The Currency of a Meaningful Experience

Perhaps you heard it too. In the news a couple of days ago the message was about the new client base for a service usually associated with the rich. In these tough economic times department stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom (and even some others one wouldn’t have considered) are now offering the services of their personal shoppers to folks like you and me.

Perhaps these retailers are taking McKinsey & Company's advice from their December 2008 quarterly report Leading Through Uncertainty, that, "...organizations must [begin to]think expansively about the possibilities." The report was speaking specifically about redefining old models for conducting business in this unusual economy.

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore introduce their collaborative book, Authenticity, What Consumers Really Want (find under My Favorites in right-hand column)in this way,(published by Harvard Business Press)
"Goods and services are no longer enough; what consumers want today are experiences— memorable events that engage them in an inherently personal way.
...People now decide where and when to spend their money and their time—the currency of experiences—as much if not more than they deliberate on what and how to buy...
But in a world increasingly filled with deliberately and sensationally staged experiences— an increasingly unreal world— consumers choose to buy or not buy based on how real they perceive an offering to be. Business today, therefore, is all about being real. Original. Genuine. Sincere. Authentic."

A passage from another HBP publication The Greater Good, indeed, focuses on the greater good that is fundamental to the best among contemporary marketing strategies. John A. Quelch says, "This sought-after advantage invariably stems from gaining insights into explicit and latent customer needs; from launching products and services that leverage these insights; from... communicating... to customers [and]...managing customer relationships."

So, the writing is on the wall wouldn't you say? The blaring message is everywhere if you are looking with a discerning eye. It will serve us to keep ourselves tuned into the right information that will shape our businesses and how we see ourselves as entrepreneurs who provide true service. We will begin to recognize ourselves as providers of what people really want from us; a innovative level of care they dared not dream of before. That is, of course, in addition to what they should and have traditionally expected for their money. It is a better world in the making. The only question is this: will you be among the first to capitalize on it or will you wait and watch others do it instead?