The story is well-known by now…
In 1983, Howard Schultz, at that time a mid-level Marketing Director at a Seattle-based coffee roaster, traveled to Italy and fell in love. Fell in love with the Italian coffee house tradition, that is.
He loved everything about it—not just the drinks, but the entire “coffee experience.” More than anything else, he fell in love with the sense of community that was palpable in those coffee houses.
People didn’t just come in, grab their coffee, and leave. They lingered. They sat and chatted with family members or work colleagues. They worked while they sipped.
This experience is what inspired Schultz to return to the United States with a vision—the vision of the coffee house as people’s “third place” between work and home.
So, he bought out his previous employers’ coffee roasting business and launched the first Starbucks…and then the next one…and the next, and…
Well, you know the rest of the story. According to the most recent statistics available, there are now 27,340 Starbucks locations across 6 continents and 78 countries.
Why the unbelievable growth, from zero locations to 17,340 in 36 years? Well, it’s not the coffee. While Starbucks puts out a good menu of products, you can find better-tasting coffee and tea beverages at any number of local and chain coffee houses.
And it’s certainly not the prices. Our “Starbucks habit” can easily cost us 200 bucks a month or more (and just how did they manage to “train” us to pay $5+ for a latte?).
No, the biggest reason for Starbucks’ unparalleled popularity comes down to the fact that Howard Schultz was highly successful at achieving his vision of selling Starbucks as the “third place.”
Just like those Italian coffee houses that were Schultz’s inspiration, Starbucks stores have become gathering places, work places, relaxing places, studying places, reading places…that is, they have become communities within themselves, places where people choose to spend a significant amount of time because they feel that they belong there.
Five Takeaways for Your Consulting Business
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “OK, that’s cool and all, but I thought this blog was about how to build my consulting business.”
And you’re right, it is. In fact, the reason I rehashed the Starbucks origin story above was to set the stage for (as Paul Harvey used to say, for those of you old enough to know who I’m talking about) the rest of the story.
You see, I think that there are a number of lessons to be learned from the mega-success of Starbucks. Here, in my opinion, are the five biggest takeaways:
1. Advocate for a Specific, Under-Served Niche Market
When Starbucks started opening stores in the U.S. in its early days, very few coffee houses in the Italian mode existed in the U.S. Coffee was primarily served at restaurants specializing in breakfast or in donut shops. There was a need for a “gathering place” kind of coffee shop—though most people weren’t even aware that this need existed until a Starbucks opened up nearby and they experienced it first-hand.
What’s the takeaway for you and your business? Ask yourself, “Who are the people I want to serve? Who are the people who are the perfect match for my expertise? What do they need that I can provide? How can I market myself to this niche so that they see me as their “go-to guru”?
Don’t think too broadly. If you’re an educational consultant, your audience is going to be educators, of course. But you need to narrow it down. Primary? Middle School? Secondary? Administrators? Language arts teachers? STEM teachers? History teachers? Then keep going more narrow. If you’re a language arts expert, is your audience really just reading teachers? Writing teachers? Is your expertise in one particular methodology, like reading workshop?
The key is to not try to be everything to everybody. Find the group of people whose needs are the perfect fit for your expertise…and then seek to serve only those people.
2. Have a Big Idea to Share
Starbucks’ success, as I outlined above, is due more to its “big idea” of the “third place” than to anything else. Without that vision, the original Starbucks would have just been another coffee shop. But with that vision, and with a single-minded approach to marketing that vision, it became the mega-success it is today.
So, what’s your big idea? What’s the slant on your subject matter that’s totally unique to you? Is that slant something that your target audience can “get” just from reading the titles of your books or workshops? It should be.
In business parlance, this “big idea” that’s unique to you is often called a “unique selling proposition,” or USP. Having a great USP is a major key to business success. If you haven’t yet identified your USP, now’s the time.
3. Create a Community Around Your Big Idea
Starbucks’ big idea was community…a community built around a place (that just happens to sell coffee).
Your big idea has to be something else, something that a certain group of educators (your niche audience) wants and needs.
But once you’ve nailed down your big idea, it’s time to start communicating that idea to your niche audience in such a way that they can interact not only with you, but with each other around your idea.
This means that you need to set up a platform that allows for this kind of communication. You have a few options:
- You can blog regularly and encourage your audience to comment and discuss the topics you write about.
- You can set up a website with a forum where your audience can start its own conversations around your ideas.
- You can write and send out a regular newsletter in which you share your ideas and feature the thoughts of your readers and answer their questions.
However you do it, this step is crucial. Without a platform for communication, it’s very hard to build a community. But with such a platform, not you can you grow a community, you can turn them into raving fans.
4. Listen to Your Community
One of the most effective ways Starbucks has grown its business is through a robust customer feedback loop. Over the years, Starbucks has provided customers a variety of ways to offer suggestions to the company, from online surveys to the ability to leave comments through its app. You know those little green “splash sticks” that Starbucks puts in the hole in your lid to keep your coffee from spilling? That was a customer’s idea.
So, how do you use feedback from your community to grow your business? Well, if you’ve done step three, above, you have a feedback loop in place. Readers of your blog or newsletter have the opportunity to give you suggestions.
Even better, if you haven’t done so yet, set up a mechanism for gathering names and e-mail addresses in exchange for a free special report or product of some kind (you will have had to do this if you’re writing a newsletter) and then you can periodically survey your e-mail list to get suggestions for what kinds of products or services they would like to see from you next.
Most consultants I know are basically running their businesses in the dark, guessing at what educators might be interested in. And guessing is not a good business strategy.
Instead, set up a feedback loop, give your audience the chance to ask questions and offer suggestions, and really listen to those suggestions. Don’t guess at what your audience wants next, know!
5. Be Visible
It seems like Starbucks is everywhere. In most large, and even medium-sized cities, you can leave one Starbucks and literally be within easy walking distance of another one. When I take a road trip, I usually go from one Starbucks to another…drive a couple of hours, stop at a Starbucks, drive another couple of hours, stop at another Starbucks. Sound familiar?
And in this regard, you want to be like Starbucks, too. You want to be highly visible to your target audience. Which social media platforms do they frequent? Find out and have a presence there. What blogs do they read? Be a guest blogger there. What events do they attend? Get a spot in the speaking line-up at those events.
Take advantage of every possible opportunity to put yourself in front of your niche audience. Be everywhere, all the time…like Starbucks.
Be Your Own “Third Place”
Of course, you can stretch this analogy too far. After all, Starbucks is a mega-corporate behemoth of a company and you’re just…you. But it’s always a good practice to examine businesses that have become successful and tease out what lessons you can learn from them.
I hope the five takeaways I’ve identified here have gotten you thinking. There are probably other lessons you could learn from Starbucks, as well, so keep thinking about it and draw your own conclusions.
And if you need help with any of the steps outlined here, just reach out. I’m always happy to give a free consultation.
