(Time to read this Blog is about 4 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:
   “Everything we do in business makes us look professional or amateurish, knowledgeable or not, innovative or not, caring or not, ethical or not.  Everything we do either honors and builds our Brand…or dishonors and destroys our Brand.You and everyone on your Team should be passionate members of the ‘Brand Police’.”
   …Donald Cooper.
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   What’s on job candidates’ minds?The ‘Hiring Process’ is part screening and part marketing.  Once you’ve screened a candidate and found them to be a good fit, you need to ‘market’ your business to them as a wise career choice.As with marketing to your target customers, you need to understand what top-performers value, what they want and what they fear.  Below is some helpful insight on this:

   What’s on job candidates’ minds?

   1. Will I have an opportunity to make a difference?
   2. How will this job help me grow my career…and grow as a person.
   3. Will I be treated fairly, paid competitively and thanked frequently?
   4. How will this job fit in with the other important aspects of my life?
   5. Will this be an uplifting place to come to every day?So, your ‘marketing pitch’ to top candidates better help them answer these 5 questions.
3. High customer turnover is a killer. 90% of customers who sign up with Meal Kit Companies like Hello Fresh, leave before the end of one year.  Many of these ‘customers’ stay until the end of the introductory ‘Discounted Meal Deal’ and then sign up with a competitor for a new ‘Discounted Meal Deal’.
4. Fun Fact: Reykjavik, Iceland, was just named the safest city in the world based on traveler feedback and global safety metrics.
5. A shameless plug! If your company, Industry Association or local Chamber of Commerce has a Business Conference in the next year that will benefit from my bottom-line management and marketing insights and ‘straight talk’ delivery style, perhaps we should chat.To quote one recent attendee, “Best, most real, insightful and entertaining management session I’ve attended in 30 years.  Bring this Cooper guy back!”Our most requested topics are:
   1. “Accelerate Your Business…the ‘straight goods’ on how to sell more, manage smarter, grow your bottom line…and have a life.”
   2. “Winning the Talent Wars…8 essential steps to attracting, developing, leading & engaging a top-performing team.”
   3. “Vision Critical…how to manage, innovate and thrive in a very different tomorrow!”
   4. “Creating Your High-Performance Culture…how to improve clarity, commitment, accountability and profitability in your business!”
   5. “Succession Planning & Exit Strategies…preparing your business and yourself for the most important financial transaction of your life!I’ve delivered about 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.
6. Scary AI Update:  The ‘very scary future’ is here!  Anthropic, one of the world’s leading AI companies, is withholding the release of its newest model, Mythos, citing fears that it could hack even the world’s most sophisticated computer systems.According to Anthropic, Mythos has found bugs (and ways to exploit them) in every major operating system and web browser.  In over 83% of test cases, Mythos created plans to exploit those vulnerabilities on its first try.So, Mythos is capable of hacking and damaging the critical infrastructure of every company and institution in every country on Earth, including every government department and security agency, bank, utility company, resource company, manufacturer, airline and medical facility.

   If that doesn’t scare the pants off you, I don’t know what would.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

The myth of ‘Solution Selling’…take it to a higher level:

Sales Courses, Sales Managers and books on selling all tell us, “Don’t sell products and services…sell solutions.”  Good advice…but, often, it doesn’t go far enough.

We need to go beyond solution selling and coach customers on the ‘unseen possibilities’ available only with our caring and expert help.  That’s the highest level of value delivery…and it’s where customer ‘ownership’ really takes place.

If I have a problem or an opportunity, and I know it, I can approach several solution providers and award the business to the lowest bidder.  But, if I’m not even aware of the possibilities to improve my business, or my life, and you show me those possibilities, you’re my hero, and I’m much less likely to let you out of my life.

To get to this highest level of trust and freedom with your customers, if you’re selling B-2-B, for example, the conversation might go something like this: “Did you know that with our new combined billing and customer CRM software, you can track customer purchases and proactively communicate special offers and reorder points to customers as individuals, at very little cost?  Companies that we’ve just tested this with have increased sales by up to 17%, in just three months.” 

When you lead me into the land of ‘what’s possible’, you leave your competitors behind and help me leave my competitors behind.  If I didn’t even know that such a thing is possible, you’re my new best friend.  You take me from playing ‘catch-up’ to playing ‘leapfrog’ over my competitors …and I love you for that.

If you’re selling B-2-C, the same principal applies.  If you can coach your target consumers on unseen possibilities, if you can become their ‘Caring Coach’, you’ve created a value bond that’s very difficult to break.

Whatever product or service you sell, what are the ‘unseen possibilities’ that your customers and prospects are not aware of?  What is it that they don’t know, that they need to know to make better decisions for their business, or their life?  How can you become the ‘Caring Coach’?  What would it take for you to become the ‘possibilities leader’ in your market…and when will you get started?

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.