Local Small Business - are your business processes good enough to ensure you survive?
Recently, I went on a mission to purchase two pairs of ear muffs. These were for my children, as we were attending a few concerts, and I wanted to protect their ears.
I knew that I could have just gone to Bunnings, but I searched local alternatives, where I could call in on my way to, or from, work. I found a store, which I had unknowingly driven past every day this year! So I stopped in, spoke to the owner, and asked to buy two pairs of ear muffs. He apologized profusely, as he did not currently have any ear muffs in stock. I explained i needed them for the following night. He gave me three packets of bud earplugs, for free, and I advised him that I would be back to purchase two pairs of ear muffs within the following fortnight. Two weeks later, I returned to the store, only to be told that he had forgotten to order them, and mumbled something to himself about someone else having come into the store earlier that day, looking for earmuffs, and that he had to remember to put the order in. He did say sorry, for not having ordered the earmuffs as he said he would, but that was cold comfort. By this stage, I was running out of time, and so visited Bunnings to make my purchase. While I was there, I looked at heaters, and paint. The $50 ear muff purchase had the potential to grow into one worth many hundreds of dollars.
There are some fantastic initiatives locally, to encourage residents of the NSW Central Coast to shop local and support local businesses, such as Buy Local Online Connect, My Local Card, and even Jobs on The Coast. But these forms of promotion are only going to be successful if the products and services offered are comparable to those offered by larger, multinational businesses.
How can small businesses put their best foot forward, and ensure an endless stream of happy customers? Simple - Not over promise, and under deliver. Do what you say you are going to do. Now this may seem like common sense, and it is! But so many small businesses cite lack of time as being a reason why things don't get done. A massive part of successful business management is organization and time management. It does not matter how fantastic your product, if it's constantly out of stock, or customer orders are not being fulfilled, customers will be left with no other option, than to seek alternatives. If you tell a customer that their product will be there on a certain day, you will move heaven and earth to ensure it is there. If you say you are going to call a customer, even the apocalypse will not prevent you from calling them. As a small business, you will not always be the 'cheapest', but you have the local knowledge, customer focus and interpersonal skills to win your customers over. Use this advantage, don't waste it!
In order to ensure customer needs a being met, evaluation of current processes should be undertaken at regular intervals. Yes, this all takes time, time that you already do not have. But it is far better for you to identify inefficiencies, or problemactic processes yourself, than to only realise your existing practices are flawed when you are losing customers. The issue with my order not being fulfilled with the local small business, was that his orders were written on a piece of paper, attached to a clipboard, hidden on a shelf on his desk. Even the least tech savvy person could create digital records of customer order, and connect to a calendar with pop up reminders. But at very least, the clipboard needs to be moved to an area of high visibility, so there is a constant reminder to actually place the customer orders which are written on it.
If you are not confident in your abilities, or unsure how to move your business forward, you can use the services of locals such as ActionCOACH and Design Business Engineering.
The definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing, and expect a different outcome! For consumers, please continue to support your local stores. The Central Coast is a fantastic area, and we should be enthusiastic about supporting our friends and neighbours in their businesses. For small businesses, please continue to provide quality goods and services to the residents of the Central Coast. Take the time to examine your business practices to ensure your business continues to thrive for many years to come.
I knew that I could have just gone to Bunnings, but I searched local alternatives, where I could call in on my way to, or from, work. I found a store, which I had unknowingly driven past every day this year! So I stopped in, spoke to the owner, and asked to buy two pairs of ear muffs. He apologized profusely, as he did not currently have any ear muffs in stock. I explained i needed them for the following night. He gave me three packets of bud earplugs, for free, and I advised him that I would be back to purchase two pairs of ear muffs within the following fortnight. Two weeks later, I returned to the store, only to be told that he had forgotten to order them, and mumbled something to himself about someone else having come into the store earlier that day, looking for earmuffs, and that he had to remember to put the order in. He did say sorry, for not having ordered the earmuffs as he said he would, but that was cold comfort. By this stage, I was running out of time, and so visited Bunnings to make my purchase. While I was there, I looked at heaters, and paint. The $50 ear muff purchase had the potential to grow into one worth many hundreds of dollars.
There are some fantastic initiatives locally, to encourage residents of the NSW Central Coast to shop local and support local businesses, such as Buy Local Online Connect, My Local Card, and even Jobs on The Coast. But these forms of promotion are only going to be successful if the products and services offered are comparable to those offered by larger, multinational businesses.
How can small businesses put their best foot forward, and ensure an endless stream of happy customers? Simple - Not over promise, and under deliver. Do what you say you are going to do. Now this may seem like common sense, and it is! But so many small businesses cite lack of time as being a reason why things don't get done. A massive part of successful business management is organization and time management. It does not matter how fantastic your product, if it's constantly out of stock, or customer orders are not being fulfilled, customers will be left with no other option, than to seek alternatives. If you tell a customer that their product will be there on a certain day, you will move heaven and earth to ensure it is there. If you say you are going to call a customer, even the apocalypse will not prevent you from calling them. As a small business, you will not always be the 'cheapest', but you have the local knowledge, customer focus and interpersonal skills to win your customers over. Use this advantage, don't waste it!
In order to ensure customer needs a being met, evaluation of current processes should be undertaken at regular intervals. Yes, this all takes time, time that you already do not have. But it is far better for you to identify inefficiencies, or problemactic processes yourself, than to only realise your existing practices are flawed when you are losing customers. The issue with my order not being fulfilled with the local small business, was that his orders were written on a piece of paper, attached to a clipboard, hidden on a shelf on his desk. Even the least tech savvy person could create digital records of customer order, and connect to a calendar with pop up reminders. But at very least, the clipboard needs to be moved to an area of high visibility, so there is a constant reminder to actually place the customer orders which are written on it.
If you are not confident in your abilities, or unsure how to move your business forward, you can use the services of locals such as ActionCOACH and Design Business Engineering.
The definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing, and expect a different outcome! For consumers, please continue to support your local stores. The Central Coast is a fantastic area, and we should be enthusiastic about supporting our friends and neighbours in their businesses. For small businesses, please continue to provide quality goods and services to the residents of the Central Coast. Take the time to examine your business practices to ensure your business continues to thrive for many years to come.
Were you one of "those kids" who was always being sent out of class for being up on your soap box? :-)
ReplyDeleteHaha, no! I don' t really feel that this is a soapbox-esque rant, simply food for thought for interested parties... :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, you have the benefit of the doubt on this one but I reserve the right to pull out the "soap box" question at a later date :-)
ReplyDelete