How to Transform What You Market
What do you really sell? Do you really sell a product or a service? I have to be honest, I don't think you do.
We're going to dive deeper into what you actually sell by taking a three hour road trip and explore what karaoke, a Harvard study and Uber all have in common to help us answer this question. What do you really sell?
Commodity versus experience
We know, from previous episodes of The Loyalty Loop that experiences are much more satisfying than buying things. Which is why, you don't sell a product or a service, that's a commodity.
What you actually sell is an experience. So let's think about the experience you offer.
Meet Ray Lamay
I actually learned something on Instagram that would help make my drive go a little faster and I learned it from a guy named Ray Lamay – an Uber driver.
That's right, he just drives an Uber. That's his part time gig, his full time gig, the gig he wants to do is be an actor and a professional MC for events.
Uber is a commodity service, you call for a car on your app and you get in the car and it takes you somewhere. We all know how it works and even if you try to differentiate the service you provide in your Uber by giving me some candy or some water or something to charge my phone, everybody has done that.
What Ray Lamay has done is upped the experience itself. You see, Ray Lamay understands that he doesn't sell a ride, he sells an experience.
Because experiences are more satisfying than buying things. And that's where this Harvard study comes in. Ray Lamay introduced me to a Harvard study that claims two important things:
- That singing in the car can actually make you happier by infusing some oxygen to your brain and that makes you really energized.
- Singing in the car makes the ride seem shorter. ♪
So this is what Ray Lamay decided to do. He invited everyone who gets into his car to sing during their ride, and that is different. It's a very different experience.
I don't know what Ray Lamay's Uber driver rating is, but given the videos that I've seen him post on Instagram, I would say this guy is a five.
People love Ray Lamay, he's appeared on Ellen, Uber has featured him as an amazing driver. So Ray Lamay doesn't sell a drive or a ride, he sells a car pool karaoke experience, and that's what we can learn from him.
You see, Ray Lamay has uncovered the one thing he can do differently after someone has committed to getting into his car, to make his ride different. To sell an experience instead of a ride and I could imagine that many more people actually call Ray directly and have them pick him up, especially with their friends so that they can sing along on their journey to wherever it is they’re going.
This is why Ray is such a great service provider because he understands that he does not sell a commodity service. He sells an experience.
The Loyalty Loop experience
Remember, a Loyalty Loop experience is a series of post-purchase encounters that illicit intense enjoyment, approval or interest. And that's exactly what Ray Lamay has done.
That intense joy, approval and interest has actually created a moment that others share with the world and he introduced his product and service of riding in an Uber to all of their friends and family and it differentiates his Uber ride from everyone else's.
So take a moment to think about the moment someone commits to your product or service. What could you do differently to make your Loyalty Loop experience different?
Because remember, we don't buy a product or service, we don't buy an Uber ride, we buy an experience.
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