I am convinced that doing the basics of your business exceptionally well will have a bigger impact on your business than looking for the latest thing, fad or clever idea. So often, we look for the latest thing at the expense of what is really needful for us. A few weeks ago we were down visiting family for a few days, and I needed to get a few things done - so I popped into Windsor for a quiet day's work. I often will pop into the nearest town to do some work, I love the space that it brings and on this particular day, the sun was shinning - so I felt even better.

The Basics for a Coffee Shop

My ingredients for these quiet work days (or space days): a coffee shop of some kind with comfortable chairs, wi-fi (free is better), a power outlet that I can use to charge stuff and a feel-good ambience. Optional extras that make it even better: a great view, healthy food and not too much noise. I am not actually too bothered about the prices if I get the above. I'll even pay extra if I get the optional extras. I am also not bothered about the latest fad way to drink another hot beverage. So, here I am in Windsor, looking for something that can meet these fairly straight forward requirements of mine

Starbucks Windsor...Yikes!

Like most people, I tend to be a creature of habit, so I stick with what I know: Starbucks. There is a great Starbucks in Liverpool that I regularly frequent so I stick with what I know and using Google Places on the iPhone, I find the nearest Starbucks. I didn't spend more than 30 seconds in Starbucks Windsor as it definitely did not meet my requirments of ambience and low noise. It was awful. So I spend the next 30 minutes walking around Windsor looking for a place. 30 minutes! In my head, I should have found a place in 3 minutes. So why did it take 30 minutes?

Tell customers about how you meet the fundamentals

I am looking for the Wi-Fi stickers in the window. I can't be bothered to keep going in and asking, so I look for the simple sign that I have come to love and recognise. Yet not one of the cafe's that I came across had a Wi-Fi sticker in the window, that's what I spent 30 minutes looking for. I want Wi-Fi, it is fundamental for me. I imagine that it is fundamental for most people using this type of service. It is a business basic - and nobody in Windsor were announcing that they had Wi-Fi. Why not? This is one of the basics that I am talking about. If you don't offer Wi-Fi then you are nuts (unless you are doing a very niche shop that prohibits outside connection, in which case - tell me you do that and don't leave me guessing and thinking you are nuts). However, if you are offering Wi-Fi, then why in the world aren't you making it easy for me - the customer - to see that you are offering this service? Don't worry about reading the marketing manuals just yet - focus instead on marketing the stuff that you do do, the stuff that I expect. Make it easy for me to see. A sticker in the window will do that. After 30 minutes of searching, I think to myself that perhaps these folk in Windsor think the stickers in the window are sooo last year. Perhaps it is now a given that Wi-Fi is offered, so no sticker required? So, having had enough of walking around - I pop into the next coffee shop that I am walking past. It is a small, independent coffee shop that is trying to compete with the big boys.

Make sure your team know about how you meet the fundamentals

I ask, "Do you have Wi-Fi here?" to one of the rather bored looking Baristas. "Yes," comes the reply. "Great" I say, thinking to myself that they should put a sticker in the piggin window then, but I keep my helpful thoughts to myself. I sit down. The shop looks OK, and I grab a small seat in the window - good ambience. I order a smoothie. Things are looking up. There's no power outlet though. This is a minor frustration for me. I do have a full charge on my laptop so hopefully it will last. Hopefully. I don't know the exact cost of putting a power outlet near the table - but I am not convinced that it is a lot. It is a simple thing that if you do well, will keep people coming back time and time again. Repeat business is essential, especially if you are a small independent competing with the big boys. The shop did have a drink that I'd never heard of though. I didn't try it. The Barista comes to me - smoothie in hand. "Sorry sir, we don't have Wi-Fi I've just been told". Oh come on! You're kidding me, right? Fortunately, I have got the new HotSpot service on my iPhone but there is minimal battery left. Of course, I can't charge it as there is no outlet. I am now frustrated. As I finish my Smoothie, another couple enter and ask if there is Wi-Fi. You know what, if two people in the space of ten minutes come in and ask the same question - I would take that as a trend! I would do something about it. I won't even begin to tell you about the toilets.

What happens when you don't meet basic expectations

The result of all of this - I left. I didn't order any more drinks. I won't go back, and it is a shame - as this could have been a great independent coffee shop. But it won't survive because I imagine that the repeat business is weak (if you have low or weak repeat customers, you can probably bet that you are not doing well in meeting the basic expectations of customers). The thing here is, with our businesses there are certain things that our customers expect. These expectations will raise every year as the industry grows and develops. [bulb]Meeting the basic expectations of customers is the minimum we should be doing as small business entrepreneurs. Meeting them with style should be our aim. Once you have met them with style, then you can move on.[/bulb]

2 Key signs that you are not meeting basic expectations:

[list type="negative"] [li]Low level of repeat customers for your industry. I don't know what the stats are for coffee shops - how many of the customers go back and buy another drink, or how many even go back another day. I am gonna bet that this independent coffee shop though had low repeat customers relative to industry standards. If customers are not coming back - you are not doing the basics well enough.[/li] [li]I noticed people coming into the coffee shop and asking the exact same question that I had been asking about Wi-Fi.If there is a trend emerging in the questions from your customers, you can bet that you are not doing the basics well, or you are not communicating well enough as you customers are unsure.[/li] [/list]

What can you do to be sure?

Simply ask your customers. I emailed a bunch of our customers recently and asked them in a really open and honest way for some feedback. What they sent back to me was immense and really helpful. When asked in the right way - people will tell you what they think and will go out of their way to help you. What we cannot afford to do, though, is to assume that you are doing well. That is a big mistake. It would have been easy for me to assume that we are doing well as the company is successful. We get a lot of repeat customers and I monitor customer service enquiries to spot trends. But actually, just that simple email which took me about an hour to put together has highlighted so many simple areas that we can improve -- all key, basic areas -- and it will have an extraordinary impact on the business. I am totally glad that I did it.

The Bottom Line

I felt sorry for that coffee shop as I left. I want to support the small independents, I really do. But they had forgotten a really important business lesson - that sales and marketing these days is all about keeping your current customers. If you give your customers a great experience, they will tell their friends through all kinds of channels from Facebook to the phone and this will grow your business. If you give your customers a bad experience, they never come back and you have to start all over again. I would have stayed in that place all day if it had offered my this kind of experience, and I would have spent a lot me than I did. I may have even gone onto Google Places or Yelp and written a good review. Now, though, I am wondering whether to write a bad review - all over a basic feature such as wi-fi. It is the little things that we've come to expect that can make or break your business.