(Time to read this Blog is about 3 1/2 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “Life is a journey. Don’t let who you are now define who you could become!  Who and what do you commit to become…and when will you start?”   
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:  
   Sometimes you need a ‘Guide’, not someone who’d love to give it a try:
    
   Building a great Team is a combination of recruiting experienced ‘Guides’ some of the time and giving those with potential an opportunity to ‘give it a try’ other times.
    
   When recruiting key Team members to guide some part of your business to ‘the next level’…it’s generally best to pick someone who has successfully been to that level in an industry or circumstances similar to yours.  This is especially true when the business lacks experience or depth in whatever the new project or direction might be.
    
   When you’re hiring someone to take you into new and unfamiliar territory, ‘track record’ matters.  A ‘Guide’, by definition, is someone who has been there before.  They’ve done the ‘learning curve’ thing and they’re ready and able to take action from day one. There are lots of opportunities to support and encourage the folks with potential who would love to give it a try…but this isn’t one of them. 
    
3. Wolf Ranch, near Austin Texas, is the world’s largest 3D-printed housing community. The homes are ‘built’ by robotic printers using concrete.
    
   So, what are you doing to reinvent and revolutionize what you do…and how you do it?  Will you create ‘the next’, or will you be the victim of those who do?
    
4. The world’s happiest countries. According to a Gallup Poll, these are the world’s four happiest countries: 
   1. Finland
   2. Denmark
   3. Iceland
   4. Sweden
       
      Canada is #15 and the USA is #23.  Afghanistan is the world’s most unhappy country by a wide margin, after 3 years of Taliban rule. 
       
5. A shameless plug! If your company, Industry Association or local Chamber of Commerce has a Business Conference this year that will benefit from my world-class, bottom-line management and marketing insights and ‘straight talk’ delivery style, perhaps we should chat.  I’m booked up till the end of June, but have some availability in the 2^nd half of the year.
    
   I’ve delivered about 3,000 Conference Sessions in over 40 industries around the world…and I’m starting to get the hang of it.   As part of my commitment to deliver extraordinary outcomes, I do the homework to customize and I stay for the entire Event because some of the most important value is always delivered off-stage in quiet and confidential conversations.  I’m easy to find at donald@donaldcooper.com.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Are you the clear ‘wise choice’ for your target customers…and where’s your proof? 

One of the biggest myths in business today is that there’s no such thing as customer loyalty anymore.  The truth is that people are loyal, fiercely loyal, to what’s best for them…or what they assume is best for them.  That’s it!

So, first we must do the work to be the clear and compelling ‘wise choice’ for our target customers.  Then, we must prove it to them.  People are cynical and confused.  They’ve been lied to, let down and disappointed too many times.  They want proof.  Below is my list of 8 ways that you can prove your compelling value or performance claims. 

1. Let them experience it themselves.  ‘Test driving’, sampling, ‘Try the mattress for 3 months…no obligation’.
2. Live demonstrations or videos that show the function and value. Let them look ‘behind the curtain’ to see how your product or service is made and how the quality is ‘built in’.
3. Independent, trusted research.
4. You’ve won Awards or Competitions. Do the work to be great…then compete and win…then brag!
5. Trusted referrals from key influencers.
6. Comments from delighted customers / clients.  This is where things like personal recommendations, social media and Google ‘stars’ are so important.
7. A strong performance guarantee…including what you’ll do if you don’t perform as promised  (Delivered in 30 minutes, or it’s Free!).
8. Your advertising claims.  This is the weakest proof.  What we say about ourselves, nobody much believes…but what others say about us is ‘gospel’.

So, what combination of these eight types of ‘proof’ will work best for you?  Which ones are you using?  Which ones should you be using?  The more proof you have, the more confidence you create, the more loyalty you’ll get…and the more business you’ll do. 

A Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor recently told me that he had won the ‘People’s Choice’ award in his community for 6 years in a row.  That’s big-time powerful proof of performance, value and integrity, but he had never bothered to put that on his website, his trucks, his business cards or his contract quotes.  This is nuts.  He had done the work to earn and receive powerful, believable proof of his value…and he did nothing with it.  Don’t make this mistake.  How will you prove to your target customers that you are the clear and compelling ‘wise choice’ for them?   And, if you’re not the clear ‘wise choice’ for your target customers, what work do you need to do to fix that…and when will you start?  

That’s it for this week…

Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.