I know I’ve been writing a lot lately about businesses. Non-acting businesses. Business models outside of the entertainment industry. And I’ve been doing so because — after all these years of trying to come at these business principles from the side, using fun analogies and hoping you’ll go with me just a bit down the path — we’re FINALLY at a point where artists overwhelmingly understand that we are all creative entrepreneurs. We are ALL running small businesses.

We — these amazing creative collaborators — are building a fanbase, a customer base, a bank of reliable buyers. We’re watching people break out and be very successful by rejecting the “old” Hollywood business model of “join the union, get an agent, wait for him to send you on auditions.” Because we’re open to seeing ourselves as small business owners, there’s a ton we can learn from those who manage their businesses exceptionally well, no matter what industry they’re in.

So, today I want to talk with y’all about the Apple in-store business model.

There is one mission, on the part of all employees of the Apple store: ANSWER EVERY QUESTION.

That’s it. It’s not “close the sale,” “upsell to a higher-priced product,” “add on accessories,” or anything sale-related. It’s all about making sure that every person who enters the store with questions leaves the store with none. Whether they leave with a product is irrelevant.

Compare that to a store like the Gap. The Gap — like many retail stores — has something called a UPT requirement. Units Per Transaction. The UPT back when I worked at the Gap (in the early 1990s, in Athens, Georgia, where I most awesomely sold Michael Stipe all those T-shirts he layered and stripped off, revealing political slogans, at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards) was 2.2 (ooh, Michael helped me blow the curve that shift).

The reason you are asked if anyone helped you out, when you check out at the Gap, is so the employee who helped you gets your purchases logged in his or her UPT for the day. If you’ve only bought a pair of jeans, you’ve screwed the employee over. It’s why you’re always asked if you’d like to buy socks or a scarf or “hairwear.”

And it’s why the Gap doesn’t have rabid fans for customers — people who will put the company’s logo on their car as a bumper sticker, people who will never never never buy their clothes from anywhere else, people who will get into fights on the Internet while defending the Gap brand. Nope. That happens with Apple customers. They are rabid in their brand loyalty. Because they are well cared for, rather than sold to.

Let’s bring this bad boy to your audition scenario, shall we?

The majority of the actors who walk into the casting session are there to close a sale. They work for the Gap. They need to seal the deal. They need their buyer to BUY. Today.

The Apple-style actor enters the room with a goal to educate the buyer about the product. “Here is how I interpret this material, as the character you’ve asked to see created, today. What else can I show you, while I’m here? Have you seen all you need? Thank you for your attention and thank you for the opportunity to educate you about what it is that I can do for you.”

There’s no pressure to sell a performance, to earn a callback, to prove there’s bookability here. It’s just an actor, showcasing talent, in service of a long-term relationship during which there will likely be dozens of bookings, over the years.

In every audition, build a fan for life. Provide excellent service without needing to close a sale today. The bookings will come. More importantly, the buyer loyalty you’ll build will lead to many more bookings — and of higher quality — over time.

The big picture of the life of a creative freelancer, of an industry entrepreneur, of a service-oriented — not sale-oriented — artist is one filled with bookings *because of* the solid fanbase that has been created over time. Invest in serving your buyers BEFORE they spend a penny on your work. This choice will pay off beautifully… eventually.

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001654.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.