Last year I saw a talk by a magician that changed the way I think about my business, relationships and daily experience.

Nate Staniforth, the magician in question, is the first to acknowledge that the title “Magician” carries with it some less-than-helpful connotations.

This is especially when attempting to be taken seriously at say, a (non-magic-related) conference where you’re presenting a keynote talk, but applies to many other more mundane, but perhaps equally stressful situations as well (meeting future in-laws comes immediately to mind).

What I took away, however, first from Nate’s talk and then from his excellent book, Here Is Real Magic, is that real, true magic does exist, perhaps not in the way we often conceive of it, and that each of us has the transformative power to create it.

I’ve become convinced that if we can harness this power and apply it to our businesses, work and lives, we can transform them — and those of the people we interact within those contexts — forever.

Ok So What Is Magic?

First, we need to do away with our unhelpful present ideas of what constitutes magic.

Figures like Harry Potter, and Gob Bluth, the Arrested Development character (both of whom I love by the way), while entertaining, are not what we’re shooting for here.

Real, applicable magic is not about illusions, sleight of hand, or elaborate performances and stage shows (although feel free to use those if the situation calls for them…)

Rather, the magic we can create is about giving the people we interact with the sense of awe, wonder, inspiration and hope that good magic achieves.

Imagine if this was the feeling your clients, customers and collaborators associated with interacting with you.

Magical types of experiences are the ones that people rave about.

How To Create Magic In Your Business

Magical experiences should speak uniquely to your customers and the relationship you have. They’ll take thought and work to create and might sometimes feel like they’re not worth the time and expense you put into them.

The fact that they go above and beyond the normal course of business is part of what makes them magical.

So while I don’t have a defined, repeatable framework, let’s have a look at some traits that magical experiences have in common.

Awe/Wonder: This is at the core of magical experiences. Moments like this make us realize that the world is a little bigger than we previously thought. That the unknown isn’t just a place of fear and uncertainty, but of excitement and possibility.

Inspiration/Hope: Good magic raises the bar of what’s possible, both for ourselves and the world. When I find myself in the middle of a magical moment I feel inspired both that I can do more, and that I must do more. Good magic destroys cynicism.

Surprise + Subversion Of Expectations: Magical moments and experiences catch us off guard and surprise us. This could be through the timing of the delivery or by subverting expectations of how a certain process will go. If you’re able to turn a process that’s typically uncomfortable or painful into something that feels magical, you’re on to something.

How did they do that? This is one of the hallmarks of magic tricks, where we find ourselves analyzing and guessing at how it was done. Perhaps you make note of some off-hand remark about a client loving a specific hard to find flavour of ice cream, and have a tub delivered to them (yes ice cream delivery exists, I’ve looked into it for this very purpose) leading them to ask, “how did they know I liked this?”

(In this case, we’re hoping they’ve forgotten they ever mentioned it, which is hard to ensure, but amazing when it happens.)

Personalization

Beyond these common traits, I’m convinced that when it comes to creating moments that feel like magic in our businesses, we need to pay special attention to personalization.

We want our clients and customers to know that we created this specifically with them in mind. That we went out of our way. That not everyone gets the attention and experience that they’re getting right now.

One of my favourite things about the concept of personalization is that it can be low cost but feel thoughtful and unique.

I attended a conference a couple years ago, and waiting for me when I checked in was a bottle of my favourite beer.

Just one. Just for me.

I remembered later that they had asked on the registration form what my favourite beverage was to kick back and relax, to which I had responded with this beer.

The fact that I had supplied the information myself didn’t diminish the experience.

I would have been excited and surprised to get any bottle of beer at a conference check-in. The fact that it was unique to me, however, elevated the experience into the realm of magic, where for a few moments I was filled with awe and the question, “how did they know??”

By the way, I rave about that conference and tell almost everyone I know that they should go…

I’ve since started incorporating similar questions into my own client and team member intake forms and surveys to slowly build up information that I can use later (hopefully once they’ve forgotten that they supplied the information) to create unique, special, hopefully even magical experiences.

A Word About Intention

I want to make sure to say that while I really believe that creating moments that feel like magic for our teams, clients, customers and colleagues has the potential to have huge returns in how people talk about, interact with, and refer our businesses, for it to be effective, you need to be doing it for the right reasons.

Manufacturing magic to achieve an end result doesn’t work and isn’t scalable or sustainable, at least not while retaining a true sense of magic.

Hopefully, you already care deeply about those you work with and believe that creating an experience for them that feels magical is worth it if only to show your appreciation. Maybe you even believe that they deserve to have this type of experience.

Your people need to believe that the act is coming from a sincere place in your heart. These experiences won’t cover over or patch up past or consistent shortcomings, but they will elevate an already solid relationship to an extraordinary one.

Let’s Make Magic

One of my missions in our work at Counterweight Creative is to make the experience of both our team members and clients feel as far from “business as usual” as possible.

I want to create team and client experiences that subvert expectations about how employee/employer and client/supplier relationships work.

I make a point to send out handwritten thank yous, postcards, and letters, I’ve sent out cases of client’s favourite beer, whiskey, ice cream and other gifts to mark special occasions.

We’ve sent out congratulatory videos from our team to clients who’ve hit milestones, and recently even sent a custom, framed platinum record to a client who passed the million-download milestone on her podcast.

It’s not easy to keep on top of and prioritize these experiences. They often cost money, always take time, and there’s no clear return.

Nevertheless, I want to build a company that’s known for going above and beyond in both the work we do and the experience we deliver, so if that’s the goal, why not go a little further and strive to make the experience truly magical?

I’d love to hear how you create magical experiences for your team, clients, customers or anyone else. I’d also love to hear if you’ve been on the receiving end of a magical experience, whether personal or professional that was orchestrated by someone else.