Dear BEM Readers,

This week I would like you to meet a successful businessman from Krakow – Marcin Dutkiewicz. Marcin has created and runs the Cupcake Corner Bakery in the center of Krakow. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing him, while munching on an out of this world cupcake (peanut butter) and a nice cup of latte. First of all what is a cupcake? Well it does not take an Einstein to figure out that it’s a cake in a paper cup.

Marcin opened his shop in June 2010, bringing the already hugely popular idea of cupcakes from the US, while working in the financial industry in Philadelphia.

Let’s see what he had to say about entrepreneurship, branding and the use of new social technologies in his business.

Chris:  Marcin, how did you come up with the idea of running a cupcake bakery & coffee shop here in Poland?

Marcin: At first, I had no such plans. The idea emerged, when I was working in a financial corporation in Philadelphia. Having had the experience in the food industry, opening up a bakery that serves only cupcakes and quality coffee in Poland seemed like a good idea, at least that is what my friends told me

C: What were the beginnings like?

M: Tough. We had a team of a few of my friends from the US, South Africa and Poland, all crazy about cupcakes and making the bakery a reality. It was hard work and a lot of intuition that we will succeed that pushed us forward to where we are today.

C: How did the Polish customers (very weary of their taste sense) react to your cupcakes?

M: At first there was a lot of confusion as to what cupcakes are. They were sweeter than any other cakes in Poland, so we had to tweak the recipe to make sure it fits the local taste. Through countless hours of perfectioning both our business and food systems we were able to devise the perfect solution.

C: I have seen that you use Internet (Facebook, Website) to promote your business. Has it helped you in getting customers?

M: Definitely. Especially when we were starting out the local media coverage was important in establishing our brand identity. Now, we are getting requests for new tastes of cupcakes and recommendations from happy customers. At Cupcake Corner Bakery we believe that word of mouth of satisfied customers is the best advertising. We are happy that our products and services are considered high quality. That is what we strive for and will not compromise on.

C: What are your plans for the future?

M: It would be great to have Cupcakes all over Poland (laugh). We are already getting inquiries from vendors in various cities across the country asking as when are we coming to them? It makes me extremely happy that our passion for baking delicious cupcakes, made from the highest quality ingredients and a world class customer service (still limping in Poland) is getting an approval from our customers.

The Cupcaker Corner Bakery’s slogan goes like this: „We bake happy-ness”

Next time you are in Krakow, make sure to step by for your piece of the happy cupcake heaven.

Krzysztof „Chris” Dargiewicz

Share/Bookmark

Dear BEM Magazine Readers,

Elaborating on our previous post about social media technologies and properly communicating with your customers, the subject line: „”Your satisfaction is our top priority, please hold…” (with a tacky corporate music in the background) is NOT a good way for showing that you care. It actually demonstrates you are trying so hard to NOT CARE. Ok, so I am bringing you business and you can’t even pick up the phone? Imagine what kind of image and perception does it build as a customer.

So what do customers want to be happy?

As there are so many people, the list of specifications and expectations gets longer accordingly. However, it tends to be a „zero-sum game„, you either win (by giving me a great service, sense of trust, confidence and „being taken care of”or lose (man I have been waiting „on hold” for the past 5 mins, are they serious?!).

Fortunately, there are companies worldwide that get that equation right. One of them is Zappos. In short, its an online retailer focusing mainly in the shoe and clothing categories. You can learn more about them, by visiting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zappos.com

So, what does Zappos do that is so extraordinary? They care. If you are after a specific shoe (brand size, color etc.) they will make sure you get it, and get it on time. Moreover, if for some reason they are out of stock on a particular item, or don’t offer it in the first place, they will send you to a competitor! Now that shoes, they are not just after that extra buck.

How did Zappos get to that place? By learning from other’s mistakes and encouraging an internal/external company culture of share values and making sure they put their customers on top of their charts. Seems stupidly simple, right? Not quite. While others are running around conferences, seminars, purchase sophisticated, high-tech CRM(customer relationship management) systems, Zappos makes sure that when someone picks up the phone on the other end, they are nice, helpful, understanding and effective. Now making sure the whole chain works is key to the company’s success and growing market penetration and increasing customer satisfaction levels.

The above has been achieved through a great leadership from Tony Hsieh, the CEO who never compromises on quality or the customer experience. Tony „injects” the company’s values and mission: „deliver ‚WOW” through the customer service, into every single one of the employees, making sure they get guidance, assistance and personal development.

If you want to learn more about how Tony Hsieh does that, I strongly recommend his book: „Delivering Happiness”, available on Amazon

So how does all that transfer to what you do? Well, next time you design the „voice mail” intro message, welcome page on your website, how you greet your customers in the lobby and all the other channels of communication, make sure to make them feel good, just like you would feel by being threated right and on an invidual basis.

Most importantly: IF YOU SCREW UP, ADMIT IT AND APOLOGIZE. IT WILL MAKE  A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE THAN: „WE WILL TRY BETTER NEXT TIME” or even worse, not admitting to the mistake at all.

So what are you still doing here?

Go, make sure you deliver happiness!

Chris Dargiewicz

USEFUL VOCABULARY:

1. „Priority” – priorytet

2.” Tacky” – kiczowaty, nieprofesjonalny

3. „Corporate” – firmowy; korporacyjny

4. „To take care of somebody” – zajmować się; przejmować się

5. „Accordingly” – odpowiednio do

6.  „Zero-sum game” – gra o sumie zerowej

7.  „Equation” – równanie

8. „Extraordinary” – ponadprzeciętne; nadzwyczajne

9. „Out of stock” – brak produktu w inwentarzu

10. „In the first place ” – w ogóle

11. „Competitor” – konkurent

12. „To make an extra buck” – zarobić dodatkowo; dorobić się na

13. „Encourage” – zachęcać

14. „Internal” – wewnętrzny

15. „External” – zewnętrzny

16. „Sophisticated” – zaawansowany; wymyślny

17. „High-tech” – zaawansowany technologicznie

18. „Market penetration” – pozycja rynkowa

19. „Inject” – zaszczepić; wszczepić

20. „To greet someone” – przywitać się z kimś

21. „Lobby” – recepcja

Share/Bookmark