It’s appropriately the season of the buy local push, so this promises to be awkward. I try to support local businesses, but I have constraints that get in my way. Sometimes local businesses put things in my way. This column is about those uncomfortable topics.
I’ve written previously about my misadventures in getting my homeowners insurance renewed. Now, insurance companies are big and not local, but I have given my business to a local agency for over a decade. My particular agent left the firm, and no one ever told me. When the carrier sent the original nastygram threatening non-renewal, it took a while to get ahold of someone at the local agency to help. When I did, I felt a pronounced “whattyagonnado?” vibe from my new agent as I tried to navigate the situation. Communications were uneven; in one case, I requested confirmation of receipt of documents that they never confirmed, and in another they promised an email that never came. They told me either to knuckle under and cut down two of the most beautiful trees in the neighborhood, among other items, or go to California Fair, the awful coverage of last resort. I ultimately gave up on them, went online, and quickly received helpful if aggressive responses, and quotes for real insurance. (I want to plug the three carriers who were willing to insure us, Amica, Farmers and Bamboo, for people who might be in the situation I was in.) Ultimately, we went with Amica, using free help from a friend in L.A. The poor service we received means that a local agent no longer has most of our business.
We’ve faced other issues with independent local businesses. For example, my wife has food allergies, which she manages carefully. When we go to restaurants, she asks questions and relies on the answers. At one local spot, she asked to be sure a certain ingredient was not added, which seemed to be fine. The dish had it, however, and Tish sent it back, saying she was so allergic to the ingredient that they needed to remake the dish rather than just remove the allergen. When she ate what came back, she became sick and then found trace amounts of the bad thing. They had, despite Tish’s total clarity, just performed a half-assed job of scraping it off. We obviously don’t go there anymore. Versions of this have happened at other local food spots. Whatever you think of them, I can’t imagine Panera allowing this. Allergies to pets keep us from going to other places. It’s your right, of course, to have your cat hanging out in your little shop but know, as your corporate competitors do, that some of us can’t patronize you then.
Stuff happens but it’s worth noting that being open when you say you’re open is important to keeping someone’s business. There’s a nice bar I no longer go to because, too often, they aren’t open despite the hours listed on Google and the door. If I’m meeting a client or a friend somewhere, I want to be able to count on it.
A friend asked me to put in a plug here for evening hours. People who work can’t easily get to a shop 10 – 6, and people who have dinner downtown like to walk around and go into shops. Humboldt County businesses are uneven at best when it comes to being available when the customers themselves are out and available.
Even totally local services, such as auto and medical, who don’t have the internet as direct competition, still have the internet rating them. This is how I found a chiropractor.
The point is that, in an age where product/service choice is amazingly diverse, where Amazon and Temu will sell any hard product under the sun, you need to be the best you can to appeal to a customer like me, one who means well but also has hard limits and limited bandwidth.
How to do that? Emphasize responsive and friendly customer service. Do what you say you’re going to do. Understand when your customers are able to patronize you and be there then. Confirm the email. Demonstrate caring. If you’re in a physical space where you meet customers, make sure your entrance is attractive.
I’m sure that most people in Humboldt County want to support their neighbor businesses, if they can meet us where we live. I know I do.
Michael Kraft is an independent consultant focused on local projects in strategic planning and organizational development; project management; and compliance/regulatory affairs. You can contact him at [email protected].
This post was originally published on here
