(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:
   “Never take advice from someone who has never made mistakes.  They’re either liars, or are totally lacking in self-awareness. Either way, their advice is generally not useful.”      
   …Donald Cooper
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:  
   Check and clear your email ‘Junk Folder’ once a day:
    
   Sometimes, legitimate, important emails end up in your ‘Junk Folder’.  I’m amazed how many people seldom or never check their ‘Junk Folder’ to search for important emails that accidently ended up there.  Then, when they do check it, there are so many emails in there that they automatically discard all of them without checking for ‘good’ ones.
    
   The best solution is simply to check your ‘Junk Folder’ once a day, quickly review them, rescue the good ones and permanently delete the rest.  It takes just a few seconds of your time.
     
3. The troubling nuance of ‘maple-washing’. The term ‘maple-washing’ refers to the rush by Canadian companies to slap the red maple leaf and some version of the phrase ‘Made in Canada’ on their products and in their advertising, to stir up patriotism in the face of Trump’s tariff war on Canada.  But there are important differences in the exact phrasing.

   The ‘Product of Canada’ label requires labour, processing and at least 98% of a product’s ingredients to be Canadian.
    
   However, ‘Made in Canada’ has only a 51% Canadian content requirement.
    
   A ‘Prepared in Canada’ label could require only that a jug of U.S. orange juice, for example, be bottled in Canada.
    
   Because Sobey’s is a Canadian-owned grocery chain, they’re smacking a red maple leaf on most of their in-house Compliments brand products, even if the products are imported from another country.  Where’s the moral compass on that one?
    

4. Global retreat and wellness vacation booking website, BookRetreats, has just released its Report on the best places to go to find total peace and quiet. Australia ranked #1 globally, Canada was #2, followed by Finland and New Zealand.
    
   Whoever rated Canada as the world’s second best place to find peace and quiet has obviously never had to drive anywhere in Toronto during rush hour.
    
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:

Differentiate your business by what you’re ‘NOT’:

Whatever product or service you sell, your market is over-served and under-differentiated.  One of your biggest challenges is to clearly differentiate yourself from your competitors.  Most businesses try to differentiate themselves by stating what they ‘DO’ that matters to their target customers.  But, how could you clearly differentiate yourself by what telling folks what you ‘DON’T DO’?

Years ago, a Parking Lot in downtown Toronto accomplished that with a simple sign saying, “We don’t block in…we don’t take keys.”   Most parking lots sold all their spaces and then sold the aisle, blocking in all the cars parked in the regular spaces.  This meant that you had to turn over the keys and grant access to one of your most valued possessions (your car) to a stranger…and, when you were ready to leave, you had to wait 10 or 15 minutes while he moved cars so that you could ‘escape’ from the Parking Lot. But, even though they were a little more expensive, that Lot did it differently and it filled up first every morning, because of what they didn’t do.

There are thousands of Stock Brokers and Investment Advisors out there, but Fisher Investments advertises that they’re ‘Clearly different’ from all the others by telling us what they don’t do.  They don’t sell commissioned products (Mutual Funds), they don’t charge transaction fees (commissions) and, as a ‘fiduciary’,  they are legally and ethically bound to act in their client’s best interests, rather than their own best interest. 

They charge a simple, transparent flat Management Fee based on the size of each client’s investment portfolio and ‘they do better when their clients do better’.  

Viking Cruise Lines brilliantly differentiates themselves by what they’re NOT.  Here’s what they don’t do:

1. No children under 18.
2. No Casinos.
3. No smoking.
4. No charge for WI-Fi.
5. No charge for beer & wine at lunch and dinner.
6. No charge for specialty dining restaurants.
7. No aggressive photographers and overpriced photography packages.
8. No Art Auctions.
9. No Inside Staterooms.
10. No Spa Sales Pressure.
11. No Formal Nights.

Viking is not right for everyone, but they deliver a clear and powerful experience and value package for all those cruisers who don’t want the stuff that they don’t do.  And they do that well enough to be named the world’s #1 River and Ocean Cruise Line.

So, sit down with a few of the best minds and hearts in your business to focus on what ticks off your target customers…and how you can powerfully differentiate yourself by NOT doing any of that.  Then, figure out how you’re going to effectively communicate that important message. We are what we communicate.

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.