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(Click on above link to see picture of John Starks!)
One of the luxuries of working for a company like Ernst & Young is definitely some of the perks.
Last night I had the good fortune of being invited to a Knickerbockers game.
These weren’t any old seats though. These were the corporate club suite seats.
The corporate club suite seats are very cool. There is a special entrance for club suite seat ticket holders to avoid all lines. These aren’t floor seats. They are the sky boxes all the way at the top of the Garden.
You walk into these corporate suites and it’s a whole other world up there. It’s like a miniature hotel room complete with every food and top shelf liquor you could possibly imagine.
The point of these corporate club suites must be for the experience. It’s a “Hey, you are paying top dollar as a client and we’ll hook you up and entertain you!” You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back. Quid Pro Quo.
It has to be for the experience. I was the only one really watching the Knicks get crushed by the Spurs. Everyone else was fake laughing, boozin’, schmoozin’ and stuffing their face.
Don’t get me wrong. I did plenty of that, too.
But no one cared about the game until all of the sudden the huge deficit was cut to three points and the amazing deafening roar of the crowd began chanting, “Defense!” Boom. Boom. “DEFENSE!” Boom. Boom!
Sometimes people aren’t buying things for the actual product. They are buying the experience.
Cold Stone has great ice cream but is it that much better than good ol’ Ben & Jerry’s? (Ugh, how great is Half Baked!?!) You are paying a premium for the experience of watching them mix your ice cream in front of you.
There are thousands of businesses built on experiences. Hibachi is a restaurant built on an experience.
Sitting in the corporate club suite seats is a totally different experience than sitting on the floor. If you want to entertain and socialize with clients then the club suites seats are the way to go. Having unlimited gourmet food and alcohol is all part of the wonderful experience.
Here’s a thought exercise for you:
How can you reinvent your product/service/job so people want it for the experience?
How could you experience more experiences?
We’ve all heard people tell us, “At least do it for the experience.” Or, “You have to try it at least once!”
I think that’s very important. That’s called zooming. Or expanding your comfort zones.
If you don’t expand your comfort zones then how will you grow as a human being? You will constantly remain scared or fearful.
The best part of last night’s experience was meeting John Starks.
The photo above was taken right after I got his autograph.
I asked him to make it out to GuruGilbert.com and told him to check out my blog because he was going to be in it. He looked puzzled (but just in case)…
Johnny boy…Welcome! What did I tell you? I’m a man of my word. The picture came out good, right?
Oh, and make sure you tell all your friends about your picture on my lil’ site over here. Patrick, Charles, Anthony, Xavier, L.J, all of ‘em.