04 January 2008

I was at Starbucks the other day when I overheard:

"I'll have a Grande Non-Fat, No-Whip, Extra-Hot Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha to go..."

And it occurred to me that, though I sometimes get a bit creative with my orders, I am light years away from what the Sbux Barista can handle. I mean, the order above doesn't even scratch the surface.

I read here (page 2) that there are at least 19,000 possible drink combinations available at Sbux. If you're confused - go here to read how to order correctly.

This means I'm a drop in the bucket - and yet valued at the same time. "Let your customers customize your product" is just one of ten things they do that makes them successful. Read the other nine here: 10 Things You Can Learn from Starbucks.

So it occurred o me that if this (these) ideas work for coffee, why wouldn't they work for us, the church?

I need to take some time to dig into these 10 things and find the direct application when it comes to our websites, but I'm confident that there will be many. Just a quick glance gets me excited - especially 3, 4, 6 and 10.

I'm thinking Barista - are you?