My boyfriend is a photographer and she was recently hired to shoot one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles. She was working there late one night and she was hungry. Food was everywhere – well constructed, beautiful, delicious food that people usually spend hundreds of dollars on, just hang out untouched. But the chef wouldn’t let her eat it.
Why? To torture her? No, he said. It’s because he wants her to really understand his restaurant, and she can’t do that by eating the food alone. Come another night, he said. Bring a friend. Dinner on the house. But tonight the food is just a prop.
This is my question to you: is this man just cruel, or does he understand something that others don’t?
Consider another story before answering that one.
Related: Top 3 Strategies to Sell Without ‘Selling’
businesskinda.com hosted a conference in 2017, and Jon Taffer, TV show host bar rescue, was our closing keynote speaker. Taffer has spent his career in the hospitality industry and he understands how customer psychology can drive success. So when he got on stage, he asked the audience an intriguing question:
What product does a restaurant actually sell?
The answer may seem simple: the restaurant sells food! But then he led us through a screenplay. Imagine meals arriving for a table full of customers. What do these people do when the food lands in front of them? “Or [they] sit up and look at it and respond to it, otherwise nothing will happen,” Taffer said. “If nothing happens, that company will be stuck in mediocrity forever.”
So, he asked, what product does the restaurant actually sell? Is it the plate of food, or is it the? reaction that people have to eat? His answer: “The reaction is the product, isn’t it?”
The way Taffer sees it, restaurants are not in the food industry. They are in the experience company. The food is simply the medium through which restaurateurs create that experience. “I’ll redesign that record 30 times until you sit up,” he told the crowd. Because if a customer doesn’t respond to the food, then the food hasn’t done its job, no matter how good it tastes.
This, I suspect, is what my photographer friend’s client thinks too. He didn’t want her to eat the food alone, because that’s not what he really sells. He needed her to experience — the service, the atmosphere, the meals that arrive with splendor.
When I thought about it more, I realized how powerful this way of thinking is – for everyone. After all, no one just sells a product or service. We need to sell something bigger. Something more fundamental. So what is it? And what happens when we identify it?
Related: Listen carefully to what people ask you. That’s where you can find your hidden power.
I challenge you to think about this for your own company as well. For example, the team here at businesskinda.com makes a magazine – but what if we’re not really in the media business? Instead, what if we’re in the trust business? After all, anything we publish is meaningless if it can’t be trusted, and our readers don’t buy magazines because they know what’s in them. They buy because they trust what’s inside…before they read it.
When we recognize these fundamentals in our businesses, we can use them as our guide. We can do more than just sell things to people; we can mean something for them too. And then we know how to execute every interaction, big and small.
So let’s go back to my earlier question about the restorer who failed to feed the photographer: Is this man just cruel, or does he understand something that others don’t?
I say: he understands something that others do not understand. He is uncompromising in that regard. And while this creates some blind spots for him, his unwavering dedication to his vision has likely been a major part of his success. I respect it. I hope he continues. Although, let’s face it – he could have at least made a sandwich for my friend.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.