One of the biggest barriers to local business success is a lack of visibility. Business owners work tirelessly within the four walls of their business, but aren’t showing up where their customers live, work, and play. As people buy from businesses they recognize and trust, you need to become part of your community’s fabric to win them over.
Sponsoring local events, joining the chamber of commerce, supporting youth sports leagues, and participating in community festivals are all ways to get your name out there when it counts. The most profitable local businesses tend to be the ones whose names are all over town.
Word of mouth is an incredible resource for local businesses. Most owners wait and hope that referrals will happen naturally, but there’s a better way: just ask.
Train your team to ask customers to leave reviews after each positive transaction. Ask your best customers directly if they’d consider referring their family and friends. Create a system that rewards referrals, whether with a coupon or another small incentive. Eventually, your referral system will run on autopilot.
If you’re ignoring your Google Business Profile, you’re leaving your customers in the dark. Your profile is often the first thing a potential customer sees when they look for local businesses. Updated photos, accurate hours, detailed service descriptions, and consistent local business reviews all signal to Google (and customers) that you’re open, active, and credible.
If you don’t claim and update your profile, someone else might. Your competitors and customers can suggest edits to your local business profile if you don’t own the information. Inconsistent information can cause your ranking to drop in Google search results, so take this seriously if you want to be seen.
Average service creates forgettable businesses. If your customers can’t tell the difference between you and your competitor down the street, price becomes the only distinguishing factor in their minds, creating a race to the bottom that no one wins.
Try to deliver an exceptional customer experience worth talking about. Focus on consistently delivering on response time, reliability, atmosphere, quality, and friendliness. Delighted customers will return again and again, and best of all, they will tell their friends.
When I was a younger man, I managed retail drug stores in inner-city, urban neighborhoods. On many days, my goal was to find and field enough people to handle customers and just keep the business operating. That was survival and a long way from pleasing my customers. Later in my career, I became fascinated and focused on pushing the “guest” experience to an extreme. I learned that when you delight your clients, you will be rewarded with amazing loyalty and financial success. I love the phrase: “the vibe creates the tribe.”
It’s easy to see how a small business owner who’s overwhelmed might neglect the art of the follow-up, but this is how you keep yourself memorable. Most businesses are slow to return calls or neglect leads altogether, forgetting to check in with customers and failing to ask for repeat business.
A few simple systems can help you stay on top of your follow-ups. Implement a rule that all calls must be returned within 24 hours. Send automated texts or emails to customers for appointment reminders and special sales. Mail out promotional materials to customers you haven’t seen in a while. You don’t need flashy marketing to make this happen, just persistence and care.
At a business coaching workshop I attended years ago, I remember marveling at a chart that explained why customers stopped frequenting a business. The conclusion was that 65%+ leave a business because of “perceived indifference.” It’s not that you did something wrong; it’s just that you didn’t care enough, and they felt your indifference.
Business decisions must be based on data, not just your gut feeling. At the very least, you should find and use software that tracks leads, conversion rates, marketing campaigns, social media stats, purchase patterns, and customer retention.
What gets measured gets improved. Start out simple by choosing three or four metrics that directly reflect whether your business is thriving and review them monthly, if not weekly, without fail. The owners who build the most successful local businesses are the ones who make evidence-based decisions.
As a local business, your reputation precedes you. If you are known for being an amazing workplace that treats employees well, your colleagues will likely tell their family and friends. If you don’t, however, word of your failings will travel twice as fast.
Address conflicts with respect and dignity, pay a fair wage, and be transparent about what employees can expect when they come to work for you, and never allow them to feel that you give preferential treatment to your favorites. You can’t guarantee that your employees will speak well of you, but you can maintain your integrity and build trust with your team and in the neighborhood.
Local business success is not usually glamorous. It’s a result of trust, visibility, consistency, and relationships built over time. These things might not be flashy, but they are precisely what give you a long-term advantage in your community.
If you’re a CEO or entrepreneur who’s ready to start executing a real local strategy, I’d love to help. Click here to schedule a free video call with me to discuss your local business struggles. For more tips on growing your local business, sign up for my weekly articles on the keys to entrepreneurial success.
Coach Dave
Most business owners spend their early years focused on attracting customers, improving their products, and…
Every business leader I know wishes there were more hours in the day. Since that’s…
If you want to be smart about scaling your organization, start by developing your small-business…
If you asked each of your employees right now, would they be able to name…
I've worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and CEOs over the years, and I have noticed…
As a business owner, your short- and long-term business goals are two sides of the…
