What “Mom and Pop” Businesses Need to Know in a Tough Economy
I recently spoke with someone who started a local chapter of a business association. The business association’s mission…
To get the word out to consumers that they should patronize locally owned businesses over national chains and franchises.
Of course any cause has merit depending on your view point. So I asked this individual; “So what are you doing to communicate that message to the public?” Remember I am all about using the right words! His answer was pretty simple. “We want people to understand that when they spend their money locally it stays locally, instead of a portion of it going to some corporate headquarters!” I said; “And what else?” He said, “That’s it!
Many of my clients know that I am all for independent local businesses. In fact- most small locally owned businesses can crush the big national chains if they use their agility and leverage the fact that they can move faster. If you are a small “mom and pop shop” you still need marketing, operational and business systems to do well. Let me get back to why I asked this guy… “And what else?”
Here’s why- it’s not enough to just tell someone that they should spend their money with local merchants instead of national chains or franchises just “because their money will stay local.”
Where your money goes after it leaves your hands (unless someone stole it from you) is irrelevant! You need to know WHY it’s better for you to do business with one company over another. And that WHY has to do with what is in it for the you. What kind of service will you get? What kind of follow through will you get? Will you be “wowed?” That’s what matters.
Here’s a very simple personal example…
We order Pizza once every couple of weeks. It alternates with Chinese food for the one night per week that we don’t feel like cooking or eating out. Lately I’ve been getting it from Pizza Hut. I think their pizza has gotten better over the years and I have eaten it on and off. Anyway, before getting into the habit of ordering from Pizza Hut I patronized two locally owned Pizza shops.
One of them I only went to once because I don’t carry cash most of the time. I simply use my Visa Check Card to make purchases. The one time I went in I took out my card and the person behind the counter said; “Sorry, we don’t accept that!” He then pointed me across the street to the ATM machine where I paid a fee to get my own money so I can get my pizza.
The other local Pizza shop almost had me for life until they screwed it up. Long story short – I had this loyalty card that gave me $2 off of a large pie. (I know I’m cheap!) But when calling to place an order to have it delivered they said that they would need to see the card in order to honor it. Yeah- I plan my day around ripping off local Pizza shops for $2!
There are many lessons here for any business owner to take away and I don’t have the time to go through them point by point. The overall message… Give people strong reasons WHY it’s in their best interest to do business with you. Just because you’re local doesn’t give people and obligation to you, especially in a tougher economy! By the way, the Chinese Restaurant we order from is a “mom and pop shop” and they are awesome!”
For help with crafting the right words for your business go to…
http://www.revealtheshortcut.com/shortcut.html