Lesson Thirty-Three: The Drama Unfolding

Have you ever been watching a movie when you spot a glaring continuity error? The actor is holding a glass, then it’s gone, then it appears again. It completely breaks the flow of the movie. Suddenly you find yourself thinking, “I’m watching a bunch of actors on a set somewhere reading lines,” instead of experiencing the plot and drama unfold.

In theatre it’s called the fourth wall, the mysterious barrier between performer and audience. In order for it to exist, the performer must not acknowledge the audience, and in turn, the audience must suspend their disbelief, allowing the drama to exist as if it were real. Otherwise it’s just two groups of people, one group looking, the other group being looked at.

Great businesses know that when a customer is buying, the same sort of ‘theatre’ exists. While we shop we become engaged inside the buying experience. It captivates our imagination. But when something causes us to step out of this realm, we are suddenly shaken into the cold light of objectivity. This is bad, because where the imagination is eager to buy, the objective mind is a scrooge.

You see, when you break it down, a business is simply a set of people who perform a task in a predetermined way.Objectively it’s not very exciting. But to a customer, a business provides the possibilities that come with buying something—the buying experience. Ask a customer how she feels after buying a new car, or how a business owner feels after buying a new piece of equipment, and you’ll find the experience is anything but boring.

If you’ve ever heard, “Those idiots in accounting don’t know what they’re doing.” Or, “You were Jack’s customer, but he doesn’t work here anymore.” Or, “Someone’s misplaced your file.” Or, “Our distributor in Calgary can’t get the part until Thursday.” If you’ve heard any of those things, you’ve experienced the fourth wall come crashing down.

Ask yourself, ‘If I were a customer of my business, would I want to buy from it?’ Then ask, ‘how would I want the transaction of product/service for money to go? What would the business look like? What questions would you be asked? What choices would you be given? What products would you want to buy? What would the service be like?’

The truly dynamite business engages the customer in a pleasant drama that unfolds with the business getting what it wants (money), and the customer feeling like he got more than simply what he purchased. Is that the experience you’re giving your customers?


Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark