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The world of business can often times can be a tricky place to maneuver.  Whether you are climbing the corporate ladder or starting your own business both come with a laundry list of challenges and hurdles you’ll meet along the way.

Let’s imagine you’re thinking of starting your own business in the near future.  With all the help out there in the world to get you up and running it’s easier now than ever to start a business.  Starting a business and actually being successful at it are two different things.  No one ever said,
“I’m starting this business to be average.” In my experience most people start a business to follow a dream or a passion which helps them accomplish their goals and not someone else’s, with the hope that financial freedom comes down the road.  While this may be the story of the American dream, there’s an alarming statistic to entrepreneurship which can let the wind out of anyone’s sails…

               80% of businesses fail within the first five years!

With potential defeat looming on the horizon of that magnitude it’s incredible that anyone goes into business for themselves in the first place. 

However there are those who seem to be able to find success no matter what they do.  They’ve got the gift, the Midas Touch.  It doesn’t matter if they’re chasing that next big promotion, running a large enterprise or starting a business, everyone around them knows they’ll be successful.

So how do these mythical wonders of professional amazement do it?

They create an experience that is memorable for both clients and internal employees.

This my friends is the secret to wild success in the world of business!

When you create an ‘experience’ which is larger than you and the product/ service you offer people around you almost forget what it is you do.  The reality is the people who are successful know this firsthand.  It’s not about what your service or product is necessarily, it’s about how people feel about it.  This is true for both consumers (the people who purchase or use the product/ service) as well as the internal employees within the company.

Let’s examine how an ‘experience’ impacts both groups: consumers and employees.

CONSUMERS:
For the most part consumers now a days are smart cookies.  They spend more time than ever before researching companies and collecting information on products and services.  They seek information through consumer reports, social media, the news, industry events, graffiti in bathroom stalls, etc.  All of these avenues provide information and perspective to consumers on whether or not the decision to purchase said service or product is right for them.

There’s one avenue though that’s not included in the list above which has a far bigger impact than all of them combined:

The power of word of mouth.

Companies like Amazon, Lexus, Zappos, Southwest Airlines, Disney and Apple (much to my chagrin as I’m a PC user till the death), to name a few, have all managed to figure out a way to give the consumer an experience which dives deeper than just the product or service offered.  Simon Sinek refers to this as their WHY.

As a result, consumers promote these companies online via blogs and other feedback mediums, to their friends and family or shout it from the mountain tops.  The consumers turn into the best-selling mechanisms these companies have, providing far more value than any internal sales person ever could.

Lexus is a great example of this.  Not only does Lexus make incredibly well built, safe vehicles with standards at the top of the industry, they also provide a level of service that is almost unmatched in my experience.  Their dealerships go above and beyond to ensure the experience you have with them is nothing short of spectacular by offering free car washes, standard service checks for free, shuttle and loaner car services, technology experts onsite and the list goes on.  Frankly, I’ve been so impressed with Lexus over the years that I’m happy to pay more for their vehicles because I know the value I’m getting from both the car and the company is worth it.  They leave me wanting more. (don’t tell my wife this because I like to keep up a front of being financial frugal)

The flip side is if you compare the experience you get with Lexus versus the experience you get with Jeep Dodge Chrysler.  I happen to be a Jeep owner and while I love my SUV I always find myself disappointed when I have to deal with the company or their dealerships.  Simple things like offering loaner car services while your vehicle is being worked on, which is standard for Lexus and many other companies, is a service that is overlooked and not offered with Jeep.  Their nickel and dime approach that often leaves me with a less than favorable taste in my mouth with Jeep may just cause me not to be a repeat customer in the future regardless of how much I love my SUV. 

The last big difference is that when I walk into a Jeep dealership I feel like the life has been sucked out of the employees.  They seem overworked and undervalued.  At Lexus it feels like the employees just got done bathing in gold coins as they are happy as clams, cheerful and smiling.  From my experience with both these companies my take away has been that Lexus has developed an 'experience' which goes beyond the act of selling cars while Jeep is still trying to figure out how to compete in an increasingly changing and fast pace industry.
Let’s move on and examine how an ‘experience’ impacts the other group.

EMPLOYEES:
For starters, job tenure for all generations in the workplace is in decline.  (Baby Boomers @ 7 years, Gen-X @ 5 years and Millennials @ 2 years)  What this means is that more and more people are leaving their jobs on a consistent basis, often times because they have found greener pastures elsewhere.  However, there are many companies which buck this trend as their job tenure far exceeds the industry average, for example Eastman Kodak, United Airlines, General Motors and Disney.  Each of these companies has average job tenure for their employees of more than 10 years.  This information tells us something – either the people who work for these companies are chained to their desk (unlikely but interesting to think about) or the employees have bought into an experience which keeps them coming back for more.

How do these companies do it? 

They know firsthand that the most important part of their business is not their product/ service, it’s not their vision or mission statement, it’s not even their customers. (even though they many pretend it is)  The most important part of a company is the PEOPLE who are responsible for running it at all levels of the organization – entry level to senior management.

While the term ‘experience’ can mean a lot of different things what it really boils down to is an appreciation for the employees that goes beyond ice cream Friday’s once a month during the summer. 

These companies give their employees autonomy to do their jobs, allow for open communication, feedback, challenge their people to be great without running them into the ground like workhorses AND create an environment where people can learn and feel appreciated for the work being performed.  Companies like Disney, who made both of our lists, have focused on providing the best experience possible and as a result they have people dying to get in, rather than hoping they die so they can leave. 
When people feel good about where they work and what that company is all about you don’t have to tell them to do great things, they do it on their own, willingly.

If you are in a leadership position within a company or are starting a new venture remember these words – you may find success by doing the basics and that may work for a time.  However if you want to really knock the socks off of people and build something that is sustainable for your lifetime and the next spend your time focusing on the experience you offer to your consumers and employees.

Our ability to marry our passions with an experience that leaves people wanting more is the true determination for obtaining wild success in business.

Let’s face it — customers (or clients) are what keep us in business. Without the customer, there would be no business, no management, no worker bees, no complimentary coffee that tastes like gym socks in the office kitchen — and certainly no revenue.
At the end of the day, customers are the end-all, be-all. Without a willing buyer for your product or service, you simply cease to exist. The customer and the business aren’t mutually exclusive; they rely on one another. Yet in reality, the one who holds the most influence in the relationship is often the customer.

Influence — or power, for that matter — has a strange way of changing how people behave. Sometimes it even creates monsters out of otherwise kind men and women.
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When customers become difficult to deal with, what we see on the surface often isn’t the full picture. To truly understand their frustration, we need to dig deeper.

​That reminds me of an old story from another lifetime — back when I was in high school. I was a server at a small pizza restaurant in the town I grew up in. I loved the job. I got to eat pizza all day and interact with some really great people — our customers.

Let’s be honest: everyone’s happy when they’re getting pizza. I genuinely loved this job.

One day, a customer came in to pick up a pizza to-go. I had served this guy many times before, and every time it played out the same way.

He’d come in and immediately start frothing at the mouth about how his last purchase was awful — how it was never on time and “the pizza sauce sucked.”

“There are never enough pepperonis,” he’d complain. Then, like clockwork, he’d ask for the manager and demand a discount — which we usually gave him.
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It was like Groundhog Day, same script every time. I’d laugh to myself, wondering:
“If our food and service were really that bad… why does he keep coming back?” It was like some evil self-inflicted punishment. 

One day, our manager had enough and finally confronted him. I’d love to say it was me, but I was just a pimply-faced 16-year-old — definitely not gutsy enough to speak up and risk my pizza privileges (or my job).

Our manager, Tim, interrupted the man’s usual rant. He took him aside and calmly asked: “Sir, why do you continue to give us your business if you dislike our food so much? You seem awfully upset and often treat my employees poorly. Is everything okay?”

As I eavesdropped, I was shocked by the man’s response. “I’m sorry, Tim. I was fired from my job a couple months ago. I lost my house, and I’m living out of my car. Pizza is the cheapest, easiest thing for me to eat. Please tell your staff how much I appreciate them — they’re always nice to me, even though I’m not a very pleasant person myself.”

My jaw hit the floor. None of us had known why he was always so grumpy — just that he seemed to enjoy taking it out on the servers.

Tim gave him the pizza for free that day. Then he invited the man to come back the next day to watch our team in action — to see how we made pizzas, to show him we cared about quality and about our customers.

Tim also gave him a free lunch.
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But the best part? After the “field trip,” our manager offered the man a job delivering pizzas — a chance to earn some income and get back on his feet.

That experience taught me an incredibly valuable lesson: Confront the tough stuff — don’t let it own you.

I also became a firm believer that you attract more bees with honey than with sledgehammers. Once we understand why a customer is acting a certain way, we can respond with solutions that change the course of the relationship.

If you’re dealing with a difficult client or customer, here are five practical steps to help you uncover what’s going on beneath the surface — and potentially save the relationship:

1. Understand Their Perspective: Get curious. Ask questions. Listen more than you talk.
2. Identify What Matters Most to Them: Is it speed? Price? Communication? Accuracy? Dig in and prioritize accordingly.
3. Stay Solution-Oriented: Mistakes will happen. Focus on how you can fix the issue instead of pointing fingers.
4. Get Personal: Remind them you’re a human too. Authenticity builds trust.
5. Ask Yourself: Have I Done Everything I Can? Before you walk away, make sure you’ve genuinely tried to make it work.

After you’ve put in the work, take a moment to reflect.
Has the relationship improved? Or is it still toxic?
If things haven’t changed, it might be time to move on. But at least now, you’ll walk away knowing you did everything you could.