As a new touring troupe member performing for the first time I had a blast. I was treated like family by the troupe members.

Back story, my name is Max Mars and I am a “comedian.” My first encounter with Stevie Ray’s Comedy was many, many years ago in the park. Being a young kid watching these 5 or 6 people come up with these ideas that were making everyone laugh that no one knew what was going to happen before those words came out of their mouth. 

Not long after that--like 8 years later--I decided to audition for the troupe. Now that I have done my first show with the troupe I can say that this is the best group of people I have ever done comedy and improv with. Being on that stage with these people has been such an amazing opportunity. I have learned so much and grown as a comedian and as a person. I am looking forward to working more with everyone so I can grow even more. Thank you to Stevie and Pamela for this new chapter in my life. As a new touring troupe member performing for the first time I had a blast.

I would have to say that my favorite improvisation game to play with teenagers, at the end of an improv workshop with them, is to have them physically create a portrait of an environment, using as much of the available space as they can. This game really creates fun for many reasons, among them being a great platform for humorous imagery:

"Okay, what would YOU like to be in the picture?"

"I want to be the cotton candy maker!"

"Alright, you're the cotton candy maker! How about you?"

"I want to be, the BIG rollercoaster!"

Doing improv with these developing minds always reveals the era of constant change we live in, in my opinion. It's quite evident that they have a lot to keep up with! The struggle to be in touch with the technology and information and lifestyle has got to be overwhelming sometimes, I'm sure. And yet if you give that growing spirit a chance, great interaction and innovation still comes out of these budding Generation Z-ers.

In a sense I sit back a bit, just enjoying the watch of them enjoying themselves, and I get satisfaction in seeing every one of them let out a least a few good laughs, directly stemming from the activities we play. Yes, in these workshops I want these young ones to have a good sense of playfulness and also laugh as much as they can and need to! Laugh and smile alongside the cool ideas they have, and that their peers have.

So it was quite evident in this Upward Bound workshop I had recently that ambition and creativity was strong with them, and that they enjoyed the betterment of good communication and conversation, something that can be a major concern in your adolescence. I think I have a teen workshop coming up again pretty soon. Yay!

Improv comedy on the road lends itself to incredible focus on relationship development. Not only do us, as actors, seek to find an intense connection with audience members that are relatively unfamiliar to our content, but we also find ways to accommodate for our fellow performers on and off stage.

There is an inevitably large amount of down-time that means keeping to one's self is really out of the question. Road trips, off-the-highway restaurant stops, conversations in hotel elevators – these are the things that build the foundation for a riveting show on the road. Nothing beats hearing about Carl Olson's anecdotes as a 5^th grade misfit in a Le Suer Subway.

I often draw on my past experiences as an athlete to make a noteworthy comparison. A sporting event on the road bears striking similarities to road performances. For one, the athletes and actors alike must realize that they are in an “away game” scenario. They cater their preparation to the venue or event ahead, taking into account the acoustics, lighting and energy of the crowd. Before long, the stage is set, and the performers must play. They adjust their game strategy as the clock winds down. Actors embrace the power of improv “yes and-ing”, and agree to put their own interests aside for the sake of understanding the audience and gauging how to best retain their attention.

It is a challenging, yet rewarding task. Unlike athletic competition though, an improv comedy routine blends audience members and participants into one memorable encounter.

Customer loyalty programs should be renamed. They should be called, "Our employees don’t know how to be nice to you, so we have to give you gifts to keep you coming back."

Like most people, I am a neighborhood shopper. I go to the same grocery store, bank branch, pharmacy and gas station every time. Since I have been in my neighborhood for more than 13 years, you would figure that I am one of the more familiar faces for the employees.

Finding the blame

My bank has great customer reward programs. They will deposit $25 into my checking account if I refer a friend who opens an account there. Wow. All I have to do to earn $25 bucks is to turn my friends into referral tools. I’m sure that will make my friends cherish our relationship all the more.

Now the tellers at the window and loan officers sitting at their desks don’t have to know who I am, or treat me like someone who has been coming in once a week for longer than some of them have been alive. That $25 takes care of it all.

When you treat people like that, they feel like cattle. First, they think something is wrong with themselves, then they think something is wrong with you.

Business implications

Translate that scenario to your business. When people visit your organization over and over throughout the years and are still treated like they are complete strangers, first they think there is something wrong with themselves, then they think there is something wrong with you.

When they reach the stage that something is wrong with you, a $25 reward isn’t going to mean squat.

Ray at the gas station treats me like you would actually treat a loyal friend — remembering my name, remembering things that matter to me, giving a genuine “glad to see you” smile instead of a “this is how I was trained to smile” — I go out of my way to give him my business.

The rest? If another store opened that was a few cents cheaper or a few blocks closer, I will treat them like they have treated me: like I don’t even know who they are.

This article first appeared in The Business Journals HERE