Background

Quintel Harcum is owner of Good Part & Company, the first and only Black owned food service partner at Johns Hopkins University. He’s also a health coach for men who earn over six figures who deal with high demand jobs and face burnout. Quintel was facing his own challenge with burnout before opening his plant-based cafe, tightening up his diet, and learning holistic ways to improve his health that allowed him to go from his full-time government job into entrepreneurship successfully without crashing and burning.

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Discovering SuperPhone

Quintel started out doing event promotion and email marketing. He learned about SuperPhone® and started using SMS to capture customer data and nurture more of a connection with his customers. He figured he could have a more personal relationship than customers just coming in and out, maybe having their name on a receipt, but if he knows what they like and what kind of trouble they've been having when it comes to health and wellness, then he can talk to them and build a better rapport than they would have at any other cafe.

Quintel was leveraging email marketing when he first opened his cafe, as proof of concept, but once customers were rolling in, he had to figure out a better way to capture them. Email takes quite a while for people to put their email into the register or for staff to take the emails, so he placed a QR code in the cafe that directs customers to a SuperPhone® form for easy opt-in to his text list.

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Building A Feedback Loop for Customer Retention

Quintel had a customer come in and tell him that his bowls were not as good as another juice bar health cafe in the city. Quintel agreed and thought that was great because he got direct feedback and didn't take it personally. He began doing his research to fix the recipe to better serve his customers based on this feedback.

He had gotten the customer’s phone number on SuperPhone® so he texted the customer directly to say that he fixed the bowl and requested that they come try it, on the house. The customer came by that same day to try it and ended up buying another one. Based on that interaction, Quintel sent out an Update on SuperPhone® to all of his contacts to encourage them to try the bowls. And, in honor of the 6-month anniversary, he priced all of the bowls at $6. This deal was exclusive to Quintel’s text list.

Exclusive Membership Benefits

Quintel realized the power of SuperPhone® as a communication channel separate from other channels to offer exclusive member benefits to his text list. For example, in addition to early tastings or exclusive discounts, the text list also receives a special birthday offer where they can get a free birthday bowl.