(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“A great question that I love to ask my audiences and biz coaching clients: ‘Does your business model serve your life model?’ Sadly, for many, it does not. If your business model doesn’t serve your life model, what needs to change…and when will you start”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
Is your business a great place to work?
In survey after survey, the companies that are rated the best for ‘customer experience’ are also rated as one of the best places to work in their industry. This is not a coincidence! You cannot be a great place for your customers if you’re not a great place to work.
So, what 4 or 5 things will you do, in the next 6 months, to be a better place to work? Ask your team for their input. Trust me, they have a list. Remember, the best people have to work for someone…it’s just that you have to deserve them!
- Working from home is not more productive. While some early studies showed that those working from home were as much as 13% more productive, a deeper review of these studies shows that the higher productivity came from the home-based employees working longer hours.
More recent studies show that those working from home are as much as 18% less productive, primarily because it’s harder for people to collaborate from home and they’re often more easily distracted by things going on at home.
- Car thefts are on the rise. Canada is experiencing a huge increase in car thefts. Québec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada lead the pack with car thefts increasing 50%, 48% and 34% in the last year. And violent car-jackings have become much more common.
Stolen vehicles are used to commit a crime locally, or shipped to West Africa and Europe, where in-demand models sell for double their Canadian price.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
Are you using the ‘4 Currencies’ in your employees’ lives to attract, engage and retain top performers?
For years I coached business owners to use all of the ‘4 Currencies’ in their customers’ lives to create compelling customer value and experiences. Many businesses believe that their customers have only one ‘currency’ in their lives – ‘money’. So, they can think of only one way to compete, which is to cut their price.
But, when we realize that our customers have ‘4 Currencies’ in their lives, we can create hundreds of ways to add value, differentiate ourselves and compete that are not cutting our price.
So, what exactly is a ‘currency’? A ‘currency’ is anything of value to people that they don’t have enough of. And on this planet, in our society, at this time, there are four things that we don’t have enough of. They are…
- Money,
- Time,
- Feeling Safe (physically & emotionally safe)…and,
- Feeling Special.
This has been a breakthrough marketing insight for hundreds of our clients around the world. But then, a few years ago, it occurred to me that our ‘internal customers’, our staff, have the same ‘4 Currencies’ in their lives. We pay them with money, but we also must create a culture and ‘employment policies & experiences’ that:
- give them enough time to have a balanced and fulfilling life,
- help them feel physically and emotionally safe…and,
- help them feel special, valued, recognized and appreciated every day.
If we’re not providing the time to have a balanced and fulfilling life, an environment that feels safe and an opportunity to be recognized and appreciated (feel special) every day, we can’t pay them enough money to make up for the absence of the other three ‘currencies’.
So, how will you use this simple but powerful insight of the ‘4 Currencies’ in your employees’ lives to attract, engage and retain top performers in every part of your business?
That’s it for this week…
Live brilliantly!
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.
