(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:
   “When you’re looking for ways to improve your business, life is free research when you’re paying attention!  Have you mastered the art of paying attention?”  
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   What kind of people do you need to grow your business and improve your bottom line?
    
   What talent, knowledge, experience, attitude and personality will fit best with your customers, your values and your culture?  Finding the right people is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  But, it sure is a lot easier to find that needle if you know what the needle looks like!
    
   Be absolutely clear who and what you’re looking for before you dive into the haystack.  Start by writing Job Descriptions that are focused on job outcomes, not just a list of job activities. No one loves writing Job Descriptions, but it’s an essential step to hiring the right people. There’s lots of great info on the internet about writing effective Job Descriptions.
    
3. Fun Fact: Norway is a long, narrow country.  While in Oslo last week we learned that the distance (as the crow flies) from Oslo, in the south of Norway, to North Cape at the very northern tip of the country is about the same distance as from Oslo to Rome, Italy.  
    
4. Smart stethoscope: The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a young French doctor and it hasn’t changed much in 200 years.  But now, ‘smart’ stethoscopes, powered by AI, help doctors spot heart and lung disease more quickly.
    
   The larger business question here is, “What are you doing to embrace the emerging technologies in your industry to gain a significant competitive advantage?” 
    
5. Sad news (in my opinion): Almost half of Canadians are now active online gamblers.
    
6. Toyota says ‘Sayonara’ (good bye) to the Olympics. Toyota, the Olympics’ largest sponsor at US $400 million, will stop Olympic sponsorship after the Paris games this Summer. 
    
   So, what marketing or advertising are you spending money on that isn’t giving you a great return?    

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Do you have a compelling Brand Promise…and are you delivering it?  Oceania did not:  

We’ve just returned from a 3-week European cruise from Lisbon to Oslo on the Oceania Marina. We were attracted by the great itinerary and Oceania’s bold brand promise of ‘The finest cuisine at sea!’

The problem is, they didn’t deliver!  Filet steak needed a chain saw to cut it and they got a simple thing like medium poached eggs with hollandaise sauce right one time out of 18.  I won’t bore you with the dozens of other examples.

We asked one of the head waiters, who has been with Oceania for many years, about the brand promise, ‘The finest cuisine at sea.’   He looked me straight in the eye and said, “We used to be!”  That says it all.

So, what’s your compelling brand promise that ‘grabs’ your target customers, clearly differentiates you from your competitors, makes you famous and grows your bottom line?  And, are you delivering that brand promise at every touch point…every time?  When it comes to brand promises, the choice is simple – deliver it…or drop it.  

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.