More on Starbucks Barista Discontent over Pushing Via

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I knew that Starbucks (SBUX) had given its employees an intensive crash course in Via as part of its high-profile rollout of the new instant coffee product. But I didn’t know how aggressive the company was training its employees to be.

BusinessWeek is running a story on how Via sales pitches have gotten so intense that both baristas and customers are complaining. “This is the most stressful promotion I have ever experienced, and I’ve been with the company for seven years,” one employee wrote on a Starbucks gossip blog.

Another employee blogged that Starbucks baristas “were just told to place a Via 12-pack in the customer’s hand while asking if they would ‘like to add some Via to their order.’ This sort of aggressive pitching is not in line with how the baristas see themselves, which is as more like bartenders than salespeople. Nor is it likely to win over customers, who are expressing exasperation on their own blogs.

I know Via is huge for Starbucks and there’s a lot riding on its success, especially considering how the company has faltered in recent years and how McDonald’s (MCD) has turned itself into a direct rival. But annoying customers doesn’t seem to be the best way to go.

Tags: Starbucks Corp., Sales Strategy, Blogging, Sales Force Management, Sales, Internet, Katherine Glover

Katherine Glover is a Minneapolis-based print, radio and online journalist. She's written for Salon.com, Sierra Magazine and many others, and she does a weekly blog on immigration issues for MinnPost.

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1

SwagV

11/13/09 | Report as spam

RE: More on Starbucks Barista Discontent over Pushing Via

Starbucks baristas need to get over themselves. When Starbucks replaced their La Marzocco and other machines with brain-dead, push-button Verismos years ago, they did so because they couldn't hire enough trained people to operate more traditional equipment in their exploding armada of caf?s and keep the doors open.

Now that Starbucks baristas have been reduced to button-pushers, they should embrace the opportunity to do something requiring a higher brain function than the mind-numbing, simpleton operations they now perform.
2

alius01

11/16/09 | Report as spam

RE: More on Starbucks Barista Discontent over Pushing Via

We talked to a barista last night and their sales for Via have not been weel. They told us that some stores have rang up regular coffee and drinks under Via sales and then put the coffee taht was actually sold under their own comp account. The people at out store have not done this and their Via sales are low. Not only do you not know the real story with these tactics but teh company may have faulty info about the produuct's success or failure.