working with chocolate Archives - Page 4 of 4 - The Melting Pot

I love people (and chocolate too of course) which is why I created The Melting Pot. Creating the best possible experience for customers is a true passion of mine. A workshop environment provides a golden opportunity to really cherish every guest and ensure they leave happy (with bags filled with chocolate)!

The Customer Journey

The experience itself is just one part of a journey for my customers – one that starts long before I’m aware of their presence. They will be experiencing my business via my website and social media platforms. I must build a relationship with them (whether they decide to take part in a workshop or not). I need to keep in touch over a period of time, strengthening our connection until they are hopefully ready to buy.

Your Business Personality

I work hard at creating the right business personality for The Melting Pot. This involves first impressions. The way I present myself and my business. How I act on social media, my writing style, aiming for quick response times, sending regular newsletters, and of course, my workshops. I’m fascinated by learning more so I always ask for feedback too. Gaining insights from my customers means I can continually review, hone and improve what I offer.

Getting Sticky Customers

One business entrepreneur once said to me “I want what you’ve got in your business – I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but I want it in mine.”

Never one to pass up a challenge, I set to identify all the elements that go into creating a great customer experience.

I created a workshop called Getting Sticky Customers. We cover all the basics on getting good at creating the best customer experiences and I added chocolate into the mix too! The aim is to get our customers to stick around while we might get a little sticky with the chocolate too.

What makes great customer experience?

My aim is on building the best relationships with clients (and creating a ‘WOW moment’ now and again to really make me stand out from the crowd). It starts by doing exactly what it says on the tin. If you mention it, it needs to work in the way it’s described/expected. Simples but so many companies don’t do this. Until this element is nailed, don’t bother trying to make your customers go WOW as it won’t work.

In my opinion, it’s not about theory, spouting statistics on customer retention, and yet more examples of bad customer service stories (yawn, we’ve heard them all before). It’s about getting in the right mindset, sweating the small stuff, and noticing examples of what we CAN DO to create some WOW moments for customers. It’s about getting inspired!

Mindset Matters

I believe the biggest factor is my mindset – how much genuine emphasis I put on making things the best for my customers really matters. If anyone is going to part with their hard-earned money and spend it with me, I really care that I do my best for them. That has to come above anything else.

Then I keep a close eye on all the operations, customer interactions, and managing expectations. If you spell out how something is going to work, the customer understands the process and is not left to worry. The way I act on the phone, at events, such as conferences or networking, face-to-face meetings, and via written word all count. I am always the face of the business in whatever setting I am in.

I need to ensure the basics are working properly first – it’s as simple as doing what I promised I would. If I can’t do that I need to hold up my hand and explain why. I then need to keep in touch and keep the customer informed of what’s happening and when to expect a result (or not). Only then can I look at how I might create some WOW for customers.

This has to be done authentically, and I have to be myself, albeit a ‘business-personality’ style version of me! Don’t try and be false, or act in a way you can’t sustain. That’s just exhausting and people will see through it eventually.

Add Chocolate

Mention chocolate and some of the work in getting people excited is done for me, I do agree. But get the experience wrong or treat the customers badly and no amount of chocolate will win them over.

If you are interested in working with chocolate, here are five reasons that might be of interest!

I welcome groups of people to my chocolate tanks. There are two tanks, each of which holds up to eight kilos of molten chocolate that has been tempered prior to their arrival and is ready for chocolate-making.

They may have booked onto a chocolate workshop, but the experience is really a chocolate therapy! Here’s why…..

Chocolate aroma

The first thing people remark on is the smell. I’ve been busy stirring and adding callets to the chocolate tanks to temper the chocolate. The whole space is filled with the aroma of chocolate!

Chocolate trance

It’s quite amazing the effect this has on everyone. We do some fun activities at the outset, and people are giggling and letting their guards down, then finally we start to dip fillings into the chocolate tank. As they dip, they reach a level of calm. The sensation of dipping, smelling and making chocolates seems to seep into each of them and they relax completely. They open up and share stories – the dipping process has a totally therapeutic effect on them.

You can’t hide

Each participant places the chocolates they have made onto their mat and this shows their personality – without fail. They might start with neat lines and order, but eventually they will reveal their true identity by the way they place and decorate their creations. It’s quite something to witness!

I often refer to this element of the workshop as ‘chocolate therapy’! It amazes me every time and is a total privilege to offer. It’s so rewarding to see the positive and rather magical effects chocolate has on people.

Sometimes life can be very harsh – for instance, I’ve worked with children who are unable to be in mainstream education and their short lives have already been difficult and complicated, but still the magic of chocolate will weave its spell and create a small moment of peace, calm and creativity for them.

The healing powers of chocolate

A daughter bought her mother to me. They had lost their husband/dad almost a year ago and the mother had hardly been out of bed. Her daughter booked the workshop just to try and help her mum as the first anniversary approached.

We had a magical morning, working with others enjoying ourselves, being creative, supportive and having a bit of fun. They were almost in tears as they left saying how good the experience had been for them. What an honour to have helped in some small way in such circumstances.

Squeak, squeak

Often the excitement is palpable.

A lady treated her best friend to a workshop for a significant birthday and didn’t reveal the surprise until they arrived. I’ve never heard so many squeals, her total delight was present throughout her whole experience and it was completely infectious.

Imagine making someone so happy and excited – it’s a wonderful feeling.

So working with chocolate goes far deeper than you could imagine and continues to be a total wonder to me – the way it can help, encourage, support and excite others is just incredible!

Catch up with other chocolate stories on my Facebook page.

Tag: working with chocolate

Creating some ‘WOW’ requires more than just chocolate!