Still not convinced that ALL business is “show business”?

Indulge me for a moment and think of your business as a movie studio.

• Are you Columbia, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., or Paramount Pictures?
• Do you have a smaller budget and stick to mostly independent movies?
• Or are you writing, producing, editing, and directing everything by yourself?
• Regardless of whether you’re producing blockbusters that don’t scrimp on CGI — or quirky indie films — there are some incredible lessons to be learned from how show business create their products and why you could adopt the same business model.

Customer Service vs. Customer Experience

Imagine a theatre that has reclining seats and footrests, freshly popped popcorn, and state-of-the-art 3D glasses. Now, what do you think will happen if, despite all the perks and comfort, an absolutely terrible movie is played?

The thing is, audiences are willing to forgive lousy service as long as the movie is awesome. However, they’re not willing to forget how terrible a movie experience was simply because their feet were comfortable and elevated during the screening.

An executive once bragged to me before a recent presentation that they had improved their “service” levels. To prove his point, he stated they were now answering the phone before the third ring and delivered product orders within 48 hours.

So why weren’t his customers becoming more loyal?

Perhaps it’s because it didn’t matter to the customer how quickly their call was answered or how soon they got their order. What mattered was the quality of the actual call and how the product made them feel.

• What’s the point of answering the call by the second ring if the person on the other line isn’t able to serve the customer with a memorable, personalized experience?
• What’s the point of delivering an order the very next day if the product isn’t all that it was hyped up to be?
• Your customer’s measuring stick for efficiency may be entirely different from yours.

And if you’re not aligned with your customer’s expectations, then you’re never going to meet their needs. Customer service and customer experience should not be confused.

Creativity Despite Limited Resources

• “The power of ideas can often compensate for the lack of size.”
• The 1978 slasher flick Halloween had a $325,000 budget but went on to make $47 million at the box office.
• 2004’s Saw’s budget was only $1.2 million, and yet it earned $103 million.
• Napoleon Dynamite’s budget was only $400,000, and it made an impressive $46 million.
• Who could forget the phenomenon that was The Blair Witch Project that had a $60,000 budget but ultimately earned $140.5 million?

It doesn’t matter how large or well-funded your business is, adopting the show business philosophy can impact your future success in a major way.

The point here is that you can go a long way with superior creativity when its matched with strategic execution.

For more information, check out the book, “ALL Business is STILL Show Business!” (also in audiobook format).