(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:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “Hire the best lawyer, accountant, technology experts, web designers and business advisors you can find.  Surround yourself with professionals.  Sex is usually best with an enthusiastic amateur, but everything else in life is better done by a pro.“   
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   Managing by ‘consensus’ is nonsense.
   Businesses that strive for consensus when making key decisions usually grind to a halt. High-performing organizations don’t seek consensus—they seek commitment. The difference is huge.
    
   Consensus’ means we don’t make a decision unless everyone agrees with it. This is nonsense. ‘Commitment’ means everyone gets their say, but then supports implementing the decision, once it’s made, even if they initially disagreed with it. 
    
3. A BC judge gets it wrong (IMHO). A woman in British Columbia, Canada, who was awarded  $4,800 after a dog bit her, has had the damages revoked after a second judge determined the pooch had no prior history of violence.  In his ruling, the judge wrote that, “Every dog is entitled to one bite.”

   This is a fascinating piece of legal philosophy.  Is every bank robber entitled to one robbery?   Is every kidnapper entitled to one kidnapping?  In my opinion, if the lady sustained an injury and trauma (aka ‘damages’), the dog’s owner should have to pay up.
    

4. A shameless plug! If your company, Industry Association or local Chamber of Commerce has a Business Conference this year, or next, my extraordinary bottom-line Keynotes or longer ‘Super-Sessions’ on marketing, management, clarity, culture and profitability will be transformational.
    
   I’ve delivered over 3,000 Conference Sessions in over 40 industries around the world…and I’m starting to get the hang of it.   As part of my commitment to deliver extraordinary outcomes, I do the homework to customize and I stay for the entire Event because some of the most important value is always delivered off-stage in quiet and confidential conversations.  I’m easy to find at donald@donaldcooper.com.
    
5. Chinese electric vehicles take over the European market. Chinese automaker BYD is leaving Tesla in the dust in sales of BYD’s battery-electric vehicles rose 169% this Spring, while Tesla’s sales fell by 49%.
    
   BYD’s mid-size sedan is comparable to the Tesla Model 3…and almost half the price.
    
6. AI update. We keep hearing that AI will change or affect almost everything we do in business.  But most of the business owners and managers I speak with have very little understanding of  what this really means…and how to embrace AI.  So, each week, I’ll deliver a few examples to spark your creative juices.
   1. In meat processing, AI-driven robotic cutting systems can optimize bone removal and meat trimming, preventing unnecessary product loss. 
   2. 87% of video game developers now use AI to develop new games more efficiently.  As a result, the industry has seen a wave of record-high layoffs. 

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Good businesses respond…great businesses anticipate! 

Many companies measure their service excellence by how well and how quickly they respond to their customers.  How we respond matters.  But the real customer service magic comes when we anticipate our customers’ needs and proactively do what needs to be done.

One day, early on in the life of our (eventually) award-winning Alive & Well fashion store, I was the only employee and there was only one customer in the store.  She was in a change room and her two-year-old son was running around like a madman.  Suddenly, I smelled a full diaper …and so did his mother.  She ran out of the change room, looked at the poop running down his leg, threw up her hands and  said, “I don’t have any diapers with me; I’ll have to take him home.”  

• “Take him home.”  I said, “You can’t even pick him up.” 
• “But, what will I do?” she asked.
• “Have you ever worked in a retail store?”  I enquired?
• “Yes, years ago.”
• “Well, you’re working in one again.”  I informed her.  “You’re in charge…I’ll be right back with diapers.”

I jumped in my car, drove to the corner drug store, bought three sizes of diapers, wipes and cream and was back in the store in 8 minutes.  While I was gone, three customers came in and my new stand-in sales lady was doing just fine.  She changed her son’s diaper, cleaned him up and continued shopping.  From that day on we had change tables, diapers, wipes and cream in our customer washroom.  Why?  Because, if it happened once, it will happen again; and we were ready.  Good businesses respond…great businesses anticipate.  I responded the first time…but after that we anticipated and we were ready.

Over the next few weeks, she must have told a lot of women about the crazy store owner who left her in charge and ran out to buy diapers, because we were suddenly mobbed by young mothers who came to shop and to ask if we really had free diapers.  We sold clothing, but we became ‘famous’ for diapers.  ‘Famous’ is good!

Have you mastered the art of anticipating and proactively doing many things really, really well to delight and amaze your customers?  Do your customers tell you, “It’s amazing, you’ve thought of everything!” 

Sit down with a few of the best minds and hearts in your business.  Think and feel like a customer, get creative and figure out how you can proactively delight and amaze!     

That’s it for this week…

Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!       

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.