The other day I went to Tim Hortons and ordered a medium green tea. They asked what I’d like in it. Nothing I said. What did they repeat back?
“You’d like it black?”
What.
I asked for green tea. Then it clicked. They were using the coffee term of no sugar/cream instead of talking about black tea.
The whole event struck me as a service delivery fail.
Contrast that story to when Starbucks added recently dove into tea in a big way. What did they do? They added a spokesperson (Oprah) and a tea company (Teavana). What else? They took coffee out of their name!
When you’re thinking about selling, consider the language your customers use amongst their tribe.
Cultural sensitivity is as important now as it’s ever been; perhaps the context is the biggest change.
“You’d like it black?”
What.
I asked for green tea. Then it clicked. They were using the coffee term of no sugar/cream instead of talking about black tea.
The whole event struck me as a service delivery fail.
Contrast that story to when Starbucks added recently dove into tea in a big way. What did they do? They added a spokesperson (Oprah) and a tea company (Teavana). What else? They took coffee out of their name!
When you’re thinking about selling, consider the language your customers use amongst their tribe.
Cultural sensitivity is as important now as it’s ever been; perhaps the context is the biggest change.
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