Starbucks is certainly seen as a sales innovator. Who would have thought by offering coffee from exotic places around the globe, adding some flavorings and giving the brewed concoctions a language of their own they could charge $6 and more for a cup without the luxury of table service or a free refill?
Their latest risky venture wasn’t anything hair-brained or dangerous, as stated in the Fast Company article, “Risky Innovation: Will Starbucks’ Leap Of Faith Pay Off?" In fact, Starbucks has a reputation for introducing new products or services before they’ve worked out all the bugs. Their latest, collaboration with Groupon, is another example of taking a leap without making sure all the safety switches were in place.
Groupon is known for providing the platform for companies to offer their products and services at reduced rates, often 50 percent less, for a period of time. By offering coupons, or Groupons, companies can offer a special deal to generate interest and boost sales. The risk was that Starbucks had never done something like this on a scale so large. They have 18,000 stores with 200,000 employees. The offer was 50 percent off a $10 card, and it was a success by any measure, bringing in over $10 million the first day.
Starbucks rolled out this new venture even though it wasn’t positive they had all the bugs worked out. They thought” they had it right, so they went ahead. Businesses and job seekers can learn a lot of from Starbucks willingness to go with an idea or plan without second-guessing every little detail of a process or plan. At some point you just have to push the button and get started.
Job seekers can agonize over their resumes, so much that it sits in their laptop, undergoing countless revisions and edits. You have to have the grammar and spelling right and it should have a clear and easy format, but you need to know when enough is enough. Get it out there! If you’re still hesitant, send it out to your “C” companies, those that are interesting but if you don’t get the job it’s not a big deal. At least you’re in the game. Continue to tweak until your confidence is in the 90 percentile and then unleash it on your “B” and “A” companies.
Go big! Starbucks could have put an ad in a local paper to test the waters, but they used Groupon to cast a wide net. They were overwhelmed with response, but in their case, more was better. Using an online job board like Nexxt can help you cast a wide net as well by making your resume available to the world. Targeting companies in a niche market is wise, but you never know what opportunities are never advertised. HR Managers search resumes on job boards all the time looking for the perfect candidate for jobs that open up but may not make it to the company website.
Focus on the upside. Starbucks found you can’t be an innovator or leader if you’re always focused on what can go wrong. Getting great results are worth a few glitches along the way. Count the costs and then go for it.
Image Source: artur84 / Freedigitalphotos.net
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