May
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Decadent French Toast & Experiential Value
Filed Under Miscellaneous, Entrepreneurism, Sales, SEO / SEM
Continuing the journey…we drove from San Francisco to Sonoma and stayed at a great little bed and breakfast called the Sonoma Orchard Inn. Where we ate Decadent French Toast & learned about Experiential Value.
The Sonoma Orchid Inn is located a stone’s throw from the Korbel Winery and easy driving distance from the Russian River Wine Road. While staying at the Inn, they prepared a family style breakfast that included, among other delicious treats, Decadent French Toast, a heart-healthy combination of French toast and bread pudding and powdered sugar…yum!! The entire bed and breakfast experience is designed to be “experiential”; to be remembered. Why pay $300 a night for a dirty hotel room, unclean sheets, nameless and faceless ownership, and a cold $50 breakfast, when you can pay $300 a night for a bed and breakfast with hardwood floors, hand squeezed juice and Decadent French Toast? Let’s consider this impact in our culture today. Starbucks took the idea of a nasty, lukewarm, burnt cup of Joe and upgraded the experience to being a $4.55 soy, espresso, and chocolate fusion. When was the last time you bought Trader Joe coffee at Exxon (truck driver’s excluded)? Ikea took buying cheap, pre-packaged, DIY furniture and turned the entire store and shopping venue into an experience to remember (albeit, not everyone likes smelling Swedish meatballs while shopping for furniture). Lexus took ownership in a Japanese import and turned it into an experience. Disney is, of course, a lifelong memorable experience. The Bellagio casino vs. the Hooters casino (an experience in and of itself I suppose, who doesn’t love smelling chicken wings while losing money…better than blue-hair breath I guess). Yes, I am weird about smells. On and on the list goes….
This happens not only for product offerings, but also service entities. We all commonly pay more for a perceived higher caliber product or service, but many of these companies have shown you can double down your impact and profits by making the entire buying or service opportunity an experience worth remembering. Add a couple fancy stuffed chairs, some excitable people in Tigger costumes, or a chrome-plated L to your product (or service) and wallah…higher profits, brand loyalty and exposure in your marketplace. At my company, Pop Labs, we brand ourselves as a fun, fast growth, slightly crazy environment. Piggy-backing on the personal image I have so carefully crafted over the years, usually with much Tequila. Pop Labs held an SEO Explosion (our name for a training day internally) a few months back and one of our highly talented young super-stars decided ot do a little rap on search engine marketing as his method of delivering the message (experiential training). We recorded it, somebody loaded it on You Tube…BAM… 300,000 views, a newly pressed CD, and innumerable blog mentions later, the SEO Rapper has helped Pop Labs establish a name for itself in an otherwise crowded field.
How about in sales; do you make your “pitch” experiential? Do people remember you? Are you just one of ten thousand people calling and trying to sell someone something? Another disembodied voice over the phone. In person, do you look different, act different, dress different, smell different. Ok…uh…maybe not so much on the smell. BUT…you get the point. I attended an event last night, Silicon Valley Bank customer appreciation day. Lots of rich looking guys and gals walking around, all wearing suits and smiles. Except me and one other guy. I was in slacks and a taxi shirt. He was in jeans. Why? B/c it will be remembered. That and the naked dancing on the table…but hey..nobody is perfect and they served great wine.
Make EVERYTHING YOU DO experiential. Time with your family. Client presentations. Your product. The buying venue. Your service. Your personal brand. Etc. People will remember you, and that ain’t all bad.
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