Here’s an interesting question, “Do your customers want you to win?”

Quick story: Last month a friend of mine asked my wife and me to join him and his wife at a concert. I had never heard of the band, but I thought, “Why not?”. He told me their name and I quickly looked them up on YouTube. I wasn’t that impressed but he seemed pretty keen, so I thought I’d keep an open mind. I’m glad I did.

The band was The Cat Empire. They took the stage in casual street clothes and just looked like a group of people who enjoy one another’s company. When they started to perform, I detected something unusual. It was their authenticity. This band really loves their music and they exude that love for their music when they perform. They don’t rely on gimmicks to get attention as they are truly talented. They are from Australia and their music is a fusion of jazz, ska, funk and rock with heavy Latin influences.

After the concert, I purchased their albums on iTunes and I continue to be impressed. In fact, I find myself telling everyone about them because I want them to win. I realize now that their YouTube videos are older and don’t reflect where they are today. That’s also another good sign. We want to know that the people we are invested in are growing and not static.

If you do check them out, buy their music on iTunes so you can hear the published versions of their music.

What do I like about them? As I said, I like their authenticity. I also like their creativity and versatility. Look at the lyrics of The Lost Song:

Lyrics to The Lost Song :
I had nine lives but I lost all of them
and I’ve been searching in the night
and I’ve been searching in the rain
I tried to find them
but they disappeared
they walked away they dressed in black
they left my side and all I say
is that I wasted time
when I looked for them
for now I know that things gone past
are never to be found again
no never never again
I had nine lives
but lost all of them

I had a plan
but never finished it
and I’ve been searching for the thought
and I’ve been searching in a haze
I try all days
to remember it
but now the blueprint in my mind has gone
my mind forgot the colour of direction
and my eyes they see the hands
that could have built
that could have constructed
the empire in my mind
the empire
I’ll never find
I had a plan
but that was where it ended

Combine these clever lyrics with an incredible trumpet solo and you quickly realize this is not the typical manufactured music that we are bombarded with. This is real art. Some of other songs to check out are:

Lonely Moon, Falling, Two Shoes, The Chariot, Days Like These, Hello Hello, All Hell, Only Light, Sly, Fishies. Even though I said don’t rely on YouTube, here’s a clip of Lonely Moon. Tell me if it isn’t clear to you that this band is truly talented.

Well, I said all of that, to say this. Do your clients want you to win? Are they bragging about you to their colleagues? Do they want to be the ones who are thanked for turning others on to you? If not, are you operating from a place of authenticity? Remember, people want to be inspired. They want to be touched by greatness. You can never be great if you are playing “me too”.

On the flip side, who do you want to win? Who are the companies you want to brag about? Here are some companies I would like to win and why:

 

 

• Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) – great technology for ensuring that all your files show up on all your devices synchronized in real time
• Google – I know, they’ve already won but they really are a cool company that understands where the net is going and why cloud-based technology enable us to do things differently
• Newsmap – (www.newsmap.jp) – creative way of presenting current news items
• Infusionsoft, Zoho CRM & SmartSimple – cool cloud-based CRM applications
• Prezi – novel presentation software that makes slide shows obsolete
• Evernote – great technology for capturing ideas and articles, etc.
• Apple – for their leadership and innovation and great customer experiences

Who do you want to win?