Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.5, 1/220

Your product is part of why people will do business with you in business. Now, if your product is on par with the rest of the industry, then the other thing people are paying for is EXPERIENCE.

We just spent our vacation traveling to London for an EXPERIENCE. One of the major things we were paying to enjoy was to relive the Harry Potter movies. We wanted to experience the film as if we were there in them. So we went to Kings Crossing Train Station on 9 3/4 to get our pictures made as if we were going through the wall onto Hogwarts.

We went to the House of Minalima. Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima met in 2002 when a happy coincidence of fates meant they were to work together as graphic designers on the Harry Potter film franchise. Here they had a unique opportunity to establish the visual graphic style from the outset of the productions. The design aesthetic they created for Harry Potter is still sought after, whether designing collectible merchandise or collaborating on the much anticipated Warner Bros Studio Tour.

Rather than have a store with items on the shelf, they created a self-guided tour of their artwork and made moments as we remember Harry Potter’s invitation letter to Hogwarts. They created an EXPERIENCE for us to enjoy.

One of photography’s most significant phenomena in the past few years has been the selfie. While we have done some form of this with photography through the years, the selfie stick came along to help us include more people in our photos.

Here you can see all the women getting close to London Bobby to get their photos with him. It is an experience they are not only having but are now sharing on their social media. Then their friends will comment on how much they: like love or other ways of expressing their joy in the photo.

On the Harry Potter tour at the Warner Brother’s Studio outside of London, you could do different things on time. For example, my daughter uses a mirror to see her style with a wizarding wand compared to the teacher on the TV screen to the left.

We went on a Harry Potter Muggles tour where they showed us some of the filming spots in London and took us to places like Collier Street, which was J. K. Rowling’s inspiration for Diagon Alley.

Notice the tour guide is dressed in Gryffindor attire and looks like she could quickly walk off the movie set. However, to help us with the EXPERIENCE, she had screenshots of the movie [in her hand] that she would pull out at different stops and pass around to help us see in the film what we were EXPERIENCING first hand.

Now my daughter dressed up in her Gryffindor robe and enjoyed having people ask to photograph her with them, but she was excited to see this guy dressed up as Newt Scamander from the latest movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Even last night, I heard my daughter yell out that the guy dressed like Newt was in another documentary she just saw. So again, it is about an EXPERIENCE.

One of my daughter’s favorite scenes from the Harry Potter series is when Harry Potter talks with Remus Lupin on the Bridge. She is standing where they stood when they filmed that scene. What an EXPERIENCE it was for her.

For me, the scale model of Hogwarts just let me see the detail for which they created this magical place that captured me the most.

Question for You

What are you doing to create an EXPERIENCE that people will tell their friends about and want to do business with you?

Can you see your customers smiling at specific points in their interactions with you and your company?

Can you think of something that can create more of an EXPERIENCE than you are doing now?

My trip to London reminded me that all those little details like clothing could help create something that keeps people traveling worldwide to get the EXPERIENCE firsthand.

Most importantly for everyone in business is to concentrate on creating a great PRODUCT and creating an EXPERIENCE that separates you from everyone else.

Sports might be the last area of civility I see today in our society.

Stephen L. Carter, the acclaimed author of The Culture of Disbelief, proves that manners matter to America’s future. He says, “Civility represents the sum of all the sacrifices that one makes in a democracy for the sake of living a common life.”

Listen to Carter speak at Yale on the topic:

Now, the reason I say sports is one of the last places I see civility isn’t because people are not at odds; they play hard and still try to get along after the game and during the game by respecting each other.

Over the past 25 years, I have watched many institutions undergo significant changes. I watched my denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, growing up from a front-row seat, not just divide itself but now do even less of what it was doing regarding missions. I was laid off during the infighting because giving was dropping, and they could no longer support my position.

My first job out of college was for a small daily newspaper. The First Amendment protects the media, which reports what is happening in America. However, due to so many financial changes, the media is a fraction of the size it once was to cover our country. At the same time, our country’s population has grown.

I watched as predominately Baptist fundamentalists organized to be The Moral Majority and attach themselves to the Republican party. I would sit in small groups in churches through the years, and it was assumed that you were Republican if you were part of the church because many didn’t see them as separate but the same.

In past presidential debates, the candidates took their turns more than today, where they talked over each other and the moderators. This is only a reflection of how we speak to each other today.

I applaud Andy Stanley’s message to his church not long ago about the election. Listen for yourself:

I think Stanley’s points around the scripture are what can help us restore civility to our public discourse.

Those non-Christians could also live by some of the guidelines Stanley points out. I love how he encourages you to share your opinion and even argue your point. However, this is where I think his wisdom from the scripture would help reunite America. We should not make our points at the expense of undermining our influence.

The Great Unfriending

This weekend, I unfriended a few more people because they crossed that line and jeopardized their relationship with me. I don’t doubt I have probably done something to encourage someone in my life to do the same.

Many will likely remember this election cycle as the time we unfriended someone on social media.

Business Tip

No matter your political position, you must be careful not to jeopardize a relationship or your ability to influence your industry.

In my faith, we believe that Jesus died to demonstrate how much God wanted to restore the relationship. We believe there is nothing one can do that God would not forgive to repair a relationship. The only thing we think can break this relationship is man’s rejection of God’s olive leaf.

As business people, we should live this out in our businesses. We should try to recover customers and do all we can to keep the ones we have.

We should speak up when we disagree with a client and argue our point with them. However, as Andy Stanley reminds us, don’t do any of this at the risk of losing your influence or jeopardizing the relationship.

You will score with your clients when you treat them as people. You will continue to have influence when you respect their opinions as well.

By living out Matthew 22:36-40, you will be the most confident, curious, composed, and compassionate person in the room.