Prospecting Playbook 1.8

 

[PHOTO: An idea to help businesses to identify themselves.  I am looking for some testers, people who might want to try this simple software.  Answer some questions and the software merges all the answers together to create the verbiage from which mission statements and elevator pitches can be extracted.  If you will provide a critique of it, happy to let you try it for free.]

 

 

LOCAL HEROES AND COMMUNITY VALUE

Business owners are cool.  They who have launched and started their own business --- no matter what kind of business it might be --- are local heroes.  Aside from their “customer value”, they also provide “community value” in many different forms . . .

·         employment

·         a physical presence

·         rented space

·         paying suppliers, so they can pay employees and create customer and community value

·         travel and entertainment, as clients visit, and are visited  

·         tax revenues to local, state and federal government

·         Donating to local causes, directly and indirectly

·         paying their bills … expenses

Every business expense is an income item to another business (or government) entity and this constant flow of cash is the life blood of our economy.  As this blood circulates community values increase.

Business owners are local heroes.  They pump nutrients in and through our local communities.  And they do it more efficiently than non-profits and government. 

In this internet era, it’s not difficult to discover who the owners are.  As consumers, perhaps we could examine from where we buy our stuff and begin to realize the value we actually contribute to our own well being, as we buy from local owners.

We are experiencing a unique market today.  Not because it is good, bad or indifferent, but because it is so internet dominated.  The information available to each and every one of us today is extraordinary and it is changing everything.  That which we used to do may not be best or even helpful today:

Consider these possible anachronisms:

The urge to pay the least – We have vast choices today and many are free.  And we’ve all experienced the “get what we pay for” lament.  Inexpensive does very often equal cheap and cheap rarely if ever lasts.  And with the money saved, we spend it again, or pay off debt, or donate it.    

The global store might bring us back home -- We can now buy our stuff from all corners of the earth.  And we are enamored with the prices, but have you noticed the shipping?  Even when stuff is free, the shipping expense soars.  And how do I return this stuff? … or find restitution when needed?

The internet connection tools -- Many of us are connected to so many other people --- virtually, which is better than being disconnected, I guess.  But, the real value is not the quantity, but actually meeting the people, local people, with whom we connect, either by phone or over coffee. 

Things are not what they used to be.  As consumers we have much more power than before.  Our purchasing decisions can make a difference.  We can support our local businesses and in that process, be a part of our own “community value”.

Business owners are very cool.  They provide incredible value to our communities.  They, more than foreign based conglomerates, deserve our patronage.  We need not buy all our stuff from them, but we need to know these people.  They are truly local heroes.  Their success will do more for our neighborhoods and local economies than anything else we can do.

Businesses who employ less than 100 local people are truly local heroes. 

Charlotte, NC