Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I love Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. As a former employee, I really grew to appreciate the value of excellent teas and well-crafted coffee beverages. Now that I do web strategy and community management for a living, I thought that I’d share some free thinking in the hopes that my favorite Coffee Retailer will open up it’s Camarillo home office doors and let the customers in. Food for thought. Take it or leave it.

1. Open a store in Manchester, NH – okay this is purely selfish (but also for the good of New Englanders everywhere), but I’m dying without my CBTL fix.
2. Start a blog (or Twitter) – it’s so easy and there’s no reason you guys shouldn’t be doing this now. You’ve got an amazing product that you should be talking about in the blogosphere. Let loyal customers like me in on the scoop. When can I expect the next great beverage from CBTL? Tell me why a certain drink (ie Moraccan Mint tea latte) is no longer available. Share pictures (start a flickr account?) from your expeditions to Costa Rica in search of the perfect bean or Sri Lanka for those fabulous tea leafs. Let me comment back and tell you about my CBTL experiences. Start a contest and award the winner with a fabulous trip to experience the coffee harvesting process; you do this for team members on occasion…why not loyal customers? (Twitter would be cool for the celeb factor alone. I’ve seen celebrities at CBTL in LA and I know others have too. Ask followers to tweet every time they see a celebrity drinking CBTL and where. It’s like CBTL guerilla paparazzi!)
3. Let your GM’s blog too! They’ve got stories to tell and they’re authentic so let them get the word out for you.
4. Use the blog to solicit engaged customers and start a community CBTL development team. I know there is an extensive product development cycle and I know that CBTL allows team members to sumbit ideas for new drinks, so why not open this up a bit. Put out a call to action online. Ask customers to contact you (provide an easy way – blog comments, direct email etc) if they are interested in influencing the direction of new products. Invite the most enthusiastic (dedicated to commit to the work) to join a private group (you can use a wiki, ning sonet, basecamp, anything works). Give them projects based on new products. Let me them create the next holiday beverage or marketing campaign. Inspire them to blog about their experiences behind the scenes (although you can take the NDA approach so they don’t let the cat out of the bag too early). There’s so much potential here. If only…
5. Give me a widget or a badge. I want something that I can take with me to Facebook, MySpace, or keep here at my blog. I want my friends to know what my favorite drink is (and maybe what celebrity drinks it too?). Plus any widget that’s created will result in more traffic to your site and more brand awareness. Did you know that most New Englanders have no clue about CBTL? So where do you think they’re going to get coffee when they go to Vegas or Cali?
6. Free wifi at every location – do it. I go to Panera everyday simply because they have free wifi. Yes, I make it a point to get coffee at Starbucks too (only because there is no CBTL), but I spend time and money at Panera. Plus you should be encouraging your customers to use the internet (for free). It’s good karma.

These of course are the baby steps. Any more thinking will come at a cost. I have another great idea about connecting the customer community, but I’ll keep that to myself for awhile (until I get bored anyway). Of course, if you’re a Social Media or Community Consultant I’ve just found your next lead. Go get ‘em!

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