(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 we don’t have a clear Vision for the future of our business, our business as we best understand it is our business as it just was…so we go out and hire people for the immediate past, rather than hiring people who can help us get to where we need to be in 3 to 5 years.”
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   It’s time for a mid-year business check-up.
    
   As we approach the half-way mark for 2024, have you done a check-up on your business?  Are you on track with sales, profitability, staffing, training, product or service innovation, customer service commitments, environmental commitments, systems improvement, commitments to your Team, inventory management, marketing & promotion?
    
   Whatever it is that needed to get done in the first six months, did it happen?  If not…why not?   Who or what is really holding you back…and what are you doing to fix that?
    
   There are only six months left in 2023.  Will you achieve your commitments by the end of the year, or will you end up on December 31^st creating excuses for what didn’t happen?
    
3. This is what market leadership looks like. In Consumer Reports latest rating of Internal Combustion, Hybrid and all-Electric vehicles, 9 of the 12 most recommended models are from Toyota and Lexus (Toyota’s up-market Brand).
    
   Now, Toyota has announced that it will be the world’s 1^st car company to recycle end-of-life batteries and return some of the materials to future vehicles.
    
   What is your business doing to be the clear market leader?  Who is leading that important initiative?
    
4. Who would have guessed it? I love quirky bits of info that shatter my assumptions.   According to Travel & Leisure Magazine, the world’s #1 best surfing spot is Hossegor, on the south-west Atlantic coast of France.
    
   The next most highly rated surfing locations are Half Moon Bay, California and Tofino, Canada, on the west coat of Vancouver Island.  Hawaii, which is synonymous with surfing and surfing culture, is not listed in the top 10 global surfing locations…and Canada is #3.  Who would have guessed it?
    
5. Canada’s generosity. Our total Foreign Aid spending last year was $11 billion ($8 billion US) making Canada the 7^th biggest contributor, globally.  To put that into perspective, our GDP is the 10^th largest in the world and our population is 37^th largest in the world. 

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Myths, Lies & Management:                                                                             

Much of what we believe about our customers, our staff, our future and our bottom line is simply not true.  Some of it never was true…and some of it was, but isn’t anymore.  As business owners and managers, we’re making many important decisions based on myths, lies, and false assumptions…and it’s killing us.

How do we come to believe all these dysfunctional myths and lies?  They’re in our culture.  We repeat them over and over until they become ‘real’.  We pass them on to others as business advice.   We even pay consultants to assure us that they’re true.

For example, most businesses believe that there’s ‘no such thing as customer loyalty anymore’, when the truth is that we’re all desperately searching for businesses to be loyal to in every part of our lives. 

Here’s the truth about customer loyalty.  ‘People are loyal to what’s best for them, or what they assume is best for them’.  So, are you the clear and compelling ‘wise choice’ for your target customers?  Are you ‘best’ for them?  If not, stop whining about there being no customer loyalty anymore and do the work to be the wise choice.

What compelling functional, emotional and financial value will you create and commit to consistently deliver that will ‘grab’ your target customers, clearly differentiate you from your competitors, make you famous and grow your bottom line?  That’s what it takes to deserve loyalty.  Mediocrity is no longer an option.

Then, when you’re doing the ongoing work to be the ‘wise choice’, you need to effectively communicate your compelling value story in everything you do.  There’s no point in being the best if you’re also the best kept secret.   

Another myth is that you can’t get great staff anymore.  But the truth is that ‘the best people have to work for somebody…it’s just that you have to deserve them’.  Do you deserve great staff?  Do your working conditions, business culture and career opportunities attract, engage, excite, challenge and reward top performers?  Are you a talent magnet?  If not, stop whining, take ownership of the problem and fix it.  Take 2 pieces of paper and set aside 60 minutes.

1. On the 1^st piece of paper take 20 minutes to describe, in detail, the kind of business in your market, in your industry, that the best people would want to work for. How would it recruit, welcome, pay, train, coach, mentor, encourage, reward, ‘hug’, thank and celebrate each employee?  What kind of management style and culture will attract, engage and retain top performers? 
2. On the 2^nd piece of paper take 40 minutes and document in detail what you have to fix or do or create to become the kind of business that you just described on page #1…including how you must change and grow as a manager and leader.

That’s it, 60 minutes and 2 pieces of paper to take ownership of and start to solve one of your biggest challenges. Get your Team involved in this process to help you.  They know stuff and they hate it when you don’t ask.    

There are many other myths and lies that are holding us back and hurting our bottom line…but these are two of the biggest.  If you’d like help getting this right, or with any of your management and profitability challenges, perhaps we should chat.  I’m easy to find 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.