A Better Business Blog

Welcome to the Experience Economy. Are You Ready?

When my mother grew up and it was her birthday, her mother went to the store and bought flour, sugar, milk, and eggs; came home and baked a birthday cake. When it was my birthday, my mom went to the store, bought a cake mix and baked me a birthday cake.

When my kids’ birthday came, I did neither of those things. For about ten bucks I went to the store and bought a pre-made cake complete with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on top. However when parents prepare for their children’s birthday today, a cake is not enough. There must be a party with games, prizes, balloons, and a magician.

This is what Harvard researchers Joseph Pine and James Gilmore call The Experience Economy. It’s a fundamental shift in the marketplace where “work is theater and every business a stage.”

In other words, people come to businesses today with dramatically different expectations than they did even a few years ago. They don’t want an ordinary product or run-of-the-mill service, a mere transactional exchange. They want an experience. And it’s the experience that keeps customers coming back again and again, or the lack of it that drives them away.

A client of mine who sells a product primarily for women recently decided that the experience she wants to provide is helping women feel better about themselves. She arrived at this decision after hours of conversation, and it was a big breakthrough. Helping women feel better about themselves is now her central focus, her compelling benefit, her consuming cause.

And it’s not enough.

Our next step is examining everything—and I mean everything—that takes place in her business, making absolutely sure it contributes to helping women feel better about themselves. Only then will the experience be real.

What’s the emotional experience you bring to the marketplace? Now deliver that experience at every touch point with your customer. That’s how you’ll thrive in this experience economy.

Ping-Pong Balls and Leadership

“One ping-pong ball!” the wild-haired street performer cried out to the crowd. He placed the ping-pong ball in his mouth, popped it up in the air, caught it in his mouth, popped it up in the air, and caught it in his mouth again. We clapped amusingly.

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Do It, Defer It, Delegate It, or Delete It

Our life is filled with stuff. Lots of stuff. Phone calls, email, voice mail, text messages, customer requests, kids’ demands, whatever. Not to mention the endless stream of ideas that run through our brain. And it’s driving us crazy.

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Is Your Glass Not Full At All?

You’re sitting at a table and there are ten tall glasses in front of you. Each glass is roughly the same size and each glass is empty. You have in your hand one quart of water. Not a gallon, a quart, and you need to pour it into the glasses. What do you do?

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Leadership Is What Happens When You Are NOT There

My son has never, ever used a swear word … at the dinner table. He has never, ever smoked a cigarette or used drugs … at the dinner table. Am I a great dad, or what?

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