If seeing is believing, trying is buying.
To really convince your buyer, engage them with an unforgetable experience. A great experience uses the power of emotion to create memories that last long after the details and facts of a story are forgotten. Deciding is logical, buying is emotional. Would you buy a car without a test drive?
Five ideas for creating a great experience:
A great story can move us … and an impressive demonstration can be unforgettable … but an engaging experience will emotionally touch your buyer. Help them smell, hear, taste, touch, or feel what you’re selling. Experiences don’t have to be extravagant to make an impact. Taste the food. Hear and feel the whump of the music. Smell the perfume.
There is a Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.” Unfortunately it’s too easy to take a big event and lose the excitement when we turn it into a story. Not even the best author can put all of the emotion back into words. But here’s your chance. You already have a great story, now bring to life. Give it something to live for.
Nobody remembers ho-hum. Which would you remember … your last trip to the store … or hurtling around turn #1 at Rockingham Speedway in an 800 hp. race car? Your experience doesn’t have to cost big bucks like the 3D version of the movie Avatar, you just need to leave your audience in a different state of mind, thinking about what you’re selling. Get creative.
How can you give your buyer a WOW experience? Under-promise and over-deliver. Make them feel they got WAY more than they expected. Make it a surprise; something totally unexpected. Make it so fun they’re like the kid that rides the roller coaster … again, and again, and again … A WOW is one of those experiences that is so good you HAVE to tell your friends about it.
How much would you pay for a pound of coffee beans? What if they were ground or roasted & brewed – would you pay more? Now imagine a cozy nook with soft leather chairs, great music in the background, and the aroma of fresh baked pastries in the air. You, your friends, great conversation, great coffee. Now what would you pay?
If the idea of using an experience as a business sales tool is new to you, check out The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore. Pine and Gilmore’s book will help you understand how great experiences not only influence but can transform customers. Even if you only read the points in the margin of every page, this book will change how you engage your buyers.
Immersive – Transport your buyer to a place where there is room for no thoughts other than your story. Make them forget about the real world. Engaging – Sometimes we want to sit back and be entertained. A good experience will make you sit forward, but the best experience will make you get up and take part. Memorable – How will your experience compete with a lifetime of memories?
Scripted – Make it a production: make the theater inviting, the stage believable, and the actors well rehearsed. Make it so entertaining your buyer will come back time and time again; each performance better than the last. Sensory interaction – touch, taste, hear, feel your story come to life. There’s a reason all the state fair food stands have fans pointed towards the passers-by.
I remember saying “I do.” I remember the smell of fresh grilled lobster, the hint of chocolate in an expensive red wine, millions of stars in a Caribbean night sky, the sound of waves lapping against the beach, the feel of a warm trade wind gently blowing, and being in love.
I remember the thrill of nothing between me and the ground two hundred feet below as the helicopter banked back to the airport. The rain on my forehead as we climbed to the summit of the rain forest on Antigua. The numbing cold of twenty below zero shoveling snow in Iowa. Something about these events will make me remember them for ever. What memory can YOU make?
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