The best business in the world is show business, and show business is the business that develops, designs and delivers entertaining experiences.
But guess what? We are all in show business because we all have to develop, design, and deliver a product or service that registers on the brains of our clients as a positive experience.
Positive Experiences
Every business tries to find, attract, and retain talented people. They do that by offering them attractive packages, of course, which is a nice experience in itself. But look at Google, Microsoft, and most of the top companies in the world. They strive to create a culture that feeds positive experiences to their human capital, not just with free coffee, meditation rooms, and ping-pong tables, but also with birthday parties, celebrations, and scientifically sound management–management that strives to optimize the full potential of every employee.
There is no successful business that is not show business, and no business that is not obliged to create a positive experience for its customers, its markets, and its audience. All successful enterprises are in show businesses.
Memorable Experiences
For example, Disney is loved by children and parents alike. Disney owns and celebrates its show business status. It calls its workers cast members, and it has a rich tradition and heritage built upon creating memorable experiences.
Every guy inside a Mickey suit is trained to thrill and delight. Every girl dressed as Cinderella polishes the brand of the Magical Kingdom. Everyone is performing. Everyone is in show business, creating positive experiences for the customers.
And Not-so Memorable Experiences
Not so at the CVS and A&P in my town. They don’t have their ACT together. Their cast members aren’t performing well. They act as if they’re off stage and have no audience, no story to tell about who they are and what they stand for. They’re not showing pride in their offering, they don’t speak their lines with feeling, and they are not creating positive experiences when they make me stand in line for umpteem minutes to pay for what I buy.
Show business is the Experience Business. For instance, take the saying, “The show must go on.” At some point in history, that may have meant, “We have to perform or else we won’t eat.” But it also pertains to the backstage culture of the theater. No performer wants to be the weak link, to let down his or her fellow actors, or even worse, to destroy the illusion of reality for the audience.
Appealing Illusions
A good show business creates an appealing illusion for its customers. Take Apple. Steve Jobs made sure Apple was in show business. The clean Apple logo, the sleek silver skins of the computers, the calligraphic elegance of the fonts, the elegant intuitive design and architecture of the software, the dramatic launches of new products. All beautifully crafted, scripted, rehearsed and staged to create an illusion–like a Zen beach house of glass and steel, white and clean, leaning over the Pacific. Oh, what an experience.
Dramatic Sets
A good show business has dramatic sets. High end clothing boutiques are in show business. The unstained maple shelves of Benneton holding red sweaters and tangerine pants–that’s a set. Take Apple again. Look at their stores. Whiteness, cleanliness, beauty and incredible performances from the geeks at the Genius Bar.
Or take P. F. Chang’s, the elegant chain of Chinese restaurants. I seem to remember large dragons at the door, cavernous dark wood, and delicious food. I go there for the experience, as many of us used to go to BeniHana, for the experience of the meat grilled at your table and the chef spinning knives in the air.
In fact, we all create stage sets for our lives by selecting and arranging the furniture we like. We see ourselves playing our parts on that stage. Those sets tell us who we are, what we stand for, and what we aspire to.
No Small Roles
And if you are a lonely solo provider of services, a bean counter, or a guy in the back room that never sees the light of day, you must still, in some way, demonstrate your value. People must come to you, back in your lair, and ask you questions because you have shown them that you know useful things. So you too are in show business. You too can create positive experiences.
Since I was an actor in my twenties, I still have a few lines in my head from the plays I was in. One is from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona: “They do not love that do not show their love.”
In other words, you have to show your love in order for other people to experience it. Same thing in business. You have to show belief in the quality and value of your goods and services.
Our job as marketers and sales professionals is to induce belief and raise belief to the level of action by creating positive experiences for our clients and customers.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.