In case you haven’t noticed, some of your target customers aren’t buying from you…yet!

(Time to read this Blog is about 4 minutes)

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

1. My Quote of the week:

“Becoming rich, happy and relevant is the very best way to get back at all those people who said you’d never amount to anything.” 
…Donald Cooper.

2. Quick Biz Tip: The difference between ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’.                                             

These 2 words are being thrown around a lot these days, sometimes without much thought as to their actual meaning.  For example, a business can have a workforce that’s very diversified by gender, ethnicity, religion, life experience or sexual orientation …but absolutely not be inclusive. 

Being inclusive means that all employees feel safe, receive respect, are compensated fairly and have an equal opportunity to advance based on ability and desire.  Simply stated, they feel that they belong, they make a difference and they have a future.

Bragging about being diversified without truly embracing inclusion is hypocrisy.

3. Donald’s breakthrough ‘Marketing Guide’ for Tourism & Hospitality.

If you’re in the Tourism & Hospitality industry in any way, my extraordinary 197-page, self-guiding, step-by-step ‘Partnering for Prosperity Guide’ will help you and all the other Tourism, service and experience providers in your area work together to create, deliver and effectively promote targeted, seamless experiences and compelling visitor value that will attract more guests, make them want to stay longer, spend more money, come back more often…and tell their friends.

To access this powerful Guide, in PDF format, for just $48, Click Here. 

4. The myth of ‘You get what you pay for’.  I’ve heard this expression for most of my life.  My Grandma used to say it.  But it’s not always true.  Consumer Reports Magazine’s latest ratings on mattresses show that:

1. Their #2 rated mattress, with 81 points, is priced at $1,100.
2. Their #71 rated mattress, with just 63 points, is priced at a whopping $5,000.

So, the message is clear in both our business and our personal lives, when purchasing anything of consequence…’Do the homework’.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

In case you haven’t noticed, some of your target customers aren’t buying from you…yet! 

Something is preventing some of your target customers from buying from you.  What might it be, and what will you do to fix that?   To jump-start your thinking, below is a check-list of 11 things that could be preventing some of your target customers from buying from you. 

Set aside one hour, get a few of your staff to work with you on this, think and feel like a customer and be honest with yourselves.  Put an X beside each one that might apply to your business.

Cooper’s list of 11 ‘preventors’:

1. Some of our target customers don’t even know that we, or what we sell, exists.
2. They’ve forgotten about us because we’ve not done the work to advertise or stay in touch.
3. They know about us, but they can’t find us in person or online.
4. They think they don’t need what we sell.
5. Our business name is vague or confusing, so they’re not even sure what we sell.
6. An aggressive competitor is out-hustling and out-marketing us.
7. They don’t understand all of our value, so they think we’re not competitive or compelling.
8. Some fear, doubt or negative assumption about us, or about themselves is ‘preventing’ them from buying what we sell…or buying it specifically from us.
9. Some parts of our business look and feel old and tired and we haven’t noticed, or are too tired to fix it.
10. Some of our target customers heard bad things about us, or about what we sell. If these ‘bad things’ are not true, we need to communicate the truth.  If these ‘bad things’ are true, we need to fix them quickly…and then communicate the new truth.  Keep in mind that rebuilding brand trust is difficult, time consuming and expensive.  It’s far better not to screw up your brand in the first place.
11. We’ve disappointed or ignored them…or someone like us has disappointed or ignored them, and they think we’re all the same.

Now that you have a better idea of what might be preventing some of your target customers from buying from you, what specific and effective action will you take to correct each one?   Just think of the huge difference it will make to your sales and your bottom line if there was nothing ‘preventing’ your target customers from buying from you.

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.