Making an Adjustment
Growing up in a family that owned small businesses, I learned very early that businesses have to be flexible in order to survive. ASBTDC Director, Herb Lawrence, mentioned in his earlier post the importance of keeping up with your industry by reading e-newsletters, etc. I remember my father and grandfather reading the Wall Street Journal and other publications during any free moments they had. They watched for trends and adjusted accordingly.
So, how do you need to adjust for the current economic situation? Hopefully, you have always offered exceptional customer service, and, hopefully, you and your employees didn’t get lax about customer service while times were good.
Recently, I went to several local businesses to give them information about upcoming business seminars. Some of the businesses I visited won’t survive. In a couple, I had to search around to see if anyone was even there. At one location, the owner finally came out from the back and let me know I had interrupted his lunch! I was the only person in his store besides him and he missed an opportunity to make a good impression with customer service.
These days customers tend to look online for information about products even when they plan to buy them locally. Case in point: Last week I was looking for a product. The product was somewhat unique and I wanted to buy it locally if possible. I turned to the internet. I knew the stores in the area that might have the product so I wanted to look there first. After some time, I was frustrated by the fact that most of the local businesses didn’t have websites so I had no idea if they would have what I was looking for. I ended up ordering the product online.
So, just in the last week I have seen two great opportunities for local small businesses to adjust. Offer remarkable customer service and take advantage of the internet. How is your business adjusting for the current economy?
