(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:
   “As a young guy, I ran the mile and 2 mile competitively.  I never trained and had no coach to guide me.  I just showed up and ran on guts and a simple strategy. When the gun went off, I got out in front and then refused to let anyone pass me.  Somehow, at the end, I was still in the lead!   But I often wonder what I could have accomplished had I been more focused and got the right coaching.”
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   Put knowledgeable, passionate people in charge!
    
   Dahlgren’s Do it Best Building Supplies in St. Helens, Oregon sells lumber, hardware and all the usual home improvement stuff.  They also sell horse feed and some other animal feed, mostly to local hobby farmers.
    
   For years their animal feed sales were ‘OK’…but nothing spectacular; until they put a lady in charge of that Department who loves horses, shows her horses, is passionate about animal health, and knows all the other horsey people in the area.  She has added additional key products, she coaches customers on animal care, health and performance…and sales have quadrupled.
    
   And here’s the bonus.  Sales in other Departments have improved, as store traffic has increased.

   So, put passionate, knowledgeable people in charge of each part of your business.  Then, support them, encourage them, thank and reward them…and let them do their job.
    

3. Hey Mom, stop stirring up trouble. A US Teacher’s Union has filed a lawsuit against a Rhode Island mother of a 5-year-old for asking for a copy of the class curriculum.
    
4. If you or your Industry Association have a Conference this Fall, perhaps we should talk. As a thought leader on management, marketing, staff engagement and profitability, I can bring real bottom-line value to your next Conference.  Our most requested topics are:
   1. “Accelerate Your Business…the ‘straight goods’ on how to sell more, manage smarter, grow your bottom line…and have a life.”
   2. “Winning the Talent Wars…8 essential steps to attracting, developing, leading & engaging a top-performing team.”
   3. “Vision Critical…how to manage, innovate and thrive in a very different tomorrow!”
   4. “Succession Planning & Exit Strategies…preparing your business and yourself for the most important financial transaction of your life!

Most clients have me deliver 2 sessions, or one extended ‘Super Session’ at their event, which makes me very cost-effective in both speaking fee and travel cost, as I take the place of 2 speakers.

All attendees receive free access to my complete set of copyrighted ‘Business Assessment & Management Implementation Tools’.  These tools & templates have helped 1,000s of clients focus on where their business is now, where it needs to be…and specifically how they’ll get ‘from here to there’.  This is huge take-away value! 

While not ‘on stage’ I deliver a series of 20 minute 1-on-1 mini Business Coaching Sessions that are always a huge hit with attendees.  They love the individual attention!  It’s my belief and experience that some of the most important value is delivered ‘off the platform’ in these quiet and confidential 1-on-1 conversations.

To quote one recent attendee, “This was the most insightful, truthful, helpful and entertaining management session I’ve attended in my 30 years in business!”

If you’d like to chat about ‘possibilities’, I’m easy to reach at donad@donaldcooper.com.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

How do your customers want to ‘feel’…and how will you make that happen?

Here’s a great topic for a staff meeting or team session. It comes in 2 parts:

Part #1:  How do our customers want to ‘feel’ when interacting with us and what we sell at every touch-point?

Think and feel like a customer.  Make a list of how they want to feel, starting with the following:

They want to feel:

1. Physically and emotionally safe.
2. Welcome
3. Confident in you and in themselves.  Confident that they’re making a good buying decision.
4. Smart, capable.
5. Important, valued, trusted and respected.
6. Unconfused.
7. ____________________
8. ____________________

Part #2:  What can we do to make sure that our customers ‘feel’ this way at every touch-point?  What would ‘extraordinary’ look like?  What would ‘kind’ look like?  What has no competitor had the insight and the courage to do? 

Here’s an example from my days as a fashion retailer.  At our Alive & Well ladies’ fashion store in Markham, Ontario,  that was voted Canada’s Outstanding Innovative Retail Business by The Retail Council of Canada, we had signs on all 50 of our Change Rooms saying, “Please take as many items in the Change Room as you wish!”   No other clothing store in the world had the insight or the guts to do this.  What those signs powerfully communicated was, “We understand you, we like you and we trust you!”

We put a classy looking security tag on every item of clothing and then let our customers go do what they wanted.  Some women took 12 items in the Change Room and ended up buying 7 of them. 

Our competitors signs all said, “Limit 3 items in the Change Room…you crook!”   They didn’t actually finish the sign that way…but women all knew what they meant.  “We don’t understand you, we don’t like you and we sure don’t trust you!” 

And why did we have 50 change rooms in a 10,000 sq. ft. store?   Because important people don’t have to wait…and with 50 change rooms, except on our very busiest days, no customer had to wait to get a change room….so they all felt important. 

We became famous for all the wonderful things we did to make customers feel understood, trusted, important and welcome.  What might that look like in your business?

If you’d like help working through this transformational exercise with your Team, just let me know at donald@donaldcooper.com.

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

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.