The Donald Cooper December Newsletter

Donald’s “Quote of the Month” When your customers are beating you up on price, it’s a sure sign that they think you and your competitors are all same…or very close to it. The solution: You must create, deliver and effectively communicate compelling Value that… 1.  Clearly differentiates you from your competitors, 2.  "Grabs" your target customers...and, 3.  Grows your bottom line.

Greetings ~firstname~,

As this year draws to a close and you prepare for another year of life and work, be sure to celebrate your successes and thank all who have contributed. Never underestimate the power of a simple "Thank you".

Then, having celebrated your success, will you resolve to "fix" what needs fixing in your business, or in your part of the business? If you're not sure what needs fixing, ask your staff and your customers.  Trust me, they have a list.

This is also the perfect time to reflect on the compelling "purpose" of your business. Does your business have a clear and compelling purpose? Many businesses start out with one but get badly sidetracked along the way.  Some businesses have never had a clear purpose. They started almost accidentally and no one has ever sat down to ask, "Why are we doing this?"

A business should serve four groups...owner / investors, customers, employees and its community. Therefore, it should have four clear "purposes". Consider these questions...

1. What is the clear purpose of your business for its owners and other investors? How much money do they need or want to make and what are they committed to create and to become? How big and how good do they want to be...and how big and how good must the business be to be a profitable market leader?
   
   
2. What is your "customer purpose"? To find that purpose, stop defining yourself by what you sell and start defining yourself by how you help people.
   
   

   For example, a Mortgage Company would stop saying, "We sell mortgages." and powerfully redefine itself as being in the business of "Helping people to buy a home and to own that home, mortgage-free as quickly, conveniently and inexpensively as possible."
   
   So, redefine your business by how you and what you sell helps your target customers.  Then add, "And we will do that, better than our competitors." 
   
   Through this simple process of redefining your business by how you help and then getting very specific about what you will always deliver, you'll create compelling value that will clearly differentiate you from your competitors, "grab" your target customers and grow your bottom line. If you have no compelling value, you're a commodity and probably won’t survive.

   
   
3. What is your "employee purpose"? Are you committed to creating a business environment in which employees at every level are treated with respect and have the opportunity to grow?
   
   

   I just got off the phone with a client who has built his business from two to 6000 employees and he tells me that 95% of his supervisors and managers have been promoted from within.  He says that this is the secret of his success in an extremely difficult and competitive industry.

   
   

   As you create your "employee purpose", keep in mind what good people really want...

   
   

   • A challenging job with an opportunity to grow

   • Clear, honest and consistent communication.
   • A positive, uplifting environment.
   • Recognition of performance.
   • Money.
     
     
4. Finally, what is your “community purpose”?  What do you commit to do to give back to the world and make a difference?  What will you do to support and improve your community, to help and encourage people in some other part of the world…and to be more respectful of the planet?
   

We’ve created a simple “fill in the blanks” template to help you consider and define these four important “purposes” for your business. Just click here to download this tool.

2. Do all of your communications meet these 6 key objectives?

(time to read this article is about 40 seconds)

1. To be noticed and remembered by our target customers.  If we aren’t noticed and remembered, we don’t exist.
   
   
2. To reduce confusion, uncertainty or stress.  To make us easy to find and convenient and easy to do business with.
   
   
3. To be clearly understood & differentiated from our competitors by communicating the Value that we deliver and the Values that we live by.
   
   
4. To build trusting relationships and powerful emotional connections with our target customers.
   
   
5. To create a buying decision.
   
   
6. To add value to our Brand.

Set aside two hours with a few of the best minds and hearts in your business. Look at all of your communications…in fact look at everything you do and ask yourself if it helps to achieve these key six communications objectives.  Are you communicating the same clear and compelling message in everything you do, or are you creating uncertainty, confusion or doubt by sending mixed or unclear messages?  Are you promising anything that you can’t deliver?  Are you lying to or deceiving people in any way?

Now, specifically, what is it about your communications that needs fixing…and what will you do about it?

I’ve often spoken to clients about the danger of “judging” customers by how they're dressed or by their general appearance.  Back in my days as a retailer of ladies fashions and gifts, I learned a powerful and moving lesson from “The Christmas Tree Man”.

Our staff came to me one day to express concern about an unshaven, disheveled and generally unwashed gentleman who kept coming into our store. As he shuffled through our ladies clothing and gift departments he would glance out the window every few minutes and then, sometimes, he would rush out the door empty-handed. This process was repeated several times each day…sometimes resulting in a purchase and sometimes in yet another mysterious disappearance.

When he did buy he always paid cash from a huge roll of bills with an old elastic band wound twice around it. But mostly he would look out the window, then rush out the door…and this strange behavior was spooking our staff.

When they started making some very unflattering assumptions about this unusual character I assured them that there was probably a logical explanation and I promised to chat with him on his next visit.

Sure enough, a few hours later he reappeared. I approached him, explaining that our staff was quite intrigued by his mysterious comings and goings. “Oh”, he said, “I’m the Christmas tree man. That’s my Christmas tree lot just down the road with the little house trailer. I grow the trees on my farm up north, you know, and then I come down here for three weeks each year to sell them.”

“I work all alone so I have no time off to buy gifts and I don’t get back home until well after midnight on Christmas Eve. So, whenever I have a few minutes, I rush up here to shop. I really love your store. You have wonderful things and every day I choose a few gifts for the ladies on my list.”

“But you keep looking out the window.” I said. “Oh,” he replied, “I’m just checking to see if anyone has pulled into my lot to buy a tree. And if they have, I have to rush back before they leave, or I won’t get the business. You can’t replant those trees you know. Once they’re cut, they’re cut.”

“By the way” he said, “I know that I don’t look like your usual customer. In fact, I probably look a bit scary and I guess I don’t smell too good either. I don’t have much more than a bed and a stove in my little trailer. No place to wash up. There’s not a lot of money in real Christmas trees anymore, you know. It’s kind of sad. But your staff, they’re so wonderful. They treat me with respect and I really appreciate that!”

The Christmas tree man spent almost $3000 in our store over a three-week period. He came and he went, he came and he went, day after day, always looking out the window, sometimes rushing to serve a customer…and at the end, on Christmas Eve, he brought each of us a real Christmas tree!

4. The perfect gift for the boss who’s struggling to be a more effective leader:

(time to read this section is about 30 seconds) 

The inability of business owners and managers to make the transition from being “Players” to being effective “Coaches” kills businesses and destroys careers. Earlier this year I wrote a short article focused on helping business people make the difficult but important transition from being great “Players” in their business to becoming effective “Coaches”. To check out this article click here.

 

When I'm working with CEO's who are struggling with this problem, I give them two baseball caps to keep on the corner of their desk. One is beautifully embroidered with the word "PLAYER" and the other with the word "COACH".

 

I tell them that every time someone comes into their office, every time their phone rings and every time they go into a meeting, they must look at those two hats and ask themselves this question, “Which of these two hats does this business need me to wear, right now?”. 

 

Not which hat they’d rather wear, or which hat they think is more comfortable...but which hat the business needs them to wear.  Because, at that point, it isn't about them...it's about the business and about their people.

 

Now, here’s the good news! We’ve had so many requests for sets of the two “PLAYER” & “COACH” caps that we’ve had a bunch made up. They’re $36 for the set of two…plus tax and shipping. If you had them made up yourself, you’d pay $48 for the two hats PLUS $70 for setting up the embroidery…so, at only $36 bucks, they’re a “hot ticket”!  And it’s a business expense, so you can write it off!

 

The caps come complete with my article on “How to become a more effective Coach in your business!” which explains how to use them to help you, or your boss, make the transition from being a “Player” to being an effective “Coach”. To place your order, simply email the wonderful Sharen lady at sharen@donaldcooper.com.

1. Another myth of male superiority brutally shattered! According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer, male reindeer lose theirs in late November or mid-December while female reindeer keep their antlers until after they give birth in the spring.
   
   

   So, while every reference to Santa's reindeer, including their names, suggests that they’re males, clearly they must be females.
   
   We should have known... only women, while pregnant, would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit, in a sleigh full of toys, all around the world in just one night…and not get lost.
   
   

2. Two great holiday cookie recipes: This is the perfect time of year to take some time to make wonderful cookies...for yourself and to share with friends. There’s something special about homemade cookies!
   
   This year we offer you a choice of two great cookie recipes. One is a simple recipe for the best Shortbread Cookies you’ll ever taste (click here). The other is for the amazing Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Pecan Cookies that made the bake shop near our cottage famous (click here).
   
   

3. Looking for that perfect gift for that special someone? How about an armoured Humvee, with a hot tub and 9 TV sets, for only (US) $250,000?
   
   Or, how about my complete set of 4 DVD Video Seminars, including step-by-step Implementation Guides, that will help you to sell more, manage smarter, make more money…and have a life.
   
   This set of four business-changing Seminars can be yours for only $180, plus applicable taxes…a saving of $100!
   
   …and, because it’s Christmas, we’ll pay the shipping. Just email the wonderful Sharen lady at sharen@donaldcooper.com and she’ll make it happen.
   
   
   

We’ve just negotiated a “bundle of services” deal with Bell Canada that will save us hundreds of dollars every month.

Did they call us to tell us about this incredible opportunity based on knowing our usage? No, of course not. I found out about it from a friend, called Bell, wrestled them to the ground and forced it out of them.

So, don’t wait for your telephone company to call you with a better deal. Get on the phone and prepare to do a little arm-twisting. Then, ask yourself whether, in your business, you have a better value package for your customers that you’re not telling them about. If so, get on the phone ASAP. Help your customers to wisely choose and more effectively use what they buy from you. Be their “Caring Coach”. Help them to make the best decision for them.  You'll blow them away, they'll love you and stay with you!

If you don’t, you run the serious risk that your competitors will steal them away from you…and it will be your fault!

7. That’s all for this month!

 

We wish for you and your family health, love, joy and prosperity in 2005…and beyond!

 

Donald Cooper,  MBA

Canadian Speaking Professional

Member of the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame

For information about booking Donald for your company or Association, contact Sharen Skene our wonderful Director of Marketing at Sharen@donaldcooper.com.

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