We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Derek Pettus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Derek thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

Coming from an Oil & Gas Outside Sales background, I have always put my Customers first, no matter what. At Guardian Coffee, the relationships with Customers are not exactly the same as an outside sales career, but the mindset definitely is. Without them, we don’t have a company, period. I own Guardian Coffee Company, but still make it a point to sign & send thank you cards for every first order we receive, regardless of how busy I am. I enjoy it, I take a lot of pride in it, and I am very thankful for each and every Customer we have. I also am the only one that tends to our Customer chat, this allows me to have a frontline view of their wants, needs, comments, and complaints. Plus, getting to interact with them is always a good feeling in itself.

Derek, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As mentioned previously, I started in Oil & Gas Sales. Which is a very high energy line of work, and required lots coffee, all the time. I used to buy mine exclusively from one of our now largest competitors in the veteran owned coffee company niche, until their Customer service started to go downhill. I decided I’d had enough, looked into coffee suppliers, website building, and as my 8 year-old says, decided to “Just send it”. That was a little over a year ago in the summer of 2022. We have grown every month since, learned an unfathomable amount about coffee, chasing goals, and are never looking back.

We find that a lot of our Customers are currently in the boat I was in a year ago. They love coffee, are veterans (I’m a Marine) or know veterans, and are tired of the larger veteran owned coffee companies service. We aim to provide them with a source for amazing coffee, comprehensive brewing guides, state-of-the-art brewing equipment, and the absolute best Customer service in the entire world. That last part is what sets us apart from most other companies. At Guardian Coffee Company, you’re not just a number, you’re not funding exotic cars and lavish vacations; you are supporting a small, family owned & operated company that donates portions of our profit to charity at the end of every year and truly cares about you.

Our coffee selection & its taste is amazing. Unlike the stale stuff you find at your local grocery store, we do not roast your coffee until you place your order. Once we roast it, we are sure to ship it on the same day so it arrives to you as fresh as can be. You really can’t find a source for more fresh coffee beans/grind anywhere. You can literally can smell the amazing aromas before you get to your mailbox and before you open your door. One of our most frequent compliments is how good it makes a house or office smell just by being in the pantry. We also offer 100% free domestic shipping, storewide, and provide a great first time buyer discount.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It does not take an astrophysicist to know how saturated the coffee market is. You can buy coffee from just about anywhere you look. We knew when we started Guardian Coffee that it would be an uphill climb most of the time. I’m a Marine, we live and breathe uphill climbs. We have always had to be pretty resilient in this journey that is Guardian Coffee due to the sheer number of competitors. This is one of the reasons we put so much weight on our Customer service reputation, It is our greatest trait (second only to our amazing coffee, haha!). It has been a little over a year since we opened and we are still steadily growing every month.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Our Clients are the best, and we let them know it all the time. From the stickers and thank you letters you get from me after your first order, to the exclusive discounts offered to those that have ordered more than 10 times – we take care of our Clients and they keep coming back. I personally run our website’s chat function, and it has allowed me to be sure that each Customer gets taken care of with the utmost speed, compassion, and professionalism.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.guardiancoffeeco.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/guardiancoffeeco
• Facebook: facebook.com/guardiancoffeeco
• Other: [email protected]