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:
   “Business is like riding a bicycle.  If you’re coasting, you’re going down hill.  You can’t coast up hill.  For that, you have to do the work.”      
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   Before you start complaining about your ineffective or toxic staff…       
    
   Before you start complaining about your ineffective or toxic staff, ask yourself a few tough questions:
   • Who hired them?
   • Who trained them?
   • Who coaches them?
   • Who supervises their work and communicates with them about their performance?
   • Who allows them to remain on the payroll?
    
   Then, ask yourself how your recruitment, onboarding, training, communication and supervision processes need to improve.  To access my insightful Biz Tool #B-21, ‘14 Reasons For Our Staff Not Performing…and whose fault are they?’ Click Here.
    
3. Fun Fact: A recent Survey found that over half of Canadians have switched financial institutions because of increasingly high fees.  So, what might you be doing in your business that drives your customers away…and when will you stop it?
    
4. China takes over another ‘industry’. According to ‘The Economist Magazine, China has taken over most of the global Money Laundering ‘industry’.  The US Treasury Department estimates that about $154 billion in illicit funds, mostly from the sale of illegal drugs in America by cartels, is laundered through China each year.
    
   The traditional ‘black market peso exchanges’ used to launder cartel money for a 7% to 10% fee.  Chinese money launders now do it for 1% to 2%.
    
5. AI Update: Home Depot has just launched an AI-generated tool to help Contractors create detailed Project Material Lists in minutes.  The technology is available for free to all Home Depot ‘Pro Xtra’ contractor members.
    
   So, how can you use AI to add more customer value in your business and to build more meaningful relationships?  

Now, to this week’s important topic:

 What really matters to your target customers…and how do you rate?

Have you ever researched and measured what really matters to your target customers…and how you score?  Do you even know, with certainty, what matters to them most? 

In the airline business, ‘passenger safety’ is a biggie.  In a recent Study of 320 airlines, Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad was ranked the safest full-service airline in the world for 2026.  They earned this #1 position thanks to a combination of the airline’s young fleet, advancements in cockpit safety, the carrier’s crash-free history and the lowest incident rate per flight of any airline listed.

Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific took 2^nd place, followed by Qantas, Qatar Airways and Dubai-based Emirates.

Alaska Airlines was the top-ranked U.S. airline at No. 15, followed by Delta at No. 23 and American Airlines at No. 24.  Air Canada was #22.  All airlines in the Top 25 are world leaders in aviation safety,

But, here’s the real question for you.  Do you know what really matters to your target customers …and what will you do to be the very best at delivering that? 

For answers to these important questions, it will be helpful to understand my insight that our customers have ‘4 Currencies’ in their lives.  A ‘Currency’ is anything of value to them that they don’t have enough of.  Their ‘4 Currencies’ are:

1. Money,
2. Time,
3. Feeling Safe (physically and emotionally safe)…and,
4. Feeling Special.

How can you use this insight to deliver more of what matters to your target customers?  If you’d like to chat about this, I’m easy to find at donald@donaldcooper.com.

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.