Do you like the idea of supporting local businesses?

Is that like asking a politician if he’s for more jobs and against crime?

But … and it’s an awfully big but … your locally-owned business has got to meet me MORE than halfway. Sorry if that seems unfair. Heck, it is unfair.

Get over it.

One local restaurant urges folks to get on board to help them beat the chains. “Chains are bad. We are good.” That sorta thing.

To wit:

• Twice before the holidays, I called for delivery and was greeted with ‘hello?’
• Both times, it sounded kind of like I was bothering them by trying to offer them money.
• I asked if I was, indeed, calling the restaurant. Both times, I was greeted with a self-righteous, “yeah.”
• The second time, I was abruptly cut off twice when asking simple questions.
• Neither time did the phone person say ‘thank you’ or ‘good bye.’ Each time, they simply hung up.

Help you beat the chains? Help yourself.

<insert Superfriends transition sounder> Meanwhile …

One of those nasty chains – Target – answered the phone over the holidays at not one, but two different stores in two different towns by nicely saying,

“Hello, this is Target. What can I help you find today?”

That’s right. A real, live, human being person answered. No automated phone tree. Also no hangups or entitled, snippy, self-righteousness.

Target obviously had a system in place. How exactly was that evil? That’s like calling kittens evil.

Your locally-owned business has got to meet me more than halfway.

Or you’ll lose.

It’s not a temporary inconvenience. It’s the new reality of your business, and you best embrace it and – more importantly – develop chain-like, repeatable systems to do it better.

Remember, in this age and day, whether you deliver an exceptionally good or bad experience, social media will only accelerate the inevitable.

And spare me your righteous indignation.

There’s too often a chip on the local shoulder that teeters into defeatist whining. If certain local merchants mustered all that whine-energy and channeled it instead toward improving the customer experience, they’d have much less about which to whine.

I want to celebrate our independents. I really do. I’m sure you feel the same way to one degree or another. Help me, please.

‘Thank you.’

Read About Tim Miles

I like Shell gas stations.  Whether it's the primary yellow color scheme, the logo of a seashell, or friends who have told me that Shell gas seems to get them more mileage, something about them makes me feel like buying their gas.  But I can't stand the Shell gas station around the corner from my house.  I avoid it like a dinner of coffee, poop & asparagus.  I routinely tell people not to go there.  It's all because of their offer of “free air to customers”. 

For the last couple years I seem to have been afflicted with slow-leaking front tires.  Even when I get new ones pretty quickly something seems to happen where I run over a nail or am punished for an unknown trespass against the lords of front tire protection.  Then it's either pay 75¢ or find a gas station that will fill up my tire for free.

Not too long ago I noticed that the Shell station around the corner from my house gives free air to their customers.  “Sweet!” I thought.  “Free air for my leaking tire and Shell gas.  What could be better?”  Noticing the labeled 75¢ air compressor price, I went inside to ask for my free air.

“Did you get any gas?  How much did you put in your tank?” the attendant asked, boring into my soul with his lie detector eyes.

“Umm, I put in over $20.  It says free air for customers.”

“Yes, but some people take advantage of that,” he muttered as he grudgingly agreed to turn it on for me as soon as I drove over.

Over the next couple months I returned every so often, asking for free air and receiving similar, untrusting questions, no matter which attendant worked there.  Once, I went back in to ask again if the guy could turn on the air compressor, since it never came on, and got flat-out rejected.  “I already turned it on for you.  If you want more air you have to pay for it!” he insisted.  I left, planning only to go there in dire need.  Not once did I get a smile of recognition or the sense that I was welcome in the store.  Maybe he discriminates against people with red hair.

A few months ago I visited the air pump with a flat tire, having no change to put in the machine.  “You can pay with a credit card now,” he informed me, seemingly happy of his moneymaking improvement.  I unhappily went to the machine and inserted my plastic card in exchange for air.   On my bank statement, the price had jumped from 75¢ to $1.25 for the convenience.  Evil thoughts for that store flooded my mind.

If you own your own business, make sure you provide what you promise and treat your customers with respect instead of distrust.  If you have a gas station, providing a free-to-use air compressor would go a long way towards increasing the customer loyalty and word-of-mouth about your store, especially since it's rare to find free air anymore.  I still have this affinity for Shell stations, but I'll never buy anything from the Shell station on South Lamar Blvd. and Kinney St in Austin, TX.

Read About Peter Nevland

Morning. Happy weekend.

Saw these and thought about them for longer than usual. Then thought of you. Now I'm doing something about it. (Something as simple as typing a few words and hitting "send.")

Some of these will seem so obvious, some you may be doing already ... yet ... the difference between getting by and being stinkin' brilliant is simply and actually *doing something differently* and not just reading and thinking and waiting.

Read the 16 things you can do to help trigger word of mouth for your small business.

Happy Weekend. Feel free to share with someone you think could use a little low budget help. Remember:

"Time and money are two sides of the same coin." ~Roy H. Williams

When you have less of one, you always have more of the other. Leverage the surplus.

t

Read About Tim Miles

I got introduced to Chris Brogan's blog by my partner and noted freaking genius on marketing to women, Michele Miller.

He's one of those few guys I almost don't want to share with people. His stuff's that good, but I'm sharing today's post with you because it's reinforcing principles Roy Williams taught us all five years ago about how communication patterns are swinging back toward different alignments.

Humility. Grace. Simplicity. Stripping yourself bare. Can you muster these values? Yes. You must muster.

I witnessed Brogan's Last Bullet (tell me that's not a movie title!) in action this morning:

Be there before the sale. The best way to drive stronger marketing experiences and convert people into customers is to be there long before you need something from people. Sure, it takes longer, but I’ve seen lots of situations where this is what brought in the big sale over another person. If your prospect feels like she knows you, it works really well.

The coffeehouse that serves as my de facto second office got hit up by two media advertising sales people who'd never, ever entered the front doors before this morning. I knew it. The owner knew it. All the regulars knew what industry they (caution: term used loosely) "served." They didn't get six words of their pitch out (I didn't catch all of them, but one of them was most certainly 'solutions.') before the owner went into her (sadly) all-too-rehearsed dismissal.

Read all of them. It won't take but a minute. You'll probably agree it's all pretty much common sense. You'll also probably agree (sadly) that too few folks pay heed.

Allow fine folks to know you and see you real. Help them. It helps you even when it doesn't help you.

Read About Tim Miles

Dust, sweat & the smell of hard work clung to two teenage boys as the door swung open.  “Hi, Mrs. Harmon.  We finished for today.”  She found her pre-written check and waved it toward our grimy fingers.  “We'll be gone next week at youth camp, so we won't be by on Tuesday like usual, but we'll be back to do your lawn on the weekend.”

“Oh, where are you going to youth camp?” 

“It's a place called Latham Springs, close to Waco.”

“Is that with church?”

“Yes,” we replied, at the same time.

“My kids used to go to those.  They're grown now, but I remember how excited they'd be when they got home.  You boys have a great time.  I'll see you when you get back.”

We walked back to our little Volkswagen Beetle with the Harvest Lawn Care trailer behind it and took off to our next lawn.  My brother and I always followed the same routine; mow the lawn, go to the door, talk to our customers and collect our check.  If they weren't home, we'd ride our bikes by later in the evening and talk for a little bit while they paid us. 

They'd tell us about their husband's heart surgery or their daughter's wedding.  Sometimes they'd ask us about school or if we could babysit their kids.  When we graduated high school, they gave us gifts and came to our sendoff party.  I can't remember a time when a customer didn't smile at the sight of us standing in the doorway.  We had always assumed that the quality of our work and our reasonable prices had enabled two teenagers to rule the neighborhood grass cutting market with virtually no advertising.  We never received a single check in the mail.

When I started working for Motorola I took the same attitude with me.  If they worked in the same section of our massive building I went by their office and avoided calling people on the phone.  Those conversations always turned to things outside of work as well.  People shared their different faiths, pictures of kids and stories of life before they worked at Moto.  My poems rattled off cubicle walls, cleanroom floors and into the ears of my coworkers.  “Did you do that one about stepping in poop?” one of the office managers blurted, loudly enough to draw some awkward attention.  “That one's a classic.” 

Call me an overhyped extravert.  Chalk it up to personality.  Tell me that you can't do excellent work with your friends.  My brother and I didn't lose many lawns, if any, due to our shoddy work.  My team at Motorola got an award for being the first group to qualify an assembly for a new product ahead of schedule and with no problems.  I still talk to some of my former neighborhood customers and fellow employees at Motorola to this day.

When life took me to stages around the world, I found no more important time than right after a show.  Tales of hurt, joy and triumph flowed like the streams of old friends from people I'd barely met.  I wrestled with fatherless kids who relished every second of healthy, older male enjoyment.  My brain swims through seas of conversations about hearts inspired to pursue their passion, reminders of loved ones who had the “same kind of energy and creativity.”  An email I got from Sarah Barnett in California tells it best. 

“I thought about how the first (and actually only time) that I met you, you and Paul spent quite a long time talking with me.  And for whatever reason I really felt genuine care or some form of connection or something that made me remember that conversation, now 5 years later.  I remember not really understanding why you guys spent so much time talking to me, but I thought it was a legit conversation and was happy to have had it :).  I think you should keep doing that and I imagine you probably are...”

We expect people to buy our CD, book, art, or other product or service solely because of how well it works, how good it sounds, or how expertly we craft the words or images.  But it's their own story, how people connect their own feelings and needs to what that actually sells all those things.  We can find marketing phrases and advertising campaigns that draw people to our door.  Once they've arrived, what better way exists to connect your story to theirs than to offer up your authentic self as a free gift in all of your business dealings.

“I'm always amazed at how many people approach you after you speak.” Steve Rae told me after a recent talk I gave at a Wizards on the Road Marketing Seminar in Toronto.  “They want to work specifically with you, and it's because you put yourself into your speaking.  You don't hide the crazy poetry you write or the excitement that you feel in life.  It's what sells your business.”

I guess I just always thought that people are more important than whatever benefit they give me or I give them.  That doesn't excuse me from ensuring the quality of my work or the fulfillment of my word.  In fact, it makes those things easier.  Two, dirt-covered boys didn't have to study a training manual or develop a well-rehearsed presentation to communicate authenticity and a genuine concern for our customers.  But we did have to spend a little extra time talking about things that didn't seem to have any connection to business.  It just so happens that we gave the most valuable product or service we possessed: the gift of ourselves.

Read About Peter Nevland

One of my new clients emailed me this story. I'm not sure of its author, but it appears - like so many good storytellers - that he or she comes from Texas.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Cartridge World is a hot new franchise.  It's got a great business format and the timing couldn't be better.  Cartridge World refills laser printer toner cartridges for half the cost of buying new ones.

We learned about the company from an article in a local, Lewisville, Texas paper.  The closest Cartridge World was located in Denton, about 15 miles away.  I'll drive 15 miles to save a couple of hundred bucks.

On my first visit, I was impressed by a large business card carousel on the counter of the storefront.  I asked an employee about it.  She said that the owner built it and talked about it at the Chamber of Commerce. Since then, it seems that everyone from the Chamber has dropped by to drop off business cards.  I bet all of them get their cartridges refilled at the store as well.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have any Okidata cartridges in stock to swap, but they could refill the ones I had if I could leave them for a couple of hours.  And they did.

I've been to the store several times.  More than once, the owner was interviewing people.  Apparently, he's growing.  I'm not surprised. Cartridge World has a winning format, but the Denton store has more than the format going for it.  It's run by a creative, hard working entrepreneur who doesn't wait for business to develop.  He goes out and gets it.

I could see how he built awareness through public relations and the Chamber of Commerce.  I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Friday, I had more cartridges that needed refilling.  I pulled up Google maps to find the phone number of the store to see how late it was open and saw that Cartridge World now has a store three miles from my house. Well, three miles is better than 15, so I called.

I couldn't understand a thing the guy who answered the phone said, but guess that I had the right number and asked how late the store was open. Six o'clock.

At 5:50 p.m., I pulled into the store.  There were no other customers. The owner walked out (I know he was the owner because his nametag said so), took a look at the four cartridges, and said, "We don't have Okidata."

"That's okay," I replied.  "You can just fill them and I'll pick them up on Monday."

"We don't fill Okidata."

"Uh, I don't mean to argue with you, but I've gotten these filled two or three times at another Cartridge World."  The cartridges were in Cartridge World's distinctive yellow and blue boxes after all.

"Where'd you get 'em filled?"

"Denton."

"I'd advise you to take them there."

Are you kidding me, I wanted to shout.  Are you a moron?  An idiot? Determined to go out of business as fast as possible?

Apparently so.  I didn't argue.  I just shook my head and left.

These two businesses are franchised.  They're identical on the surface. Below the surface they're as different as the two owners.  One is aggressive, hard working, creative, and focused on building a business. The other is not.  When he bought the franchise, he merely bought himself a job.

The Cartridge World format is good enough that the guy near my house may survive in spite of himself.  Don't be surprised if he fails.  And if he does fails, he'll probably blame the franchisor, not the guy in the mirror.

The difference between success and failure isn't the business.  It's the business owner.

Read About Tim Miles

Supply the small things people dont expect. Its a big step to using Signaling Theory and adding to the Personal Experience Factor (links takes you off site).

After leaving my family for a trip, I realized Id forgotten to bring the one thing that helps me stay connected - the charger for my cell phone. Upon looking up addresses for area cellular companies with no avail, I asked the concierge at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel if they knew of any retail locations. No. But we have extras in the back if youd like to use one. What kind of phone do you have?

Amway Grand Plaza Hotel anticipates the small things people forget or loose and provide them to you - free of charge. Often times hotels provide toothpaste, shampoo, mouthwash and other small items and thats great. But, they provided something thatd otherwise cost $38+. That was a nice surprise.

What can you provide people will appreciate but dont think of? The everyday things. Look around you. Take ideas from other industries.

Adding little details gives me more of a reason to talk about you to my friends. Isnt that what you want? I know the next time Im in Grand Rapids, MI, Ill be staying at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Read About Paul Boomer

Service businesses: today, tomorrow, or Monday, go to a battery store or Sam's or Costco and buy a bunch of 9V batteries.

On your service calls in the coming days, offer to change the smoke detector batteries for your customers - particularly seniors.

Do good deeds - humbly and without fanfare. It'll be the cheapest advertising you can buy this week as we spring forward into daylight savings time.

Read About Tim Miles

Even though we have the new President Elect...Barack Obama, many small business owners are struggling to keep their business going. We are in an uncertain economy, with wild swings up and down, of the stock market, and all the talk of a recession. The actual definition of a recession is: two 3-month periods of negative growth in the economy, and it looks like we may receive just that.

I did not realize at the time, months ago, when I started on a remodeling project at my business, that I was really doing the right thing. But because I am a Believer, I believe God is guiding my life, so I give credit to Him for whatever blessings or success have come my way. On the other when things don’t go so well I tend to blame myself. We have all met folks who get that turned around. They tend to blame God when things go wrong, and take credit themselves, when things are going great.

I met a wise man many years ago by the name of Jim Rohn. He told me, “Clay if you want to be successful in life, try to find out what everybody else is doing and then you do the opposite”. Jim also told me that John D. Rockefeller once said that he bought when everybody else was selling; and he sold, when everybody else was buying.That made him one of the richest men in the world.

I own a 575-seat Country Music Theatre and just this past year we went into debt for a new addition. We built new restrooms. We tore out the old ones and built a new 900 square ft addition with a badly needed storage room, and put in all new commodes, sinks, and urinals. My wife did the decorating, picking the styles, colors and matching up everything. They are just beautiful, if restrooms can be beautiful.

Where the old restrooms were, we put in 40 more seats. (I bought them on Ebay for a $1 each) We spent a total of about $65,000. This has given us tremendous good word of mouth advertising. Quite possibly more good will and delight from our customers, than if we’d spent the $65,000 on advertising. That’s because 100’s and 100’s of people have come up to my wife and I, and went out of their way to thank us for the new restrooms, and commenting on how nice they are. After being in business here for 20 years, I can tell you, even if I had  spent $65,000 in advertising, it would be extremely hard to create the response we have had, with the new addition. Are you doing the right things with your money?

While the gas prices were rising to over $4 a gallon I was adding on, believing I was doing the right thing. It turns out that now, we have an economic downturn going on in America and our business is doing very well. And... we have a lot of great equity built up in the very good word of mouth advertising we have going for our business.

Read About Clay Campbell

A very good friend and I took a whirl-wind road trip over the weekend to honor an important landmark. 

She flew in "from away",crammed herself into my overstuffed car and we hit the road to a far-away place of new experiences.

I highly recommend it.  You learn a lot of things... about yourself, your best friend, what makes you laugh... oh and you discover lots of things about marketing.. the good, the bad and the ugly.

We crossed one of Canada's engineering wonders and made an immediate stop at the Tourist Bureau.  We were going to golf, and we wanted recommendations for courses and hotels.

They were so very nice.  And helpful.  Two of the provinces courses were closed.  No problem... 30 other courses to choose from.  They recommended the two nicest resorts and a  beautiful scenic route to our destination.  ROAD TRIP.

The drive was an artist rendition of fall against the ocean backdrop.  We drove at a leisurely pace and 4 hours later our headlights flirted with the sign that proclaimed our arrival.  We turned in and headed to the resort.  Well.  In the right direction of the resort.  What we found was the campground on the resort.  Brrrr.  It was closed.  No Brainer.  We have a laugh, crack a few jokes and retrace our steps.  We arrive at the same sign.  More laughter... a u-turn and back we go.  Finally, we take a chance on a right hand turn... head down another road and voila! The Golf Club... brightly lit, tons of cars and a promise of merriment.  That's where we'll eat and play tonight, but first to check in to the resort.  NOT.  The resort was hidden against the ink black sky.  Except for the plastic on the windows and doors to protect it from the raw winter gusts of the Atlantic.

The Resort was closed for the winter.  So was the course.  The party we crashed was the staff's year end celebration.  In fact all the golf courses in the area were closed.  As were the hotels -- well all of the one's we called before heading back to the city.

• Turn someone that doesn't know your business or the area loose to explore.  
• Does your signage make sense?
• Can they find their way in the dark?
• How welcome do they feel?  
• What are their first impressions?
• Their last impressions?
• Then find someone else and go thru the exercise again -- you'll be surprised what you learn.

Lesson #2:  JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW, DOESN'T MEAN THAT EVERYONE KNOWS...

• Tourism is this provinces bread and butter.  Yes we were close to the wrist of the shoulder season, BUT if your business depends on tourism, make sure that the Tourist Bureaus are up to speed on what is happening at your business.  There really is NO EXCUSE for them not knowing that the two biggest golf resorts were closed for the season.  In fact, no excuse for them thinking that two courses were closed when in fact that was true for almost every course on the island! (luckily, there were still one or two still awake and calling our names!

Arriving back in the city, we grabbed a room at the first hotel we found (a wise choice knowing my propensity for finding new areas unknown to mankind...and the fact that it bore a well trusted name) and after a dramatic retelling of our adventures they delighted us with a room upgrade.  We were delirious, and not just from hunger... how wonderful to be welcomed so kindly. 

We enjoyed an evening of laughter and seafood with new friends and then settled into our cozy beds, with lots of time to slowly awaken before heading out to our pre-booked tee time.

Upon checking out, we changed our minds and took the receipt offered us as we gave them our thanks. 

The fact that they had charged us for our room upgrade resulted in peals of laughter upon discovery.  Why were we laughing?  'Cause it would be another chapter in the telling of our great adventure.  Should we have gone back and addressed it?  Probably, but in the big scheme of things we didn't care that much.  Was it good business?  ABSOULTELY NOT. 

Lesson #3:  IF YOU ARE GOING TO SURPRISE AND DELIGHT YOUR CUSTOMERS...

• Make sure you surprise and delight them.  "Morning after" regrets aren't good for business, and not everyone will laugh it off.

Will we go back?  Absolutely, but it will be a weekend or two early in the shoulder season.  And yes, we should have done a little more homework before we went.  We'll take a little responsibility for the expansiveness of the adventure.  And the little bit of inconvenience really didn't matter... this time. 

Will I send my thoughts to the Tourism Association.  Absolutely.  Someone else may not have viewed it all as part of the adventure.  As a marketer and a business person, I know that this is the information that they need to be advised of.  It's the right thing to do 

In the meantime... add these to your business check list.  It's no laughing matter.

jane

Read About Jane Fraser