Operations Management and Information Systems (OMIS), Schulich School of Business, York University

Presents

Donald Cooper, MBA, CSP, HoF

in Seminar on

Tuesday, Tuesday, February 11, 2020
11:30am-2:30pm
Register here

Create Your Powerful Service Advantage

Managing any business today is tough…and getting tougher.  We’re all faced with more demanding customers, more and stronger competition, increased complexity, disruptive technology and shrinking margins. In addition, great staff are hard to find and keep…and that problem won’t go away any time soon.

Whether we sell directly to consumers or B2B, it gets more and more difficult to clearly differentiate our business, earn customer loyalty and turn customers into ‘raving fans’.   Every industry and every market is over-served and under-differentiated. We all look and sound pretty much alike, we have shrinking margins…and many businesses won’t survive! That’s today’s reality.

As it becomes more and more difficult to differentiate ourselves by ‘what’ we sell, we must differentiate ourselves by ‘how’ we sell it. We must deliver compelling value and extraordinary service and experiences that will ‘grab’ our target customers, clearly differentiate us from our competitors, make us famous…and grow our bottom line. 

In this ‘no-holds-barred’, bottom-line session Donald defines what ‘service’ really is, how to create it and how to deliver it to every customer at every touch-point. 

First, we must understand our customers in a very profound way. What is life really like for them?  What are they really trying to do, what do they need or want to know, how do they want to feel and about how much do they expect to pay? 

There’s much more to ‘service’ than a nice smile and a slight attitude adjustment.  Great service starts with selling products and services that actually work for our target customers.  Then we need to be open and available when they need us, be easy to find, easy to understand and easy to do business with…and we need talented staff with the desire, the training and the empowerment to serve wonderfully.

We need to deliver the help and the coaching that our customers need to wisely choose and effectively use what we sell.  Customers are confused, stressed and running out of time. They need us to be their ‘Caring Coach’. 

Next, our facilities, policies, systems, processes, standards and integrity all play a key role in delivering extraordinary service.  Finally, we must understand that ‘price’ and ‘service’ are not opposites. In fact, the price we charge is part of our total ‘service package’.  Now, there’s an intriguing thought.

NOTE: Each attendee will receive free access to Donald’s copyrighted set of 46 ‘Business Assessment & Management Implementation Tools’.

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Donald has been both a world-class manufacturer and an award-winning retailer.  He started his business career at the age of 6, sweeping the floor in the family business for 5 cents a day.  Long days and low pay …excellent early training for an entrepreneur.

Donald earned an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, followed by 18 years at Cooper Canada, the family business. From humble beginnings, Cooper Canada became the world’s leading maker of hockey equipment and a Canadian Brand icon. 

As a growing family business, Cooper Canada bought competitors, went public, imported, exported to 20 countries, opened an offshore factory in Barbados, and grew to over 2,800 employees. 

At age 43, Donald reinvented himself as a visionary fashion retailer.  He fundamentally redefined the customer experience, achieved sales 3 times the national average and attracted customers from up to 3 hours away.  For this achievement Donald received 7 Awards of Excellence for service, marketing and business innovation, including being voted Canada’s Outstanding Innovative Retailer.  Donald has been ‘in the trenches’.

Donald now works with businesses in over 40 industries around the world to create clarity of purpose, compelling customer value and experiences, management effectiveness and long-term profitability. He is respected by clients as a thought-leader, a passionate visionary and a clarifier of complex challenges.

For his transformational business insights and compelling presentation style, Donald has been inducted into the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame.  For more info about Donald, go to donaldcooper.com.