Background Music - What's Yours?

At this time of year background music is everywhere – (the one I dread hearing is ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ – Jesus had a drummer??) Can you hear what I hear…. We all know that stores are not playing it for our entertainment – they want to put us in a better mood perhaps? Well not exactly.

The University of Leicester wanted to know how effective this music was, so they enlisted a wine shop to participate in a study. On some days they played German brass band music and on others they played traditional French accordion music (Edith Piaf anyone?). Did it make a difference? Of course it did. On French days 77% of the wine sold was French and on German days - it was 73% German.

Now the curious thing was that when people were asked what caused them to choose a particular type of wine, they would say it was the label, the prices, the name, etc – but none said the music had any influence on their decision.

It’s evident that this invisible, unnoticed, input has the ability to dramatically shift how we think and how we act. And that got me thinking about corporate culture. It’s hard to see, un-noticed by most but incredibly impactful. Few companies ever think about it and fewer still are intentional about it. And that’s a sad thing because its everywhere and affects everything your employees do. Changing your culture is not as easy as selecting a new track on your playlist but simply paying attention to it will pay big dividends.

So what music is playing where you work? How does your culture help you to attract new employees, retain current ones, reinforce desired behaviour, delight your clients?

Will you let me know If you’d like us to come and listen to your music?

By the time you read this, we’ll be done with the little drummer boy for another 10 months and starting to engage with the year ahead..

We wish you a super holiday with family and friends and a prosperous new year while making a positive difference on our planet.

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Our last series of blogs and podcasts focused on easy things you can do now to increase your revenue. You can find the blogs here and the podcasts here.

In January we will be starting a new series of blogs and podcasts that digs a bit deeper into how you run your business but offers more substantial results. We’ll be addressing new products, new markets, new pricing strategies, and evergreen clients.

Thank you for reading - and listening. Comments, complaints and suggestions are always welcome.

Happy New Year, Bon année, Feliz año Nuevo, Prosit Neujahr, Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun, Antum salimoun, Godt Nytår, Bliadhna mhath ur!