Creating an experience through our business relationships and service is vital to the success of our business. I think that creating an experience implies that you connect with the other person's emotions related to their expectations of your work with them and the relationship you build. For example, if you provide services to another person the other person is going to be feeling something as a result of their experience with you. You, as the service provider, want the other person to feel a certain way about you and your services. Do we pay attention to ourselves and how and what we are providing to our clients?
If you are a massage therapist you want your client to feel calm, relaxed, comfortable, and that you are in tune with their body and their needs related to the type of massage that they need. So, as a service provider, you need to be 'in-tune' with the other person and their expectations for what the service is going look like (hair salon), feel like (spa), taste like (restaurant), etc. The difficulty lays in the fact that each person's needs, wants, and expectations are going to be slightly different. Therefore, it's important to connect with each client so that you can get a sense for what their expectations are of the service you are providing.
If you don't connect with the client and at least meet, if not exceed, their expectations you will lose the client, you will lose any potential referral they may have sent you in the future, and you will potentially lose all of those people that this unhappy client tells their experience to.
When preparing for a client and knowing the product or service you provide, you should have a feel for the type of experience that you want to create for the other person. Otherwise, you could very likely miss the mark and you will have just done the first and last job for that client and the additional losses (as mentioned above) could be substantial.
As Always, Strive To Optimize!
Mike