And the Winner Is …

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It has been said that business is a game. If so, how do you play?
Who is the winner at the end?
Who is the winner as you go?

The arts are a great place for competition. The true artists know that it is not about them or their production, it is all about the audience, their customer. By making their customer the winner, they become winners too. 

As an example, I saw a fabulous piece of improv theatre last night by my favourite improv troupe, Impro Melbourne. It was team against team, both striving for points. Both teams had been magnificent making us laugh, ponder, pause, even cry (almost) and at the end of the final round, the scores were level.

Oh no!

The host then declared a best of three Hat Off to decide the winner. A Hat Off is where the two players act out a scene while wearing a hat. Each player has to try and get the hat off the other player in the context of the scene. If they get it, they win. But if they try for it and miss, then they lose.

The first two out of the best of three competed and played well. But again, at the end of those two rounds the scores were still level. The final round would be the decider.

Two fine players, Rik and Katherine stepped up to the mark and as they started Rik did the unthinkable. He did what no one expected. He took his hat off and threw it on the floor in front of Katherine. He then told her to not pick it up as it symbolised their love and if she did it was over. A bit of toing and froing and finally Katherine succumbed and picked it up making her team the winner.

The real winner was the audience. Rik knew that throwing the hat down had a huuuuge chance of their team losing the match. But what it meant was that the audience got something unexpected. It got a framework of temptation that they had not thought about. Their level of tension and enjoyment was kicked up a notch.

They left with an increased feeling of satisfaction and an increased likelihood of returning and bringing their friends with them.

In great customer service, the focus has to be on the customer. Only by making the experience fantastic and memorable for them will your business continue to thrive. When you start to compete against your customer, you will always lose.

What about your customer? What would they say if you asked, “And the winner is?”

PS Want to make 2017 a Winner of a year?
Be sure to register for the full day planning session to make it happen.
You can get all the details here and take advantage of the early bird pricing.