There are probably a hundred ways to lose business....

As a businessman or woman, you don't want to be singing the refrain as modified from "Wonderful Town," listing the many ways a business can go south.

Our focus of course is on the customer service side of keeping your business pointing true north.

Any interaction between your customers or prospects and the people you hire to meet and greet them requires good customer service. Customer service implies a good interaction. It is expected that customers and prospects will be treated well. 

This also applies to the folks you hire to man your booths at expos, like the #NYXPO which I attended last week. People walk around the floor of the Javits Center looking at exhibits and asking for information. They are not all customers or even necessarily good prospects, but you never know....

At the #NYXPO the coolest exhibit bar none was an old pick up truck with plastic letters displayed in its bed for a sign company. Only drawback for the company in question? The two guys repping them on the floor were so engrossed in their cell phones they couldn't bother to talk to passers by. I went by the truck twice with the intention of getting a little information. On both passes, I was roundly ignored.

So, here's one way to lose....

So how exactly does Starbucks make its bucks?

Let's start where a customer service blog should by praising the folks who work there. They are invariably polite. They go out of their way to be helpful. Service at Starbucks is excellent.

However, any drink order in any one of their many shops and you'll have a minimum 10-minute wait time.
This is true when they are very busy, or when you are the sole person at the counter. Doesn't matter if it's a simple drink like iced tea that is ready to pour from a pitcher, or one as complex as a latte.

Therein lies the reason for my titular query: If each $5 drink takes 10 minutes to prepare, Starbucks is selling 6 drinks per hour per barista. That would come to gross income of $30/hour.

Rent? Payroll? Materials? Product? What could be left? Yes, I know they are a profitable company.

It's just puzzling that so much staff time can be vested in cooking up our drinks and Starbucks can still make money.