Me before the "Bocelli Style"

This morning I went in to get my haircut from Paula at PS Hair Salon in downtown Benicia, CA. Upon climbing the stairs and walking in to her warm and cozy corner salon, Paula asked if I was ready to have my hair styled like Andrea Bocelli. Wow, I thought to myself, that’s a far cry from being asked if you want the “regular!”

I had been growing my hair out a bit and was ready for a trim, now the thought of an actual style intrigued me. The fact that Paula had obviously been thinking of me and what she could do with my hair that would make me happy made me even more interested. It was 8:00 a.m. but I was starting to wake up and lean forward.

Paula said she had a Bocelli CD in her car and would run down and get it to show me what she had in mind. When she returned and we looked at the pictures on the jacket I noticed certain similarities with the color and style of our hair and beard. To which I exclaimed, “look , he’s got my beard,” short and peppered with gray (okay mine is mostly gray and peppered with, well, some darker shades of gray and reddish tint). “Right!” said Paula, “he’s got your style of beard, and see how his hair swoops past his ears kind of like yours.” Interesting, I thought to myself…Andrea and I with a similar look…I wonder if I’ll be able to carry a tune after this?

Paula went to work and we talked about personal branding and how what she was doing was creating a terrific experience for me. Thinking back on it now, the only thing that could have made the experience better was if she played the Bocelli CD during the styling session. Afterwards, I immediately called my wife to say Andrea Bocelli and I have the same style, and I went on iTunes to buy one of his CD’s which I am listening to right now. I am of course remarking about this experience to readers of my blog. And, I’m feeling pretty damn good about myself and think I’m catching double-takes of people around town who now wonder, “is that Andrea Bocelli?”

Whether you’re an owner of a hair salon, a tax accountant or cafe waitress, think about the experience your customers get from you. Do you stand out? Are you unique? Do you connect with your customers in ways meaningful to them? Do they feel better or worse when they leave? Creating an experience that’s focused on the needs and personality of your customers can go a long way towards building a successful personal brand – and getting others to remark about you in the process.

As you can see, I may not look anything like Andrea Bocelli – or he me. But I had a great experience getting the style, and that’s all that matters.

Andrea Bocelli from Twitter Background