(Time to read this Blog is about 3.5 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“The World doesn’t need one more mediocre anything! First you need a compelling value and experience story…and then you need to tell that story in everything you do. What’s your compelling and differentiating value ‘story’ that makes you the clear ‘wise choice’ for your target customers…and how effectively are you telling that story?”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
Prepare for success. When you attend a Conference or Trade Show, do you prepare for success? I’ve spoken at over 2,000 Conferences and Trade Shows in 25 years and a question I love to ask audiences is, “How many of you brought a List?
Do you make a List? Do you sit down a couple of weeks before the Conference or Trade Show and ask yourself, “What do I need to learn at this event? What parts of our business need improving and who will be there who has nailed that? What new suppliers or ideas should I be looking for? Who should I meet with? What questions should I ask them? What’s my plan to spend my time and money wisely?”
Or…do you just show up and wander aimlessly through the Event in the faint hope that something important will accidentally leap out and stick to you? Serendipity is great…but I vote for preparation! Never attend a Conference or Trade Show without a List.
- ‘Dr. Walmart’ will see you now! Walmart USA has opened ‘Health Centres’ with Doctors, Dentists, X-Ray Facilities and Blood Collection & Diagnostic Test labs in 32 Walmart stores in 5 States. In 2024 they plan to double that number and expand into 2 more States. Walmart is disrupting healthcare delivery.
Every industry is changing and every market is being disrupted. What does that look like in your market or industry? Will you be the disruptor or the victim of disruption?
- A very different look at your hiring problem.
Attracting, engaging and retaining top performers is the #1 problem in every business today. I’ve just written a transformational new biz article, ‘Treat your staffing problem like a ‘marketing problem’…because that’s what it really is!’
At ‘6 minutes’ it’s longer than most of my work…but it’s well worth your time. To access it, no charge, Click Here.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
What neat things will you do to make your customers feel more ‘special’ in 2023?
Our customers have ‘4 currencies’ in their lives…not just one. A ‘currency’ is anything of value to us that we don’t have enough of. The obvious currency is money, but there are actually four things that we don’t have enough of…
- Money,
- Time,
- Feeling safe (physically and emotionally safe)…and,
- Feeling special.
There are huge business opportunities in helping people feel more special. In the Western world, a major chunk of the money we spend is for no other reason than to feel special.
A $25,000 automobile will get us everywhere we want to go, safely and on time. It will even have air bags and air conditioning. But, for many people, it just won’t make them feel ‘special’ enough. They need to spend $50,000, $80,000, $180,000 or more to feel special behind the wheel.
Many folks (not me) cheerfully pay $250 for a $40 windbreaker because it has a designer name scrawled across the back in 4-inch letters. WOW…they pay 6 times more, just to feel special. And don’t even get me started on $800 ‘designer jeans’. They’re jeans folks…get over it.
As a marketing guy, I love the whole ‘designer label’ thing. Find a niche, tell a story, build a brand, charge a premium price…I get it. But as a human being, philosophically, I’m appalled that so many people can only feel good about themselves while pretending to be somebody else.
So, people do want to feel special. A few years ago I did some biz coaching for a major yacht retailer. At a big international Boat Show, towards the end of the week, they were trying to get some prospects back to the Show to close very big ‘deals’ on multi-million-dollar yachts. I suggested they send a limo and driver to pick up these folks, bring them back to the Boat Show, have the company President meet them at the door and escort them to their booth (you don’t want them to end up in a competitor’s booth)…and then have the limo take them home or back to the office when they’re ready to go. It worked. They sold three huge yachts the last day. People who spend millions of dollars on a boat want to feel special. End of story.
Years ago, in my days as an award-winning fashion retailer, we offered a choice of 4 free beverages, electric massage chairs for husbands and boyfriends, a Pirate Ship play area for kids, change tables with free diapers, wipes and cream for babies in distress and a magic sign that invited customers to ‘Please take as many items in the change room as you wish!’ No competitor had the guts to do this stuff. Women loved it and thousands of them drove up to 3 hours for an experience that made them feel special.
It always amazed me that whenever I would rush into my dry cleaners to pick up my clothes, they were always right there at the front of the motorized rack. As I approached the counter, Mr. Chen, reaching for my cleaning always said, “Good afternoon Mr. Cooper. Your cleaning is right here at the front.” I was always at the front…I loved it!
He never asked for my little ticket (which I always lost anyway) and I never had to wait while he searched for my stuff. It saved me time and, somehow, I felt special! How did he do it? He made a point of observing and memorizing what car his regular customers drove and as soon as he saw them pull into the parking lot he rotated the rack so that their clothes were at the front in order to, as he put it, “Create a small blessing in people’s busy day!”
Whether your business is large or small, whether what you sell is expensive or not, your customers want to feel special. Learn from Mr. Chen…learn to recognize them, know them and honor them with ‘small blessings’!
Just returning phone calls or answering emails quickly will make people feel special. When we don’t share our customers’ sense of urgency, we dishonour them.
So, what neat little things will you do in 2023 to make your customers feel more special? Sit down with a few of the best hearts and minds in your business and ask for their help in coming up with ways to proactively make customers feel more special every time they touch your business in any way.
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.
