You have taken all the time to create your own business and get things up and running. There are a lot of challenges that come with running and owning a coffee shop, but one of the toughest things to work with is that the competition will try to take your customers along the way.
Competition is fierce in the world of coffee shops and you want to make sure that you are providing a good product to your customers that they are sure to enjoy. There are different steps that you can take to get this done, but a bit of creativity and thinking outside the box can help. Some of the steps you can use include:
Understand What Makes You Unique
The first thing that you need to focus on is what makes you so unique. There is a lot of competition on the market, and if you can’t point out at least one thing that makes you better than the competition, then you are already in trouble.
You should already have a business plan in place to help run your business. This is an important document that you used to get the business started in the first place. Inside that, you should have something known as the Unique Selling Proposition or USP.
The USP is basically just that one special thing that makes you different from all of the competition. Look into that and then find ways that you can leverage that USP to help make your whole business stand out. If your product or store has changed since you originally came up with the USP, then you may need to reassess and decide what to do.
As a business, take some time to come back to the USP on occasion. Check to see whether it is still adequate and relevant within the competition and the current market. If it is no longer relevant, then it is time to make some changes to see it become relevant again.
Consistently Offer High-Quality Products
If you are not willing to offer some of the best high-quality products to your customers all the time, then your competition will. And guess where all of those customers are going to head to get the coffee and baked goods that they want. You need to consistently offer some of the best in quality to your customers all the time.
If people want them to go out and get coffee that is lousy and bad, then let them leave to the competition. Be the one in the market that offers some fantastic coffee, not coffee that is mediocre or coffee that is good. You want to be the one that offers fantastic coffee.
You do not want to offer this on occasion and then hope it is all going to work out well. You need to find a way to offer some of the best coffee in the town, all the time. You may not be able to control everything, but there are different steps that you can take to make sure the coffee is going to be high-quality all the time.
For example, take a look at some of the options that you provide. If there is an option that is poor-quality and not doing well, it is time to get rid of it. You can visit the competition and see what they offer, comparing it to some of the coffee options that you provide.
This quality does not just pertain to your coffee, but also to the other options that you add to your shop. Make sure that you offer the best in teas, baked goods, and everything else on the shelf. You want to be known as the company that takes care of their customers, and providing high-quality items is a good place to start.
Offer the Best in Customer Service
No matter how good of products you provide, if the customer comes in and is treated rudely by your staff or ignored, then they are not going to come back again. Customers want great customer service, service that goes above and beyond and makes them feel very special for their time.
There is a lot of competition out there, but a good way to stand out from the crowd is to make sure that you help the customer feel like they are valued and very important to you. Your customers may forgive if the coffee is bad one time or something goes wrong, but they will not forgive poor service.
This means that you need to put your attention on both. Make sure that you provide some of the best in high-quality products and the best in customer service, each time someone walks in the door. Consistently offering the best in service will be essential to keeping the customers at your shop and not going to someone else.
Customers love knowing that they are going to be treated to a big smile and even recognized when they come into the shop often. They like to feel like you care about them and will do your best to provide them with the best coffee all the time.
While you may work hard to provide this, you also need to make sure that your employees are providing this kind of customer service as well. The right training program will help your employees learn how to give the best in customer service so you always have happy customers at your shop.
Listen to Your Coffee Shop Customers to Win Out Over Competition
No matter how hard you try, there are going to be times when things do not work the best and you may leave the customer disappointed. Or maybe a customer has a great idea that could be implemented and makes your life easier while providing more value to your customers. Choosing to listen to your customers will help you learn when these things happen.
You may find that each of the customers who comes into your coffee shop can offer some insight into a field that is already really competitive. These customers already know the prices, the different menu options, and the other big differences between the competition and your own coffee shop.
This makes the customer one of the best sources of information when you want to keep up with some of your competition. But the only way to do this is to ask for and pay attention to the feedback that they provide.
The best way to get ahold of this information is to offer different ways that the customer can provide it. Have your employees learn how to write down customer feedback. Leave a journal where the customer can write something down if they would like, or provide an email that anyone is able to use.
In addition to asking the customers for feedback, let them know how you plan to respond to their feedback. This helps the customer know that you plan to listen to them and take their suggestions into consideration along the way.
You can also look online to see what information is there. Look at TripAdvisor, Google Maps, or Yelp. Look through the online comments. Some people feel more open to sharing their opinions on these online forums and you could learn some unique insights that will help you get your business ahead of the game.
Deliver the Best in Value
Your most important asset is the amount of value that you can provide to the customer. When you can provide a good amount of value to the customer, they will enjoy coming to your business more and will want to choose you over the competition.
Any time that the customer feels like they are getting an outstanding value for their purchase when they visit you, they will feel better about the money that they spend at your coffee shop. You need to find some method you can use to deliver this value to make sure that the customer comes back.
Take some time to decide on how you will deliver this great value to the customers. Some may decide to call this a unique value proposition, which is similar to that unique selling point that we talked about before. This will help entice more customers to come to you rather than the competition.
Keep in mind that this value does not need to be based only on the prices that you charge. It can also be based on other factors that tend to be essential to your customers. For example, it can include a coffee that is exceptional or great customer service that makes them feel great. Maybe you decide to support a local farmer to promote community to get this value.
Your business has to be unique, so you will need to decide what type of value you would like to choose from. There are different ways to do this. Listen to your customers, research the market, and decide what is the value that you will provide to others.
Use Your POS System to Collect Data
Your Point of Sales, or POS, system is going to be a big tool that you can use to help take care of your customers and to learn more about them along the way. Do not let it just sit there and assume there is nothing of value there. You do not need to look at it daily, but take some time to look it over and see what information is there.
There is a lot of complex data that the POS system in your coffee shop will cover. This will tell you a lot about what the customers are purchasing and when they purchase it. This data is going to do two things for you. First, it will allow you to learn more about the inventory you should keep on hand and can help you schedule your employees when they are needed most.
If you find that there are some big rushes between 8 to 12, you may need to have two or three baristas who will work in the morning instead of relying on one. If you find that all of your bagels are gone by 9:30, it may be time to bake a few more to take care of the customers and make sure they do not leave disappointed.
Your POS system will provide all of the information that you need. Take some time to look it over each month to ensure that you understand what is going on in your business and to make sure that you are running your business as efficiently as possible.
Exceed the Expectations of Your Coffee Shop Customers to Beat Competitors
The next thing that we need to focus on is some of the ways that you can exceed the expectations of your own customers. Every customer comes in the door with some expectations of what they hope to find there. Whether they were just walking by and saw your business or were told reviews about you from their friends, they have something they expect.
Your goal is to figure out what those expectations are and then try to surpass them as much as you can. As you start to know more about the things that your customers want, you will get a better idea of what they expect out of your business and you.
Once you have that figured out, you will need to figure out how to exceed that expectation. This effort is going to be what puts you over the top and makes sure that your customer remembers who you are. And the whole process is known as the development of excellence.
If you can consistently focus on developing this type of excellence, it is going to make a big difference in customer satisfaction and how many will come back to you again and again. This does not mean. You never make mistakes. But it does mean that you will be able to consistently outperform anyone who is your competition.
You may be surprised at how many of your competition is happy to just be mediocre and get by while making profits. If you are able to make a shift in your own perspective in order to deliver an outstanding experience to the customers all the time, you will find that it spreads and you will get more and more people through the door.
Take a Look At the Space
It may be time to make some changes in the space that you currently have. Coffee shops are unique in that they are able to provide some great spaces for the customer to meet and enjoy the coffee. While some people may grab a cup of coffee and leave, others may sit down and do some work or socialize with other people.
You need to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. How do you think the current space is impacting the experience for your customer? Does the area feel welcoming? Does finding a place to sit down look like a fun task or does the area look cozy and safe and a good place to just relax?
You may be surprised that with a few small and affordable changes, you can really make an impact on the experience that your customer has. Some of the things that you can consider when making these changes include:
- The temperature of the room
- The level of sound. It does not have to be quiet and some music will help, but do not let it get so loud that no one can hear themselves talking
- The lighting
- The seating
- The color of the walls
This is a good place to listen to what your customer is telling you. if they make some suggestions on how to help the area look nicer and more inviting, then consider whether it is something that you can do.
Make Sure to Train Each Employee
To make sure that you are always delivering the best in customer service and all of the products that you provide, you must make sure that each and every person you hire goes through training. There are different forms of training that you can pick and choose from based on your needs, but you do need to think it through and get everyone trained.
Hiring great baristas and training them will benefit you. Sure, it takes a little more time to get the training done compared to just hiring them and putting them behind the counter, but a trained barista is a happy and helpful one. They will feel confident in their job and you will not have to worry about lots of mistakes and disgruntled customers.
Barista training is going to make sure that your coffee shop is consistent and can actually reduce costs. When it is done well, it is going to boost the morale of your employees and help them see themselves as valuable to your business. Some of the things that this training will help with include:
- Improve the way that all employees will interact with the customers.
- Improve the way that all employees will make their coffee
- Help the employee finish some of the other tasks that they need to do well including managing the inventory, cleaning, and helping with opening and closing the store.
- Helps the employees know how to maintain some of the expensive equipment at the shop.
- Help the employee learn how to react to complaints, questions, or requests from the customer.
- Allows the employee to know when to upsell a product so you can earn more profits.
You will need to design some of the training programs to make sure that it works with your business and will help bring you some of the success you are looking for too.
Consider the Loyalty Cards to Stand Out from Competing Coffee Shops
One way that you can make your customers feel important is to have a good loyalty program in place. These programs are meant to help reward people with repeat business through loyalty cards and points so that they can get freebies and other options by visiting you and getting some good coffee.
Customers love it when they are able to work to get a free item just for getting their coffee from you. Find that special reward that is going to entice customers to agree to work with you and will be that motivating factor that gets them to choose you over someone else.
The neat thing is that you do not need to print out these loyalty cards and then worry about if your customer loses them. Your modern POS system that we talked about before is able to do all of the work. You can offer the physical card if this is what your customers like, but they can also set up the account to work with their phone numbers so that they can get the rewards too.
Look at the Promotion and Marketing
If you do not take the time to define yourself and your own business, you are going to lose out in the industry for coffee. You must always remember that there is a lot of competition in this industry and if you are not willing to step forward and figure out how to show off your great business, then you will miss out on some of the benefits.
If you do not take the time to define your business, the market and other customers, and even your competition, will do it for you. You need to show others what your mission and the USP are and then make your own promotional and marketing strategy that helps to support all of this.
This means that you will need to be active with some of the marketing efforts that you do. This is even more important when you look at your online presence. There are some simple methods that you can do for this, such as showing bundle deals and seasonal options on social media or going with a more visual media like YouTube if that makes the most sense for you.
Take advantage of that POS system as well. This is full of knowledge and you may be surprised that you could start your very own email subscription list already. This is a great idea to start sending out information about your next events, your promotions, and more.
Each coffee shop needs to come up with its own plan when it comes to promoting and marketing its business. But you need to come up with this as soon as possible to ensure that no one else is going to do it for you and ruin the whole experience.
Beating Out the Coffee Shop Competition
As you can see, there are a number of steps that you can take in order to beat out the competition, even in this high-competition industry. You just need to know your customer and what they expect, exceed those expectations, and make sure that you provide some of the best in quality and service all around.
With a few minor adjustments in some of the things that you are already doing, you will find that it is possible to beat out the competition, regardless of what they currently do or even how long they have been in the market. Have some fun with this and see how many customers will gravitate to you.
