(Time to read this Blog is about 3 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:  
   “The world doesn’t need one more mediocre anything!  What are you doing to be extraordinary, to stand out, get noticed and be the clear and compelling ‘wise choice’ for your target customers?” 
   …Donald Cooper.

2. Quick Biz Tip:
   Have you created an effective Team Culture?
    
   Creating a winning culture is key to the success of any business…large or small.  According to a recent study by the Sloan Business School at MIT, toxic work culture is the #1 reason for people leaving their jobs.
    
   There are many complex definitions of what a business culture is, but let’s keep it simple. Your ‘culture’ is the way things are done and the way people are treated in your business.  That’s it.
    
   My 1-page Audit Tool #A-16 will help you check the effectiveness of your culture in under 5 minutes.  To download it, no charge, just click here.

3. The huge difference in ‘median’ ages around the world. The median age in Africa is 19.  That means there are as many people in Africa under the age of 19 as there are over the age of 19.  The median age in Canada is 40.6.  In Germany it’s 45 years.  In Japan it’s 49 years and in Monaco the population is the oldest, with a median age of at 55 years.
     
4. How good are your financial controls? An office employee at a Home Depot in California was arrested last week for embezzling $1.2 million over the past year.
    
   She falsified the stores accounting records the hide the cash she was stealing. Police said that her house contained, “an exorbitant amount of luxury clothing and handbags.”
    
   I know of two other businesses that almost went bankrupt because the accountant was siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars by writing cheques to ‘fantom’ suppliers and then cashing those cheques.
    
   So, how good are your financial controls?
    

5. Shameless Promotion: 

   If you or your Industry Association have a Conference coming up in the next 12 months, perhaps we should talk. As a thought-leader on management, marketing, staff engagement, value delivery and profitability, I deliver bottom-line business insights in a way that informs, energizes, engages, entertains and inspires. 

   To quote one recent attendee, “Best, most real, insightful and entertaining management session I’ve attended in 30 years.  Bring this Cooper guy back!”  

   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, leading & engaging a top-performing team.”
   3. “Implement or Perish…how to improve clarity, commitment, urgency, accountability and profitability in your business.”
   4. “Vision Critical…how to manage, innovate and thrive in a very different tomorrow!”
   5. “Succession Planning & Exit Strategies…preparing your business and yourself for the most important financial transaction of your life!”

   I’m happy to chat about possibilities at 416-252-3703 in Toronto…or by email at donald@donaldcooper.com . 

Now, to this week’s important topic:

3 steps to making yourself invaluable to your customers:

I’ve just read that 60% of the technology advances and structural improvements in the automotive industry come from suppliers, not from the R&D Departments of the auto makers themselves.

So, whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor, retailer or service provider, here’s the question for you.  What information, help, coaching, tips or reminders do you deliver to your customers that make you so important that they can’t afford to let you out of their lives?

Here’s a simple 3-step process that will make you indispensable.

1. Take some time to think and feel like your target customers. What’s life really like for them?  What are they stressed or confused about?  What’s keeping them up at night?  What would they like more of and less of in their lives?  What would make them feel special, important and appreciated?
2. Next, make a detailed list of all the help, confidence and kindness they might need in any way connected to the products or services you sell.  The more thorough and ‘real’ your list is, the better.
3. Get creative and think about how you can deliver some of that help, confidence and kindness, better than your competitors. What would absolutely amaze and delight your target customers?  What has no one had the insight or ‘guts’ to do before?   What would make you the ‘unfair competition’ that your competitors whine about?   Then, have the courage to take action.  Be extraordinary!  You’ll be amazed at the difference it will make in their lives…and in yours.

That’s it for this week…

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.