"I am what is around me."

Wallace Stevens*

*Walking In This World by Julia Cameron, Tarcher Putnam, 2002

I had a profound retail experience recently and its impact on me is the very same you should want for your guests. I have talked about branding your restaurant from wall-to-wall, whereby you design every single aspect of what the guest sees, hears, tastes, smells or otherwise experiences. I've gotten more than one reader loving the premise, but having difficulty in bringing it to life. The main issue is getting the team to buy in and 'do it'. I can understand that. Anytime you design an experience whose sum is supposed to be greater than the parts, you'll find obstacles. Still, the solution rests with you. The power of the concept's idea and story is paramount, followed by your faith in them and the degree with which you have fleshed out the story's particulars. These are what will generate staff buy in. Their expertise is a very distant second.

What was my experience? My son invited me on a weekend getaway in the Catskill Mountains to participate in a human development program. I didn't get a whole lot of information about it beforehand, a tactic I don't recommend to you, but I trusted my son. In fact, the prospect of being with him in these heightened circumstances was very appealing.

What struck me as I went through the various exercises and activities was how thoroughly the weekend had been planned, so that every step led, inevitably, to the next step. The managers of the program were not seasoned pros, but people much like you and me with other jobs and lives outside this event. They didn't have much 'professional' experience with putting on the program. There were even some 'first timers' helping out and struggling a bit in the effort. Nonetheless, I came away from the weekend profoundly affected, because everyone, 'first-timer' to seasoned vet, understood what their objectives were, worked off of a script, and believed in the value they were imparting to their customers. The people who took the course came away changed for the better, with a memory that still shines.

Here's the moral of the story. Your staff's lack of experience is no excuse for lack of understanding or commitment to your concept. It starts with the values you develop with the key members of your team. It's informed by your guest's needs, expectations and attitudes. It is made whole through the careful planning of the experience. We don't have to change people's lives. We just need to create an indelible memory in our guest's mind to keep them loyal to us despite the lure of new competition, cheaper alternatives or heavily advertised, sexy concepts.

Weekend warriors whose main strengths were a solid, well-planned conceptual 'path' and a strong commitment to making it work gave me an indelible wall-to-wall experience. It doesn't require superstars, but it does need you to create the compelling story and direct your staff so they will believe.

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I saw a gentleman named Sam Hill speak recently on a topic entitled 60 Trends in 60 Minutes. The talk is spawned from a book of the same name. He joked that in reality he gets through about ten trends in an hour but that his publisher wanted a catchy title for the book. True to the name of the talk, he spoke about trends, the worldwide forces that drive them and their marketing implications. In particular, we will be increasingly impacted by globalization (I know, 'uh duh', but he delves into specifics that illuminate the trend), exponentially better technology, tribalization, the growth of the mega city and how we are all connected in profound ways.

I recommend the book, 60 Trends in 60 Minutes, even if it takes you a couple of days to read, because underlying all his points is that the marketer that gains command of true relationship marketing will have the advantage in the future Hill envisions.

You can click here for a direct link to Amazon.com.

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