It’s the experience
by Andrew Shedden
I have four children from 11 to 17 years of age, for whom the magic of Christmas still shines as brightly as the star atop our tree. Although rapidly growing up into fine young men and women all of them still love the tradition of going out to cut down the Christmas tree. You should also know the thought of their father walking in the woods with any type of saw or tool elicits gales of laughter.
December 15, 2002 was a very busy day in the Shedden household. Your fearless writer was asked to do the annual Christmas Tree run. In my neck of the woods (Bridgenorth, population 820 houses) there are about three options for getting a live Christmas tree.
1. You can go to a local tree vendor and buy your tree.
2. If you are feeling particularly larcenous during this season of light you can go onto private or government-owned property and steal a tree.
3. The last option is to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down the tree of your choice.
Being semi-adventurous and wanting to avoid a jail sentence during the holiday season I like to get suited up and visit the Christmas tree farm. You could expect to enjoy the following experience if you accompanied us to the Christmas tree farm that we patronize.
When you arrive at the Christmas tree farm you are greeted by a couple in their 60s along with their 25 year old son. Every year they greet you warmly, ask you how you have been, and invariably comment on how everyone is growing up. I especially like the fact that they tactfully decline to comment on the increasing levels of “snow” on my roof.
When its time to venture into the woods you are offered a saw as well as some rope to haul your freshly cut tree to the side of the pathway. Once you have selected your tree and cut it down their son arrives on a four-wheeled ATV towing an old farm wagon. He loads your tree on to the wagon and the kids pile onto the wagon for the ride back to the farmhouse. Your tree is unloaded from the wagon and placed into a machine that shakes off the snow and loose needles and wraps it up in baler twine.
Once you have paid for your tree you are invited into a small 20 by 30 foot building with a dirt floor. You are offered your choice of hot chocolate or hot apple cider and pass the time with relaxing small talk. While you are standing around sipping your hot chocolate or hot apple cider you can’t help but notice this rustic building is stocked with maple syrup as well as frozen free range chickens.
When it’s time to leave you’re offered candy canes or Turtles (The candy not the pets) and asked to sign their mailing list. When it comes time to load your tree you are provided with assistance to tie your tree to your vehicle. You’re off down the road with everyone lost in their thoughts.
I can drive for five minutes and buy a tree at a local vendor. Instead of doing this I drive north for over an hour in our lovely December weather with four children to trudge through the woods. The question is why. The reason is that I know even forty years from now my children will fondly remember this experience.
The people who own the Christmas tree farm understand at a very deep level that the experience is as important as the result. They also understand that the true value of the gift is not in the cost of the gift, but the thought. They turn a very basic experience into something memorable by doing small things like offering wagon rides for the kids, free hot chocolate, and candy canes or Turtles.
In the final analysis there isn’t a great deal of difference in all of our various product offerings. With the exception of proprietary goods, most products are merely variations on a theme. You need to focus on areas in which you can differentiate your business. If you want to make your business grow focus on the entire experience of doing business with your company.
Some of my biggest clients have chosen our company over much larger and better-financed competitors because they prefer the experience that we offer them. While I don’t offer wagon rides and candy canes, I do make sure that prospects and clients enjoy the experience of dealing with Broadfield Communications. The rules are really quite simple.
Our entire sales process is non-manipulative and honest.
We work hard to put the prospect at ease.
We treat all of our prospects and clients with respect.
We always try to overdeliver.
If we make a mistake we make things right.
If you follow the above rules you’ll be surprised at how easily the whole process of business growth will become in your business.
I might also add that along with our tree we left with a $15 free-range chicken. We didn’t feel upsold or obligated to buy, we did feel we had been given so much that it just seemed like the right thing to do.
Happy holidays to all of my subscribers of all faiths in...
Canada, USA, UK, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Finland, India, Argentina, Yugoslavia, and Romania.
We’re all seeking the same destination by different routes.
