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It may be a comedy of errors, but many businesses provide just about all the humor I need on any given day!
This morning I was at my local (you’ll notice I didn’t say favorite, but that’s a different story) Starbucks (no, it’s not a franchise) to enjoy coffee, biscotti the Dallas Morning News (the paper version), and the local buzz. After mass at St. Francis in Frisco, I start most mornings at Starbucks, and between the buzz and the newspaper, I leave the shop with several business lessons that I can use in blogs, training classes, and on coaching calls.
A concerning change of apparel
To wit, this morning a young man surprised many regulars in the shop when he walked in wearing the apparel of a local car wash — one of those monster units where you can get everything your vehicle needs, from an oil change to detailing. Usually this young man is dressed in Starbucks apparel and he works behind the counter.
From a crowded corner, where several locals were sharing a Bible lesson, a woman asked, “What are you doing? You’re not brewing coffee for us anymore?”
“Yea, I am,” said the young man with a tinge of disappointment. “I’m also working at the (name withheld) car wash. They just sent me home early because I made a mistake.”
“Wha’d you do?” asked a woman.
Free car wash isn’t good logic?
“I gave a guy a free car wash when he bought a $70 buffing.”
“Sounds reasonable,” chimed in another local.
“I thought so, too,” said the young man, now talking louder since he had captured an audience of maybe twenty sympathetic listeners. “But the manager asked me what kind of logic I was using. He said, ‘Is that the kind of logic you use over at Starbucks?’”
To which the young man said he responded, “No, at Starbucks I got properly trained. I don’t have to use logic.”
Zing!
Got my first laugh!
Not the kind of publicity a business seeks
Several more regulars now entered the conversation. One asked for the name of the manager who sent him home — “Is he the guy that just stands around and directs the traffic into the drying stalls? . . . That guy’s useless.” (It wasn’t that guy, but many of us knew who she meant). . . . “That place is waaay over priced,” said another woman. “They should give you a free car wash if you buy anything over there!”
More laughs for me, even though I pretended to be reading the newspaper.
Making logic out of the story
I’m thinking: What a comedy of errors. First, the car wash (which, by the way, is not a franchise) screws up by not properly training the employee. Then they make a second mistake when they send the kid home, not realizing that “home” was his favorite Starbucks where he would find a sympathetic audience. All of us locals have patronized that car wash. But maybe not anymore!
So here’s this business thinking they’re going to teach an employee a good lesson by zapping a day’s wages, and instead they may have lost a dozen or more customers!
What kind of logic is that?
Not really funny, is it?
Wouldn’t training the employee — even after he made this mistake — have been a better investment than sending him home? Let’s look at that logic.
What would it cost to train the employee? Maybe an hour of training costs . . . let’s purposely put a big price on it: $1,000!
Now let’s look at the cost of losing a customer. As a patron of that car wash, I never get out of there for less than $25 by the time I get a wash, a dry, the interior cleaned, etc. And several times a year I pay much more because that’s where we get our vehicles inspected, as well as change the oil, rotate the tires, replace filters, and so on.
Average ticket now lost: $50
So let’s say the average ticket per customer is $50 — but that’s ten times a year. There’s $500. Except the average customer has two vehicles, so it’s $1,000!
After what happened at Starbucks this morning, that car wash easily loses three to six customers, or $3,000 to $6,000 in the next year alone! Consider that the average car wash customer returns for seven years and today’s future losses are significant! All because the car wash wouldn’t spend money to train the employee!
And keep in mind this isn’t the end of the guy’s storytelling. Now that he knows he can get an audience, he’ll tell this story all weekend — each time it will get better, too! Who knows how many more sympathetic audiences he’ll find. Remember: Each audience member is likely to tell a dozen more people — I’m telling several thousand people right now!
That’s funny.
The real cost of training
Reminds me of the entrepreneur who told Zig Ziglar that he didn’t spend money on training because he didn’t see the sense of training employees who would ultimately leave him for a different job. Zig shared a little of his twisted logic with the entrepreneur: “It’s better to train an employee you’re not going to keep than to keep an employee you’re not going to train!”
And here’s my last laugh: I happen to know that in the not-too-distant future, a Mr. Clean Car Wash — a new franchise backed by Protcer & Gamble — will open just down the road from the non-franchised car wash. That’s when the car wash business will really get interesting in my part of Frisco! We’ll see how much logic the Mr. Clean people use. How much do you think they’re willing to spend on training employees . . . and keeping customers?
Starbucks photo image: Shazari
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Twitter: @scottboulch
Hey John, great post!
I cant tell you the number of times “bad will” has spread becuase I got horrible service. I always ask for recomendations and also warn all of my firends and contacts, (numbering in the thousands now) about poorly run companies and bad service! One negative Facebook post could really hurt a business these days. Great lesson! Hope all is well.
Scott