I love live theater, and Luci and I will go and see a show at any opportunity we can. A couple of weeks ago we set ourselves a new record by seeing 5 shows in one week ? ?Phantom' in Las Vegas on Tuesday, ?Wicked' in Chicago on Thursday, ?Spamalot' in Las Vegas on Friday, ?Les Miserables' in Salt Lake City on Saturday and a Broadway special charity event in Salt Lake City on Sunday!

Regular readers will know that I'm always on the lookout for ways to adapt positive and negative business observations learned outside of eBay, within eBay. Our week of musicals provided several important lessons I wanted to share with you.

Of all the musicals we saw, the one I enjoyed the most was not the one I expected it to be. Spamalot took me by complete surprise for a number of reasons.

Spamalot is based on the Monty Python movie ?The Holy Grail' a comedy about the King Arthur's quest for the holy grail, a a sacred cup. Anyway, the interesting thing I noted about the show was that everything in and around the theater had been themed to enhance the show.

Let's start with the ticket office. As people walk up to the ticket area they see illuminated signs that give a hint at Monty Python style humor (see exhibit a).

Then, as you walk into the foyer of the theater, the walls are decorated with amusing artwork (see exhibit b).

A store at the end of this walkway has banners with the message ?shopalot' to tie in with the ?spamalot' branding. Once in the foyer area, the refreshment booth is again carefully thought out to continue the humor, the booth itself has a huge illuminated sign that says ?snackalot', again to tie into the ?spamalot' branding (can you see a pattern developing here?).

The snacks even tie into the same branding, for example you can buy a premium drink in a ?grail cup' (see exhibit c).

Likewise, the rest of the foyer area is decorated with images that are immediately identifiable with Monty Python.

The show itself was a delight, finishing on a really high note, a feel good extravaganza, and the universal enjoyment was obvious by looking at the audience.

As you exit the theater, giant neon signs tell us ?thanksalot' and encourage us with an unmissable message to ?shopalot' in the gift store (see exhibit d).

So what's the lesson with all of this? I realized that all of the things I just described created an overwhelmingly positive experience that evening. It wasn't just a show, it was an experience that lasted before and after the actual performance. We felt like valued guests. This is the very same concept that Walt Disney used to separate his theme parks from competitors. The experience created both before, during and after a ride in a Disney park is unmatched.

Let's analyze my experience. Even before I set foot in the theater, the producers of the show had managed to dramatically improve my mood (it was a 10 pm show and I was tired and hot from the 102 degree heat outside ? yes at night). That achievement alone is pretty amazing. By the time the show started, I was already in a positive frame of mind because I had been amused and entertained for at least 20 minutes leading up to the start of the performance.

The show had been carefully crafted to leave the audience feeling really good at the end, MUCH more than any other show we saw that week. And isn't that what theater should be about ? a positive experience, escapism etc? Regardless of your personal views on this, the point to note is that the show left us on a high note - the feel good factor was on overdrive.

The innovations I described were not particularly expensive or difficult to implement, they just involved some creative brainstorming, planning, and implementation.

How can you do something similar with your eBay business? Well, simply aim to create an experience rather than a transaction.

For example, when you interact with customers via email, do you inject your personality into the correspondence to make it fun and memorable? Are your messages distinctive, standing out from the crowd of emails that the customer receives each day?

Do you consistently aim to over deliver? For example, by providing faster shipping than what was paid for, including a free gift, a thank you note, a coupon, a bonus item, or something else unexpected?

Is there consistency in correspondence for the customer ? using the same email address, logo, personality etc throughout the experience? Aim to innovate beyond the basics, to deliver a memorable experience for the buyer. They'll talk to their friends AND keep coming back to you ? give them an experience and why would they possibly want to go anywhere else?