You stand on the shore deciding whether or not to take the plunge.

You are hot but the water at your feet seems forbiddingly cold. Going further your ankles are submerged. The cold still holds you back.

Eventually you endure a brief moment of shock. You are in the water and feeling great, refreshed. You have undergone a true paradigm shift. You are surrounded by cool water, not warm air. You swim instead of walking. Water is in your mouth, nose and eyes. You are having a rich, tip-to-toe experience.

Sleep-walking through your day performing work tasks does not generally produce deeply felt experiences. It takes something special, like a plunge in the ocean.

True experiences, as long as they are positive in nature - a car crash can be an experience too - are desirable. For the experiencer, the stretching of one s boundaries can be memorable or even ultimate. In these moments we gain new realizations and are moved to our very core.

It is no coincidence that Jimi Hendrix called his group "The Experience". Jimi s miraculous music made good on the promise. Listening to his wailing guitar was not a bland, passive event. For many, it was rich and keenly felt.

Buying Experiences

People pay good money for experiences. Activities passed off as "thrill seeking" provide long lasting experiences as particiants face life threatening (real or imagined) danger. Jump from an airplane, drive a race car, scuba dive at a coral reef, bungee jump or travel to an exotic location, and you will almost surely have purchased a memorable experience.

Planned Experiences Involve Resistance

Like the beachgoer who hesitates before plunging, we tend to pause before knowingly taking on a new experience. There is fear and questioning which recognizes the importance of the event, even in advance.

Unless They Are Unexpected

In other, very special times, the experience grows and gains force like a hurricane and takes us by surprise. These "creeper" experiences - a first kiss, a drive which emerges onto a stunning vista -  have special value because they occur naturally, without much effort. They just happen. They bring refreshing change to our life.

Milestones

True experiences become milestones in our life. When you have sex for the first time, win a long-sought award, or have a baby, chances are strong that the experience will remain with you forever.

Business Experiences

When you walk into any store or visit any business by phone or website, you will have an experience which the business has planned for you. Maybe it won t be earth-moving, but it will be an experience nonetheless.

Chain stores and franchises expend piles of money designing and researching logos, colors, interiors, signs, background music and even scripts for employees to recite, all to give you a particular experience.

Upscale stores feature sublime finishes, soothing music and well dressed, obsequious clerks, all conspiring to pull you past any resistance you may have and lull you into a revery of, "Yes, I am rich. I can afford to buy these highly priced things."

Fast food establishments, on the other hand, create an environment conveying efficiency and speed, presenting food in a lighthearted and happy way. We can then rush in, grab our burgers and gloss over any prissy nutritional resistances we may feel.

Replicating the Business Experience

Even more piles of money are then spent ensuring that all stores in the franchise or chain are uniform and consistent.

The reason large chains persist is that they are successful in creating and replicating a customer experience which is appropriate for the customer demographic and the product.

If McDonalds and Nieman Marcus were to trade stores, the results would be jarring. Imagine buying a Big Mac at Niemans jewelry counter, or a Cartier watch at McDonalds drive-up window. There is not much chance of achieving a sales volume needed to sustain the business. The customer experience would not be conducive to sales.

What Experience Does Your Business Deliver?

Now we come to you and your business. What kind of experience does your company deliver?

How is the phone answered? What does the website look like? What is the physical environment? How speedy is your response time?

Does it all hang together?

If you were your customer, what kind of experience would you receive when doing business with your company? Would it be the kind of experience which elicits trust? Would it be enjoyable or frustrating?

Would it seem professional or a little lame? Would it be consistent from one visit to the next, or would it be spotty or quirky? Would it be a similar experience regardless of the contact person?

Observe and finely tune your customer experience and some day you may find yourself at the top of a beautifully crafted, wonderfully executed, self-replicating business machine.