I live in a very small town. We’re talking 400 residents small. It’s knowing-everyone-else-in-the-grocery-store-at-10-on-a-weekday-morning small. I love living in a place like this, but sometimes it strikes me how someone from a big metropolis would find some of our ways very funny.

For instance, business isn’t conducted in a small town the same way it is in a big city. Where I live, many businesses are basically invisible. They don’t have websites; their proprietors will likely argue until they retire that they don’t need to be on the Internet.

I’m not poking fun here: my story has a point. (I’m getting to it.)

Last month, we were having issues with our heating system. There was heat in some parts of the house, but not in others. My husband farted around with it himself for a couple of weeks before he finally broke down and decided to call in a heating expert—a suggestion I’d been making for some time, might I add(But I digress).

There’s a van that drives by our house all the time with the name of the business and a phone number written on its side. I will not share the name to protect the innocent, but I will say that I had a hunch the guy could help us because the word “heating” was in the business name.

So, we made up our minds to call that person as we’re new to the area and my father told me he’d called him before to clean his furnace and he was a good honest guy.

My husband started looking through the phone book and there was no listing for the business. He checked the Yellow Pages under Heating and Furnaces. Nothing. We figured he was probably listed under his own name and not his business name —something that doesn’t help at all when you don’t know the person’s first name.

So I conducted a Google search for the business name. Nothing. I even went so far as to check the provincial government’s business directory (which is an unsearchable beast itself but that’s a story for another day) to no avail.

The business we needed to call did not appear to exist. It was invisible.

Of course, then I did what anyone else would do. I called my father to see if he knew this guy’s name.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi Dad, do you know how I could get in touch with the “business name” guy?

Dad: Well, you could check the phone book.

Me: Thanks Dad. I tried that already. There’s nothing under the business name and I don’t know the name of the guy.

Dad: What’s wrong with your furnace?

Me: I don’t know, that’s why we need this guy. Do you know his name?

Dad: I think it’s Joe but I’m not sure. (Sounds of Dad flipping through phone book.)

Me: So you think it’s Joe?

Dad: It’s not in the book.

Me: I know.

Dad: Well, just call Henry.

Me: Who’s Henry?

Dad: Joe’s brother. You know, his wife is so-and-so who works at the such-and-such.

Me: Um. Okay. So, do you know Henry and so-and-so’s number?

Dad: Here, I’ll call Henry myself. I’ll call you back.

And that’s how we got the number for the heating guy. We had our doubts about what kind of operation it might be, but literally, within ten minutes of my husband calling, they were here in the basement fixing us up.

The service was great and they knew what they were doing. At least with furnaces.

Now as far as marketing goes . . . the biggest sin a good business could commit has been committed. It is impossible to locate this business the moment you need the services it provides, unless you already knew the man you needed to call.

If you need the services of a plumber or a locksmith or a furnace repairman, you’re going to search the Yellow Pages or you’re going to head to Google. You’re not searching for a business name in most cases (however in this case I knew the business I wanted and I still couldn’t find it): you’re searching for the service you need.

This business owner needs a website. It’s fine and good to have your phone number on your van, but unless my heating system goes tits up the same exact minute your van is driving by my window and I have time to notice and jot down the number, it’s not helpful at all. I don’t impulsively think, “oh hey, I should write down that number in case I ever need that guy’s help.”

Anyway, thankfully my father knew the guy’s brother and we got ourselves straightened out. And that’s probably the way a lot of these business owners think. They’ve been around long enough that people will know how to get in touch with them when they need them. And in all fairness, now that I think about it, in my case it actually worked.

This story reminds me of back when my husband and I were in our first apartment together. We asked our elderly landlady what our mailing address would be. She said, “Oh just put York on it and it will get to you.”

That’s the way it works in small towns and you might laugh but she was probably right.

Disclaimer: If you’re local and know the business I’m talking about, please know that we were very happy with the service we got. I’m not trying to be mean. I just happen to think in blog posts.

9 Comments »

I knew my husband was a keeper back when I was waiting tables and he noticed one evening that I didn’t have any clean work shirts hanging in the closet for my shift the next morning so he did a load of laundry for me. He thought it was funny that I found so much meaning in that simple little act, but it did mean a lot. It showed me he was thinking about me when I wasn’t there and that he did something to make my life a little bit easier.

In any relationship it isn’t the grand gestures that makes a bond stronger, it’s the little details woven in between that really matter and hold it all together.

I found a gorgeous pair of earrings on etsy (etsy is a commercial site for homemade and vintage-y stuff as well as arts and crafts supplies, etc.) a couple weeks ago. I have no idea how I ended up there and I didn’t know the seller from Adam but the earrings were pretty and sparkly and I could picture myself wearing them on a date with my husband with the candlelight dancing off of them. So I bought them.

I immediately received a standard, automated response from the system, thanking me for my order, but I also received a personal message from the seller, Laura, who owns the shop I bought my earrings from, Vintage Valise, personally thanking me for my order and telling me she’d ship it out that afternoon.

Then I promptly forgot about the earrings until I received them in the mail. They were wrapped in a lovely little box, tied with a ribbon, and this postcard was tucked inside the envelope they were mailed in:

Talk about a warm fuzzy feeling! I’ve been buying stuff online for a long time and very rarely do items come with a handwritten note, but when they do…wow! You really appreciate someone taking the time to do something like that.

I wouldn’t have remembered the name of the shop where I bought those earrings if I didn’t receive this card with my purchase even though I had received that email earlier in the transaction.

We get emails ALL the time. We never get a handwritten note.

They say that it takes 7-11 “touches” before someone buys from you. I don’t necessarily think that’s always true. When some of the touches are unexpected and delightfully personal, I think it can take less.

I think Laura is going to have a successful shop if she can convert every buyer into a repeat buyer like she did with me. All it took to make me love her was taking the time to write a thank you note that was personalized for me (noting my purchase and even spelling my name right).

The worst thing a small business owner can do is make his or her customers feel invisible. We all love those little details so why don’t we see more of them?

Do you do something personal like this in your interactions? Has it become part of your brand? Please tell me about it!

2 Comments »

There’s a restaurant nearby that keeps very irregular hours.

I’ve headed there for supper with my kids more than once, only to find it closed at 5:00 in the evening even though it had been open hours earlier for lunch.

For the past year or so, this eatery has been teaching us that you never know when you’ll catch it open so we don’t bother with it very much since with two young children, when we head to a restaurant we need there to be something there to feed them.

Of course, there’s no website for this restaurant so you have to call ahead for the hours and with no recording that tells you the hours, you have to assume it’s closed if nobody answers. The only other option is to just show up and hope for the best. With so many other options around for dining, this really doesn’t cut it.

Yesterday we drove by this restaurant on our Father’s Day travels and noticed it was open at supper time! But guess what? The parking lot was empty. On Father’s Day. Arguably the busiest day on the calendar for restaurants.

My husband and I had a pretty good idea of why there was nobody there and it’s proof that you can be doing everything else right – good food, good service, good prices – but if you don’t make things as easy as possible for your customers (keeping regular, memorable hours, posting a menu/hours/specials on your website or Facebook page) then you’re not going to do well.

If you’re reading this and you have a business with no web presence, you need to get in the game.

Even if it’s a simple one-pager with your hours, your contact information and key services/products, that’s better than nothing. Facebook makes it easy with their “pages” feature. They’re free and can easily serve as a make shift website.

Always remember that people are searching for you online FIRST and if they can’t find you there, you do not exist. It’s as simple as that. Give the people what they want – the chance to scope you out from their computer before checking you out – and you’ll be golden.

Operating a local business and not having a web presence for it would be like looking at a lineup of qualified customers in front of your store and telling half of them to go away, that you don’t want their money. You wouldn’t do that. Would you?

1 Comment »

I love antiques. I really love them a lot. I love the smell of an antique shop and letting my mind wander to where some of the objects may have come from.

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were driving along and passed a shop I wanted to check out to see if there was anything interesting inside (I have been there before and always find something cool).

Problem was, we couldn’t tell if it was open. (If you’re reading this in a reader, you might want to check out the actual blog to see the picture and get the full meaning here!)

Now…I don’t claim to be some marketing genius (okay sometimes I do) but this is clearly not a good move.

We stopped to take a picture and once we got closer we could see a dimmed out “Open” sign so we assumed they weren’t operating that day.

I’m not going to pick on this place too much. Obviously someone forgot to take down the open sign – or the closed sign – but we all do the same thing in our businesses in one way or another. It’s just not as obvious.

When you operate a business in this day and age, your website has a major role to play. Like it or not, people are looking for you online and unless you want your competitors to do better in your market than you, you have to cater to web surfers.

Website visitors have no attention span and they have a million options thanks to Google.com to find a better site than yours to get what they need. If you’re lucky enough to get them to your site in the first place, that’s great but you have to keep them there.

That means you have to:

• Have content optimized so web surfers can find you.
• Have content written in a “web-friendly” manner (with headings and  easily scannable copy)
• Keep your online information current, compelling and engaging.
• Narrow in on their pain points as much as possible.
• Make no assumptions.
• Tell them what to do.

See, you never know which page of your website a visitor is going to land on, so you have to give a piece of your story on every page, and make it clear what you want them to do. Should they contact you for more information? Should they visit your blog? Peruse your services?

You have to make it easy for people to do business with you because a web visitor’s attention span is not long enough for them to bother with you if they don’t have to. Lay out your information concisely and clearly because unlike a retail store where you can be assisting customers, your website content and navigation has to do it all.

Imagine how you would have felt if you were me, standing in front of a shop you wanted to visit but there was an open and closed sign in the window at the same time.

Now imagine someone visiting your website for the first time. They look at the “Welcome to our website” headline, the standard “hope you enjoy our website” content and are bored to death. You don’t stand out, they don’t know if you can solve their problem and the information you do provide doesn’t have any logical sequence to it.

Be engaging, be compelling and be clear and concise with your message. If you can’t do those things, hire a copywriter to do it for you

6 Comments »

(If you’re reading this post from your inbox, you’ll get more out of it by clicking here to view photos!)

My 4 year old daughter came home from preschool last week with a picture of a penguin that she had drawn.

I still can’t see a penguin in that picture no matter how many different ways I look at it.

The thing is, my daughter is very talented when it comes to drawing. At the age of four, she’s actually better to draw than I am, so I knew there was something going on when I saw that picture.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not crazy parents putting pressure on the child to be the best artist in her class, but this was obviously not my daughter’s style.

I was looking at it and going, “Look, Daddy, Casey drew this beautiful penguin at school today.”

Then Casey said, “I copied off of Jane.” (I’ve changed the name to protect the innocent.)

Aaaaaahhhh. That made sense.

I told Casey I would rather see a penguin that she drew by herself without copying off of anyone.

She quickly churned out this photo:

See the difference?

I had to try to explain to my daughter that she could do a better job if she did her drawings on her own, without copying off of anyone else. As I was explaining this to her, I realized that lots of adults still don’t get this.

If you’re marketing your business in the way that everyone else in your industry markets their businesses, just because you think that’s how you should be promoting yourself, did you ever stop and think you’re basically being a copycat?

There’s an excellent chance that if you’re trying to be someone you’re not, you’re stifling something great inside by doing so. Like my daughter’s own penguin drawing.

Market with your own personality. Be authentic. Be yourself. Make your own unique, individual mark on the world and be proud of it.

You’ll attract better clients, you’ll do better work and you’ll have a happier existence.

It’s true what they say, you know, you learned everything you needed to know about life before you finished kindergarten. Think about it. Would your teacher let you get away with copying off your neighbor?

Didn’t think so.

11 Comments »