CRM In A Coffeeshop ???

There are 2 coffeeshops nearby my house in USJ3. I will normally go to Restoran New Apollos during the weekends in USJ4 instead of Restoran Casablanca which is only a few blocks away. Each time I go to Apollos, the owner (whom I normally call him Uncle) really knows what I want. He will greet me by my name and serve me with a glass of teh peng ‘ice tea’ and bring an ashtray to me even before I ask him to. However, my wife will always complain when we go there for lunch because it is hot over there. But this does not deter me from going there every weekends.


Then recently there are lots of so called high end coffeeshops sprouting everywhere in town, such as Old Town, Old Taste, Pappa Rich, etc. They are selling the same type of food and drinks but with a higher price because of the décor and they are air-conditioned. I had been to a few of these coffeeshops and realized that their service is really poor. You could just sit there for 10 minutes and no one will come to serve you. This is the main reason why I always hesitated to go to these coffeeshops for a drink. This could be one of the reasons that when a new one opens, the older ones will be empty.

What I am trying to say here is that identifying customer’s touchpoints and customer engagement is very important for today’s business environment. From the above, we could see that the owner of Apollos has identified my touchpoints which is the way he greets me and the service he provides. He is able to engage me and identified my needs as his loyal customers. What differentiates him from the other owners is that he has the ability to identify his customers, in this case which is my wife and an advocate (raving fans) which is me.

By identifying his customers, he knows how to engage his customers and his priority is given to the loyal ones. He knows who are his profitable customers and always ensure that he does not lose them.

How about the high end coffeeshops? What I can see is that they have only focused on sales and totally forgot the importance in engaging their customers. They are unable to identify their customers and build customer loyalty. This is one of the reason why they are unable to sustain when a new one opens.

Nowadays, building customer loyalty is essential in every business. It is much more profitable to retain a customer than trying to get a new one. Building a strong relationship with your customers takes time and effort. A proper CRM solution is essential in today’s complex business environment. Many people would assume that CRM is just a tool but in my opinion, we use CRM as a marketing strategy. It allows the business to have a 360 degree view of its customers and how to strategize the business to engage with its customers.

From the above examples, we could see that CRM is very important in every aspect of a business no matter how big or small is the business. I guess the Apollos owner has a CRM solution in his back of his mind that allows him to strategize his way of engaging his customers. Isn’t this what a business should have? The bottom line is simple to understand but the execution is complex. Businesses must immediately re-evaluate the way they touch, influence and serve their customers.