I’m always striving to push and challenge myself. It’s one of the reasons I run half and full marathons, along with adventure races. One of those adventure races is the Ragnar Trail Michigan event.
Ragnar Trail Michigan is a two-day, one-night trail run in Grayling, Michigan. It takes place at the Hanson Hills Recreation Area, which typically hosts mountain biking trails and two disc golf courses. There are three loops that each runner will run. A green loop of 3 miles, a yellow loop of 6 miles, and the red loop of 7.8 miles. The total mileage each runner will run is approximately 16.8 miles. Your team runs a total of 120ish miles.
It’s an ordeal.
But that’s not what I will remember from this year’s Ragnar Trail Michigan. No, my most memorable experience was with a vendor at the event.
I’ve been pondering whether or not to get an electric vehicle when the time comes. I’ve thought about whether an electric vehicle would be able to get me where I need to go. The conclusion? Almost any electric vehicle would get me where I needed to go and back within a single charge.
This weekend, I got to experience a test drive in one of the electric vehicles I’d been longing to try. That’s right, the electric truck company Rivian was at Ragnar Trail Michigan, allowing runners to test drive their vehicles.
One of my teammates, Chad, joined me for the test ride. We left the grounds of Hanson Hills Recreation Area and took the Rivian R1T through its paces.
Up and down paved roads. The R1T handled like a dream. It was a smooth ride, with fast acceleration and many gadgets inside.
Then, Chad asked the best question of all: Can we take it down a dirt road or two-track?
The answer was glorious. The answer was that we could.
Chad took over the driving responsibilities at this point. He was ready to have some fun. We looked for a two-track we could go down. We found it and we were well pleased.
The Rivian R1T took the two-track with ease. We never felt uneasy or that the electric truck couldn’t handle what we were throwing at it.
Chad and I were sold on the R1T.
Create Memorable Experiences
After taking a Rivian test drive, we fell in love with the truck. It became a memorable experience for us during our Ragnar Trail race. It may have been the extreme highlight.
The memorable experience of test driving a Rivian stuck with us for the two days we were there. We began evangelizing for Rivian. Other runners would ask us about the event. We’d start by telling them about the race. We’d end by telling them, regardless of what else they do that weekend, to get behind the wheel and test drive the R1T. We were talking up the electric vehicle like crazy. I’m even talking about it with you, one of my blog readers.
That’s what memorable experiences do.
When you give your team members or customers a positive, memorable experience, you give them something to remember. More importantly, you can create an evangelist for your brand.
Memorable experiences sear into the minds of those who experience them. They remember the feeling of exhilaration, excitement, and utter joy they had.
These feelings don’t stick with just them. Your customers or team members will begin telling those around them about their experience. They’ll share how you or the organization made them feel. How you couldn’t wait to have another experience like that.
Create memorable experiences within your organization. Make people excited to share about what you’re doing. You’ll create brand evangelists who will share your story with others.
