Be Different or be dead

February 27, 2012

6 mind-blowing lessons to learn from The Grateful Dead

6 mind-blowing lessons to learn from The Grateful Dead.

The Grateful Dead were unbelievably focused on their fans. these are six valuable lessons we can learn from them.

1. Mix it up — Constantly innovate. Give your Fans a different look (value packages, promotions, events, fun) as often as you can. The Dead decided what songs to play when they began each concert - songs on the run. Risky? Yes. Original? Yes. Did their Fans love them for it? YES!

2. Enable your customers to fulfil themselves — Do what THEY want. The key here is the serving mentality. Find out what they want and desire and take them there. The Dead created a bubble for their Fans and allowed them to reach emotional highs.

3. Focus on the experience not the product — The Dead did not try to sell records. They wanted to create mind-blowing experiences for their Fans. And guess what? (They sold lots of records).

4. Save the best deals for your best customers — Using special promotional deals to entice people away from their supplier is a fool’s game in any event. What makes you think that if someone takes your Special Offer they won’t leave you in a heartbeat if someone else gives them one as well?

You can’t grow your business by catering to the promiscuous crowd of constant switchers. Furthermore, what will your loyal customers say when they find out that you are not offering the special deal to them? (I can see their taillights already).

The Dead always saved the best ticket prices, seats and deals for their Fans. The result? The most successful touring band in history.

5. Do the opposite of what your competitors are doing — Observe ‘em and do a 180. You can’t stand-out if you copy. The Dead allowed their Fans to record their music in concert. No other band did. The 180 strategy created uniqueness and remark-ability that made them unforgettable.

6. Communicate with your Fans incessantly—and figure out how to make it easier for them to communicate with one another.

The Dead were fanatics when it came to having conversations with their Fans before Social Media arrived. Their Fans responded by not only attending concerts and other Dead Events, but also by talking up The Dead to their friends. The Dead virus spread…

You can learn a great deal about business from the most interesting and surprising sources.

Check out The Dead.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.27.12 at 08:10 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink