I just read Seth Godin’s post The Bitter Taste of Nickels and Dimes and it had me thinking about small business.
Seth talks about how large companies such as Whole Foods have obligations to their shareholders that leads them to make decisions on a margin only basis. In entrepreneurship you don’t have the same obligations and for this reason I prefer giving my business to local small businesses.
In the neighbourhood around our offices I have had two polar experiences with independent restaurants.
The first Ravi Soups, a local eatery just around the corner from our offices owned and operated by master chef Ravi Kanagarajah defines excellence. Not only do they provide an exceptional take out lunch (the curried beef with pineapple salsa and spinach wrap comes highly recommended) but they pull no stops to accommodate to their customers. Ravi ensures he personally hands over the magnificent soups and wraps and warmly greets customers, they stage an annual pay-what-you-want buffet and in my experience if I was ever short a few pennies they just laugh it off and tell me to come again.
I experienced the complete opposite at a local shawerma joint that for their sake will remain nameless. Firstly when I walked in I was not greeted, just kind of stared at until I made my order. The prudish shawerma was then served to me we just as much panache, cold yet greasy, but I guess you get what you pay for. when I came to pay, the cashier insisted I paid before I ate, which is typical for a fast food joint, however I was a dime short, which is really my own fault but her response was what really got me. She insisted that I paid her the balance which must have been less than 50 cents; I actually had to pay with my debit card instead. Needless to say I have never returned and I give any visitors to my neighbourhood the same warning against eating there.
Now as a small business, in fact any size business, how much is that dime worth to you? If you are prepared to pay $50 a lead for advertising, is it really worth 50 cents to lose a customer for life as well as having them bad mouthing your brand? Are you running your business according to today’s bottom line at the expense of customer loyalty? Excellent customer service is the cheapest and most effective marketing tool, how are you capitalizing?
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