Business Lessons Learned From Sir Paul McCartney

Last month, I had the pleasure of seeing Paul McCartney in concert at Fenway Park. I'm probably a little late to the game, as this was my first time seeing Sir Paul in concert. I figured if I didn't see him this time around, I may never get to see him. So I grabbed my reluctant husband and away we went. Here are some business lessons I learned as a result of this memorable night.

You Can Go Home Again

People are always saying you can't go home again. My evening under the stars at Fenway with McCartney proved them wrong. The show opened up with a classic Beatles tune, which brought everyone back to another place in time. All you had to do was close your eyes and imagine you were at Shea Stadium, along with thousands of screaming teenage fans. What a thrill, which is exactly the response McCartney was going for.

In business, we often get so wrapped up in the day to day that we forget about thrilling our clients. At some point in time, we must have thrilled them or they wouldn't still be with us. What can you do today to remind them of this? This could be as simple as calling to see how they are doing and offering to provide additional value at no cost or taking them to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants.

Give People More Than They Expect

I've been to enough concerts to know that they usually follow a certain pattern. First hour is a warm up band, followed by perhaps two hours of the band you really came to see. This certainly wasn't the case with McCartney. No warm up band and three hours of non-stop music. Indeed, a night to remember.

The problem with most businesses these days is that they may give the customer what's been promised and little more. I see this as a lost opportunity. It's easy to stand out in a competitive market by providing your customers and clients with an experience they soon won't forget.

Consistency Is King

Some people may think differently, but from where I was sitting, McCartney was consistently belting out his hits the same way he’s been doing it for years. Not once did I hear a crack in his voice nor did I see him struggle to hit a note. He was a well-tuned singing machine.

How consistent has the delivery of your services and products been? In the past several months, I have been consistently disappointed (not a good thing) by my Amazon Prime service, which promises two-day delivery of items. Several times, I wound up cancelling my order because of a service failure. In other words, the items I needed were not going to arrive in time for my kid’s departure to camp.

In my book, the quickest way to lose customers is through inconsistency. Think about this the next time you attempt to deliver what may be your last performance.

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