It was the start of an exchange that would set off a chain of events that would shift my opinion of a billion-dollar establishment with one simple act. Let me explain. It’s no secret I “enjoy” Las Vegas. After going there 15 times in the past four years I consider myself an unofficial tour guide and resident of Sin City.

A place that you definitely cannot miss on the strip is the Wynn—very fancy, very pretty, and very expensive. Since the place cost $2.7 billion to build, I assume selling 99-cent hot dogs isn’t going to make that money back.

I really didn’t care about the Wynn. Not in a negative way, it just wasn’t on my radar. After getting comfortable staying at MGM Grand, The Venetian, and other places, I didn’t really see a need to change, until that Saturday.

I had a meeting at Wynn during the BlogWorld conference. I strolled in through the majestic doors with a friend of mine. As soon as we walked in we spotted a man (Wes) using a large carpet-cleaning machine. He wasn’t in our way, so we really thought nothing of it, but he thought differently.

He stopped what he was doing. He looked up . . . and smiled. Not one of those “it’s part of my job to smile” ones, but a genuine, warm, authentic smile. And then he said, “Good afternoon, and welcome to the Wynn, please enjoy your day” all the while looking us right in the eye, like it was his mission to ensure that we knew he meant business.

His welcome changed my entire perception of the Wynn. Almost 3 billion big ones went into making this megacasino resort, and it was one guy who made me want to stay there. He made me want to tell the world about it—made me want to blog about it. The carpet-cleaning dude. I have passed hundreds of people cleaning in casinos in Vegas, I’ve rarely been given eye contact, and not once felt welcome.

As a matter of fact . . . I have never, ever been greeted like that by anyone in Vegas.

It is wonderful and sad at the same time. This gentleman, who made me feel welcome at his place of employment, was not only exceptional, he was extremely rare.

Casinos (and probably most of you in business) all have the same “stuff” for the most part. All accountants offer accounting services, all coffee joints serve coffee, and all the five-star resorts have fancy smells, spas, and pretty patterns. But only one resort has Wes.

Marketing is not a task.

Marketing is not a department.

Marketing is not a job.

Marketing happens every time you engage (or not) with your past, present, and potential customers. UnMarketing also takes it one step further—it is any time anyone talks about your company. Word of mouth is not a project or a viral marketing ploy. The mouths are already moving. You need to decide if you want to be a part of the conversation.

Which is why I call it UnMarketing—the ability to engage with your market. Whether you employ thousands or are a one-person show, you are always UnMarketing. It’s what comes naturally, not being forced to do things that make you ill.¹ It’s authentic, it’s personal, and it’s the way to build lifelong fans, relationships, and customers.

If you believe business is built on relationships, make building them your business.

That’s the one line that you need to believe to UnMarket. If you don’t believe that, return the book. Trash talk me on Twitter.² Tell me that cold calling is a great tool if you know how to do it right. Just put the book down.

If you don’t believe that business is to build relationships, then tell me that the foundations of some of the greatest businesses in the world were built through cold calling. What worked decades ago does not work as well today, if at all. Getting a 0.2 percent return on your direct mail piece isn’t cutting it anymore. Placing an ad multiple times in a newspaper³ because “people have to see something seven times before acting” is a crock.⁴

You need to return this book if you say “I don’t have time to build relationships online!” and yet will drive 45 minutes to a networking event, stay three hours, and drive 45 minutes back home.

You need to read this book if you’ve had enough of the oldschool ways of marketing and want to believe there is a better way. You are the person who wants to believe that if you are your authentic self, you have no competition. That even though you may have thousands of providers in your industry to compete with, you have things you uniquely bring to the table (which you do).

Let’s focus on building relationships, and still building a business instead of throwing aside those who don’t want to buy (Buy or Good-bye) and build lifelong relationships and a profitable lifelong business, today.

Being authentic has nothing to do with being cheesy or passive and you don’t have to sing “We are the World” and hold hands. Being authentic means that you focus on what you uniquely bring to the table. That is what separates you from others in your industry. If you are your authentic self you have no competition. I know you have been told to act like other people, talk like other people, and market like all the people. But it is time that you unlearned everything and started to UnMarket yourself.