What an occasion!

Imagine people said that about the moment that the plumber unblocked their toilet…

Seems far-fetched, but let’s imagine…

An occasion is a special event, often a celebration. It’s something that happens occasionally. And perhaps most importantly, there is no law of physics that I’m aware of which objectively qualifies one thing as an occasion and another not. An occasion is an occasion because we decide it is, because we make it so.

So if you were a plumber, and you wanted to turn your service into a remarkable experience, you might choose to be really professional, to show up on time and to make sure that everything was spic ‘n span afterwards.

Except that all the plumbers do that. That’s not remarkable. That’s the minimum viable level of service that’ll keep you in business.

If you want people to remember you, to talk about you, you need to do something else, and one of those things you might choose to do is to make it into an occasion.

What if the hooter on your van had a peculiar tune that played when you arrived?

What if everyone jumped out of the van like a formula one pit crew, or like firefighters attending an emergency?

What if, at the moment that the drain cleared, your team erupted into whoops and high fives like they’d just won the premier league?

What if you designed it in a way so that after you left your client’s 5 year old said, “Mom, please can the plumber come again tomorrow!”

If you got that right, your client would definitely tell that story at her next social gathering, and the word would spread.

And because you designed the experience, you can do again for the next client, and the next. You can create a remarkable experience on purpose. And the word would spread, and you could do it again, and again. And the word would spread. And a business that spreads is a business that wins.