder to back flush your machine with and we offer a Cleaning & Maintenance course apart of Coffee College. Contact your customer care associate for dates and times today.

Josephius A. Graham
Stockton Graham & Co.