Business-Building Action from Terry Brock
Dateline: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is my favorite museum in the world.
Gina and I are still on our European Tour and had a visit yesterday to my favorite museum in the world, the Rijksmuseum. Yes, it is spelled as one word and pronounced “Rikes Museum.” It has recently been renovated and seeing it now is even more amazing than before.
What impressed me more than anything were the yellow messages that were strategically placed throughout the museum talking about the exhibits, the emotions and how art relates to life. The theme is:
Art is Therapy
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but by going to a museum, taking a trip back in time to understand how people, much like us, lived centuries ago, gives us a unique perspective to this whole experience called living. I also see a lot of applications for business.
- This is the famous “Night Watch” portrait created by Rembrandt.
Here is a lesson I picked up that I wanted to share with you.
Tell your story and create “art” for the marketplace. You want to find ways to tell your story about your products, your services and why you do what you do. I loved the theme at the Rijksmuseum that art was not “art for art’s sake.” When the art was produced that is now contained in the Rijksmuseum, it was created to teach lessons. It was created to help make the viewer a better person.
That relates to business. If you want to be more than just a commodity in an all-too-busy marketplace, create stories and deep life lessons. How could you do that with what might seem like a prosaic, mundane item you sell? Think of why the person who purchases your products or services interacts with them. What are they ultimately looking for? What is the feeling and emotion they have when they think of the end result, not necessarily your product.
- Here is Van Googh’s famous “self portait.” Yes, this is the original and I loved seeing it and getting this photo to share with you.
For instance, if you sell hammers and nails in a hardware store, think about how people want to interact with the finished product. They want a better home or object they’e modifying. It’s the old “Don’t sell the drill, sell the completed hole in the wall” theme. This is most important to make a profound difference in life –- and in your bottom line.
I loved the way they put it in one of the yellow memos which were delightfully scattered around the exhibits to provide a deeper impression and lesson about the art:
“The museum tour is normally presented as a chance to learn about art. This tour has a different purpose: it wants to use the art here to make like life slightly less painful for you. This is a chance to think of arts therapeutic dimension.
The central actor in this tour is not the art, but you: your hopes, your disappointments, your pains and your longings –- to which art has specific and sometimes useful things to say.”
Think about that quote. They have an art museum. Some people would say that art is old-fashioned and we don’t need to go to museums. They would say it is only for “old people.” However the curators at the Rijksmuseum have taken a different approach. They see art as a way of enhancing life. They see art as a way to make the viewers better people.
- A beautiful pix I got of the canal and building in beautiful Amsterdam.
Think about how you can do that in your business. Don’t look at just what your product does. Think about how it can enhance the life of those who purchase it. This is going to require some hard work on your part. It will require deep thinking. You have to go WAY beyond the old features and benefits argument. You have to get deep inside the emotions and the feelings — along with the pain –- that your purchasers go through on a regular basis. Think about how you can create your own “art” to help them have a better life because they purchased your product.
The Rijksmuseum has a very good theme when they say “Art is therapy.” Build on top of that and make your work “therapy” for your customers.
Not only will it make life better for them and for you, but it will definitely help your bottom line.
What do you think? Please let me know here on this post on via social media (see below). I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Terry
Terry Brock, MBA, CSP, CPAE
www.TerryBrock.com
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