Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/105573
TAKE THAT BACK? continued from page 41 KITA CENTELLA needs can be better met. "Our goal is to have each tea become a 'must have' with consumers from the moment they taste," Reierson says. "However, some additional tweaks are sometimes needed after a tea is offered." Having a policy that asks for concrete feedback from the customer can also help an operator guide that customer to other possibilities in a product line. Perhaps a customer didn't realize you have a blend that will be a perfect palate fit. Ozo Coffee, a roaster based in Boulder, Colo., for instance, has a policy that states coffee cannot be returned unless there is an order mix-up or some aspect of it is defective. However, that doesn't mean taste preferences are simply disregarded. "The second half of our policy states if they are unhappy with their purchase they should get in contact with us," says Nolan Dutton, Ozo's roastmaster. "We choose to have a conversation with our customers that don't like what they got to get them something they do like. Usually, we end up with a repeat customer who has a new favorite coffee." Of course, to have those flavor conversations with unsatisfied customers, you need to be available to them. Here again, it helps to have a system in place before complaints come in. Emails and phone that get no response or snooty baristas who simply tell 42 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com customers "no returns" aren't going to lead to patrons giving you a second chance. "It can be hard for roasters to focus on this," acknowledges Papazian of GoCoffeeGo. "They're busting their asses to get orders out and survive in a competitive industry. But at the end of the day, customer service needs to be most important. When you make customers a priority, they reward you with loyalty." 'HOW DID YOU BREW IT?' Refund requests don't just have to involve you learning about your customers, however. Part of the conversation can be geared toward those consumers building their own coffee or tea knowledge—often it's a lack of education that leads to misunderstandings in the first place. Melissa Scholl, co-owner of Virginia-based Lexington Coffee Roasters, has been introducing consumers to high-quality coffees for more than 20 years. She's no stranger to flavor complaints, and her typical response comes in the form of a question: "How did you brew it?" she says. "We can send out a coffee we and others think is spectacular, but if it wasn't handled right it genuinely might not