Opening Gestures

“It didn't happen every time for every movie. Ruthless People was a good movie, but we didn't get a good release or marketing. They completely blew the opening.”
                                    - David Zucker

As I sit here writing, Husband is at the piano working on a tune that bubbled up from the recesses of his right brain a few days ago.  Too irresistible to ignore, he sat down one morning after breakfast and started playing.  It’s a beautiful, haunting melody with the lush harmonies Husband is so well known for, making it heartbreakingly bittersweet.

What he’ll do with this musical gem is anyone’s guess.  He often builds entire compositions around thoughts like this, but this one may end up standing on its own.  We were discussing it over lunch today, when he said, “You know, this reminds me of something I wish I’d told Holly a few weeks ago when she was here for dinner.  I should have told her, ‘opening gestures.’”

He was referring to a conversation we’d had in which we were comparing the speaking styles of presenters we often see at conferences and conventions.  Obviously, some are better than others.  As we tried to dissect the style of a number of different authors and speakers, Holly wondered about the “common element” - what was the one thing they all had in common, no matter how varied the topic?

It’s the element with which every great composer, author and artist is familiar - the opening gesture.  No matter how great the creation, the opening gesture is what grabs a person by the nape of the neck and shoots an electric charge down their spine.  It is the director of attention; it sets the tone for everything that will follow.

As Husband would tell you (and has told others numerous times through his lectures), “Everyone has to deal with opening gestures in one way or another.  Whether it’s  meeting someone for the first time, tweaking someone’s interest,  engaging their attention or provoking some thought.  Politicians do it, clergy do it, teachers do it. We do it all the time.  How to begin a term paper, a letter of introduction, an application for graduate school or for a job.”

When husband gives this lecture, he cites great opening gestures of all kinds.  Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man;  The Who's Baba O'Riley.

Opening lines of books set the stage for greatness:

“A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs a deep green.  The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.”   
-John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”
- Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”
- John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”
- J. D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

"I was trapped in a house with a lawyer, a bare-breasted woman and a dead man. The rattlesnake in the paper bag only complicated matters."
- Earl Emerson, Fat Tuesday

“It was a pleasure to burn.”
- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Grand opening gestures surround you.  Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water; John Portman’s lobby of the New York Marriott Marquis.  The paintings of Picasso and Caravaggio. 

The blow-your-hair-back, going-a-hundred-while-standing-still design of the Ferrari Daytona.

And of course the mother of all opening gestures - the Big Bang.

Great brands calculate and create opening gestures that stem from a passion for the business.  Starbucks did it with the European cafe storefront.  Krispy Kreme did it with warm doughnuts plucked right off the conveyor belt.  Google does it by customizing their homepage logo to honor a holiday, historic event or person.  Apple did it with the iPod using sleek minimalist design - who would have thought pure white could be so colorful? 

These brands also realize that they have hundreds of opening gestures to contend with everyday, since customers arrive via different avenues and with different mindsets.  Just to tick off a few miniature opening gestures, you have:

• store location
• signage
• parking lot
• physical entrance
• store atmosphere (lighting, cleanliness, smell, etc.)
• greeting by staff members
• how the phone is answered
• delivery & content of outgoing voicemail message
• headlines in ads
• homepage on the website

I’m sure you can think of a few more.  This may even be the first time you’re thinking about it at all.

What are your opening gestures?  Are they remarkable enough to get the attention of customers?  Take five minutes to jot down a list of your opening gestures, then give them a rating from 1 to 10.  How’s it going?  What could be improved?  Are you brave enough to have some of your customers rate your opening gestures?  It could be an eye opener.

Improve your opening gestures and you’ll improve your bottom line.  Ah, the ka-ching of the cash register... now that’s music to the ears.

Comments

[billy]

The Who song is actually Baba O'Riley not baby.

[Michele Miller]

I do depend on the kindness of strangers... :-) Seems like no matter how many times I proofread something, someone can always find a typo... and you found a big one! Thanks, Billy.

[Joe]

Michelle (and Ron), what a super post. You capture something that is both obvious and elusive at the same time. Great opening gestures are appealing and welcoming and intriguing. Poor opening gestures are boring or distracting or confusing.

Any change agent in a company would also be very wise to consider this deeply.

Thanks!!

[David Wolfe]

Interesting. Beyond interesting. This reflective piece bores deeply into one’s soul. Curiously, as I read your thoughts the word “foreplay” came to mind. Opening gestures is just another term for foreplay, is it not? Are not the heights of satisfaction reached in listening to a piece of music, reading a poem, fine dining or making love dependent on foreplay, or as you write, opening gestures? How nice that your thoughts took a turn from the purely esthetic into the mundane world of marketing to grace it with a touch of poetic elegance.

Thanks for such a lovely post, Michele.

David

[Holly Buchanan]

Yes - you all should be jealous - it was an awesome dinner and fascinating discussion with Ron, Michele AND even the wonder hound Penny.

If you haven't listened to Ron Nelson's work - you are sorely missing out.

Holly

[Johnnie Moore]

Thanks for a great post Michelle. My favourite opening line is from Anthony Burgess' Earthly Powers: "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."

[Mary Schmidt]

Wow. Well, I'm going to steal this in it entirety for my clients (but I will give you credit as so well deserved). I couldn't say it any better.

My opening gestures? Hmmm...but I do find a big ol' smile and looking folks in the eye are a great way to start. (That and not immediately launching into some inane canned "elevator pitch.)

[Josia]

Have taken note!! Great advice!

J.