I was about to leave a Starbucks Reserve and wondered if I could pick up cups for my home brew on my way out. So, I asked the two baristas standing next to one another if they had any new merchandise on display.

Barista A said: Sorry, we don’t have new cups. Our branch is small, and you can check at a bigger outlet.

Barista B said: We haven’t kept our best merchandise on display but have some inside. The ones on display are nice, but we have a delightful Oleato promotion on offer. Would you like to see it?

This interaction got me thinking about how different customer service approaches influence purchase behaviour. Barista A ended my purchasing journey before it could even start. Yet Barista B got me curious to get to ‘consideration’ and ‘intent’, recognising somewhere that I might be a Starbucks loyalist.

Isn’t it strange that possibly both went through a similar training program? I don’t think their training addressed this specific query. After all, general training programs through case study methodologies develop thinking, approach, behaviour and attitude.

Similarly, although every medical student sits through the same lectures and examinations, ‘there are doctors, and there are doctors’. It reminds me of the phrase, “Operation successful, but the patient died”.