So, if you’re going to re-brand your business, change the soul of your Brand…the customer experience. Then, if you want to come up with a new slogan, logo or paint job to draw attention to the fact that you’ve fundamentally changed that customer experience, knock yourself out. But don’t ever believe for one minute that those cosmetic changes alone constitute changing your Brand. 2. Advertising reality check…are you building your Brand, or just dropping your pants?(time to read this article is about 65 seconds)Great advertising both informs and delights us. It touches our minds and our emotions. That’s how companies build great Brands and great fortunes.
Sadly, most of today’s advertising has nothing to do with building Brand loyalty. To the contrary, most advertising today is about “price and item” and it teaches consumers to “cherry pick” by doing business with whomever has “dropped their pants” the furthest this week.This is a marketing strategy that is as addictive and, ultimately, as destructive as cocaine. It’s all about boosting sales in the short term while ultimately destroying your profit margin and your Brand. Look at what the strategy of endless rebates of thousands of dollars has done to Ford, GM and, to a slightly lesser extent, Chrysler.In the meantime, BMW, Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Honda and a few others have the creativity and the courage to build quality vehicles that stir the emotions and they’re all growing their market share and their bottom line.Even the mighty Wal-Mart has started to move away from their Brand-building position of “low prices every day” that made them the largest retailer and, in fact, the largest business of any kind in the entire world.While Wal-Mart’s “low prices every day” Brand positioning and the destructive “price and item” advertising that most businesses resort to are both about price, they’re fundamentally different. “Low prices every day” says you can shop at Wal-Mart every day and, overall, you can trust them to save you money. On the other hand, “price and item” advertising says, you should buy this particular item from us this week because we’ve reduced the price but, the next time you buy, you really should shop around.Why would Wal-Mart move away from the Brand-building strategy that made them #1 and replace it with more and more specific “price and item” advertising? Because most of the management team that built the business have retired and been replaced by people from other retailers whom Wal-Mart has already out-smarted and out-Branded.These are the “high-low pricing, mark it up exorbitantly and then drop your pants” retailers that have lost customers and destroyed their profits over the past 10 years. And now they’ve brought their out-of-date thinking to Wal-Mart.So, look at your advertising. First, are you being noticed and remembered by your target customers? If you’re not noticed and remembered…you don’t exist. Then, are you informing and delighting them? Are you reducing their confusion and earning their trust by helping them make the best purchase decision for them? Are you making bold promises that you actually keep? Promises about how they’ll feel and how their life will be better every time they do business with you. Are you building relationships with clearly understood target customers?Or, are you just spending a fortune in advertising to tell them that you’ve “dropped your pants” again this week?3. Five business lessons from the bird feeder!(time to read this article is about 45 seconds)Note: This article first appeared a year ago but it’s timely and I’ve been asked to run it again so, here’s a new and improved version…At the end of every year we retreat to our country place on Sparrow Lake for three wonderful and peaceful weeks to reflect, refresh and relax. Although it's only two hours north of Toronto, it feels like a million miles from anything 'city'...especially in winter! But, even here, one learns important business lessons.As soon as we arrived this year, I hung a bird feeder right outside our kitchen window. Think of this as a new business start-up with a great product (ok, so peanuts from Bulk Barn), no customers, but great potential in the form of a nearby forest full of hungry birds. This new venture had 'success' written all over it!But how, I wondered, do I promote my 'grand opening'? First, I thought of advertising but birds don't read newspapers, don't listen to the radio or watch TV. Then, I thought that maybe I should create a 'grand opening special' by lowering my price...but hell, I was giving my peanuts away. How much lower could I go than that? I even considered sampling, but didn't fancy myself standing outside, under the feeder, at minus 35 degrees, holding out a handful of peanuts.Here’s what happened during the first five days of my new ‘business venture’…Day #1: No customers. Not one single bird. Our new business was a failure!Day #2: Things are looking up! We are visited by one chickadee, who apparently loves free, imported Spanish peanuts. He stays to shop the entire day. Day #3: Things are really looking up. We have dozens of chickadees and two kinds of nuthatches. Apparently birds tell other birds. Day #4: We have dozens more chickadees, endless nuthatches and two sizes of woodpeckers …both males and females. Apparently, peanuts are a one-size-fits-all item. Our 'grand opening' is officially declared to be a huge success! We now have line-ups. It’s like an Ikea grand opening…our customers are actually fighting for the ‘merchandise’.By the end of the day we're running out of peanuts and make a special trip to town to replenish our inventory and purchase two additional feeders to expand our operation, eliminate line-ups and improve our customer service.Day #5: Our customer base grows even more with the addition of one blue jay and a red squirrel. He doesn't fit our demographic, but we welcome him anyway, as long as he doesn't frighten away our primary target customers.
So, here are your five important business lessons from the bird feeder... 1. You can't build a business in one day. Be in it for the long haul.
2. Word-of-mouth works! One delighted customer can profoundly affect the success of your business.
3. Don't run out of what your customers want. 4. Expand your business only when you have lineups. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Too much inventory or too much overhead can kill you.
5. You may get customers that you didn't expect. Welcome them! They create a whole new possibility to grow your business.
4. Bits & Pieces:(time to read this section is about 50 seconds)Item #1: If you’re one of the millions of people who are afraid of flying, think of this. More people are killed each year by donkeys than die in plane crashes. I bet you’re feeling better already.
Item #2: Here’s an unsettling thought from a prominent investment advisory service that we subscribe to…North America currently consumes 25% of the world’s energy resources. As the demand for energy grows in developing countries, there will no longer be enough to go around. As a result, the North American lifestyle is in danger of a radical decline over the next decade. 80% of the world’s oil is controlled by governments, most of whom don’t like us. As the energy crisis becomes critical, many of these governments will turn off the spigots, hoard their oil and drive prices sky high. Westerners think they have a right to the world’s oil. We will soon find out that not only do we not have any right to it but that China, India and the rest of Asia have quietly bought up those rights. This is all very good news for those smart folks who have invested in the Canadian tar sands in northern Alberta. If you don’t have an investment in the oil sands, you’re missing the most significant energy play in the world today. Item #3: If your business uses the services of one of the big international accounting firms, you’d better start questioning their invoices. A Senior Partner for one of those firms recently bragged to me that he and his fellow partners are all committed to billing 90 hours every week at $1000 per hour. How could they possibly work 90 hours a week? They can’t…and they don’t. What they do is bill a 15 minute phone call as 30 minutes or a 30 minute meeting as an hour. If they take you out for lunch, you get a free chicken salad and $2000 added to your billing. So, sit down with your accountants and ask them exactly how their billing system works. Ask specific questions and listen carefully to the answers. By the way, while you’re at it, have the same conversation with your lawyer. Item #4: I’m always looking for examples of businesses that are smart enough to come up with a company name that communicates what they do and how they do it better than anyone else. For years the best example around was “Speedy Muffler King”. This name tells us that they fix mufflers, they do it quickly and they do it well. Combined with their slogan, “At Speedy, you’re a somebody!”, it was all great marketing. Well, I’ve just found another great company name that effectively describes what they do and how they do it better. The company is The Gentle Vasectomy Clinic. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up. I’m thinking that this place is way better than some guy in an abandoned 7-Eleven store with a gurney and a cattle prod. Does your company name effectively communicate some compelling value? Does it tell folks what you do and how you do it differently, or better. If not, I suggest that you come up with a clear and simple positioning statement that always accompanies your business name. For example, our company name, The Donald Cooper Corporation, says nothing about what I do, where I do it, or for whom I do it. So, it’s always accompanied by the phrase, “Speaking and coaching internationally on marketing, service and business excellence.” What can you do to come up with either a company name or positioning statement that ‘grabs’ your target customers and clearly differentiates you from your competitors? Item #5: In order to help you look extra smart around the water cooler, we try to bring you bits of information that will amaze your friends and impress your boss. Here’s this month’s installment… In many parts of the world, from New Orleans to Brazil to Venice folks are currently celebrating Carnival, that outrageous festival of dance, dress-up and debauchery. But where does the word “carnival” come from? Here’s the explanation… Wherever it’s held, this ruckus celebration always ends on a Tuesday and marks the beginning of 40 days of Lent, a time of reflection, repentance and abstinence for devout Christians around the world. One of the traditions of Lent is giving up the consumption of meat and animal products and this is where the word “carnival” actually comes from, “Carne” is Latin for “meat” and “val” means “good bye”…so Carnival literally means “goodbye to meat”. Note: This does not, however, mean that Carnival Cruise Lines offers cruises with no meat. It just means that some people on board will run around half naked. 5. You can create your own “dashboard university”!(time to read this section is about 45 seconds)If you have a CD player in your car, you can now turn driving time into creative idea-generating time. My 3 hour HUMAN MARKETING® audio CD Seminar delivers the “straight goods” on how to reinvent and re-energize your business to create compelling customer value and long-term profitability. You could become a “Master of Marketing”.People pay me over $8,000 to deliver this stuff in person and here it is on audio CD that you can play over and over again…for only $60. And why would you want to play it over and over again? Because there are so many valuable customer insights, so many breakthrough ideas, so many practical examples of how to amaze and “own” your customers that you couldn’t possibly ‘grab’ them all at once.Then, after you’ve absorbed all these incredible ideas, you’ll need help to organize and implement them. Failure to implement is one of the biggest problems in business today. So, you can download our step-by-step Implementation Guide from our website…at no charge. This 36 page Guide will lead you through the process of becoming a world-class marketer in your business.Now here’s the really neat part. Great marketing isn’t enough. You also need to find and keep great people to help you make it happen. So, for our Newsletter subscribers this month, when you buy the HUMAN MARKETING® audio CD, we’ll send you our 90 minute DVD Video Seminar on “The 8 Essential Steps to Finding & Keeping the Best Staff!” for $30, which is half price. This “8 Steps” Video Seminar also comes with a step-by-step Implementation Guide.So, let’s cut to the chase here…for only $90, plus tax (for you lucky Canadians) and $10 per set for shipping, you get to be both a world-class marketer and a world-class employer. Pretty much a bargoon, if you ask me.Now, here’s the part where you get to invest ninety after-tax dollars in the future success of your business. To order just click here for the special order form.This special is offered until March 31, 2006. 6. Will anyone want to buy your business?(time to read this article is about 70 seconds)
I’ve recently worked with a number of business owners who thought that they were building a saleable business and, sadly, what they’ve now discovered is that, all those years, they were simply buying themselves a job. They’ve created something that nobody wants to buy.
Even my doctor, who retired last week after 30 years, couldn’t sell his practice. For 30 years he worked his tail off to serve and to heal…and in the end he walked away without a penny for his business. Sure, he saved some money most years and invested it, but apparently his business, his patient list, the relationships that he had built, were worth nothing. If you own a business, here’s something to think about. The numbers below are Canadian but, if you’re one of our international readers, I bet they’re similar where you live. According to a recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, there will be about 310,000 businesses for sale in Canada in the next ten years. With all of those businesses to choose from, will anyone want to buy yours? Consider these four questions…
If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these four questions, you’re probably in trouble when you want to sell.
So, if it is your intention to sell out one of these days, you need to make sure that you have a desirable, profitable and saleable business. You need a plan that includes answers to questions like “when is the best time to sell, to whom and for how much?” Then, there’s a whole list of other questions about things like whether you’ll stay on for a time to help with the transition. You can’t just wake up one day and say, “I don’t want to do this any more.” A helpful book on this subject is “Selling Your Private Company” by Howard E. Johnson. You can buy it on the Internet. To find the website, just put “selling your private company” into Google. If you have any helpful suggestions, resources or experiences to pass on to others about selling their business, please send them to me at Donald@donaldcoper.com. I’ll compile them and pass them along in next month’s Newsletter. 7. Our "Quiz of the Month":(time to read this section is about 40 seconds)"Thanks" to all of you who answered our January Quiz question which was, “In what country will you find the world's oldest existing parliament?”
And the Bonus Question which was... "In what year was that country's parliament established?"
Answer:
The world’s oldest existing parliament is either in Iceland, or on the Isle of Mann in the Irish Sea. Like so many things in life, there seems to be some disagreement on this, so we accepted either answer as being correct. It appears that the Isle of Mann has the world’s oldest continuous parliament but that Iceland was first. Presumably, this means that there was some sort of interruption in the parliament of Iceland at some point…perhaps to take a sauna or something. Bonus question answer: If you went with “Iceland” the answer is the year 930 and, if you went with the Isle of Mann, the date is 979.
Congratulations Neil Swain of the Canadian Embassy in Seoul, Korea, this month’s winner who selected as his prize our “Human Marketing” and “Simple Truth About Leadership” DVD Seminars. This month’s Quiz: Since we’ve just come to the end of the Torino Winter Olympics, let’s do something Italian. While Italy is physically tiny compared to Canada, has endless strikes and a new government every couple of years, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP…the official measure of commercial output) is double that of Canada. So, you can answer this month’s quiz by completing this sentence… “The Italian economy is the ______ largest economy in the world.” Bonus question: Which countries economies, in order from top to bottom, are bigger than Italy’s? BONUS: If you also answer the bonus question correctly, you’ll get to pick two of our wonderful Video Seminars. 8. Where in the world is Donald?
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Tennessee on March 8-10. |
b) |
Las Vegas on March 13-15. |
c) |
Brandon, Manitoba on March 24-25. |
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d) |
At the end of March and early April I will be in Australia & New Zealand. If you reside "down under" and we can help you to rethink, reinvent, refocus and re-energize your business to create both compelling customer value and long-term profitability, simply contact Sharen and let's look at possibilities. |
e) |
Saint John, NB on June 9th. |
f) |
Orlando, FL July 19-25. |
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g) |
British Columbia in mid September. |
9. Our new full-day "Jumpstart your business" Seminar at 1/3 of the normal cost!
(time to read this section is about 45 seconds)
Every year, hundreds of business owners ask me to work with them and their management teams, for one intensive and transformational day, to help them rethink, refocus and re-energize their business to create these three things…
1. Compelling, customer-owning value that will “grab” their target customers, grow their
bottom line and clearly differentiate them from their competitors.
2. More effective management practices that will make them price competitive, service
competitive and profitable.
3. A Plan to create a profitable future. A Plan that will inform, focus, challenge and
inspire everyone in the organization as to what the business commits to become in
order to be a profitable market leader in 3 to 5 years.
The problem is that most of these businesses simply can’t afford my full-day fee. So, we’ve created an innovative cost-sharing program that’s a real “win-win”.
Here’s how it works. First, you find three other businesses in your community who are also interested in jumpstarting their business and their bottom line. Then, together, you bring me to your community to present my full-day transformational and intensive “Jumpstart Your Business & Your Bottom Line” Seminar…and you all share the cost.
By sharing this incredible opportunity with three other businesses, the fee is only $3000 per business, plus a few hundred dollars for my travel expenses.
In addition to the full-day Management Seminar, if you wish, I will also deliver a 90-minute Keynote presentation the next morning to the combined staff of those companies who participated.
Included in this program are four telephone implementation coaching sessions with each company at 2, 4, 6 & 8 weeks following the Seminar. Each participant in this program will also receive my monthly, thought-provoking, idea-generating business E-Newsletter, at no charge.
To quote the Editor of Profit Magazine…
“A compelling bottom-line business message…brilliantly delivered!”
Warning: This program is not for wimps! The process requires integrity, self-awareness, the optimism to see an extraordinary future and the courage to face reality.
For more information on how to book Donald for this one day event, contact the wonderful Sharen Skene lady at The Donald Cooper Corporation 1-416-252-3704 or email at sharen@donaldcooper.com.
10. Chuckles & Hugs!
(time to read this section is about 6 seconds)
There is both humor and truth is this little quote below…“Men marry hoping that their wives won’t change…and they do. Women marry hoping that their husbands will change…and they don’t.”
11. That’s all for this month!
"Thanks" for all of your great feedback and suggestions! We especially love to hear of your successes using our insights.
Don't forget to visit our Free Articles section on our website for lots more valuable info on how to sell more, manage smarter and make more money in your business.
Also, let us know what you'd like to hear more about...or less about. And, do send us your stories and examples of great, horrible or just plain bizarre business practices that you find in your travels.
Finally, if you know of others, anywhere in the world, who will find value in this E-Newsletter, we'll appreciate your sending this along to them and inviting them to sign up at www.donaldcooper.com.
Kindest regards!!
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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THE DONALD COOPER CORPORATION Tel: 1+(416) 252-3704 Fax: 1+(416) 252-3705
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