I recently knocked on a few doors in my hometown to introduce myself and my design services. On this occasion, I met Robert at Bicycle Depot, a local bicycle sales and repair shop. Robert kindly informed me that they didn't need a designer and already had a website, but welcomed me to the neighborhood.
It is difficult to convert people who don't need designers. If I need a shoe, I'll find one myself. Thanks. A lawyer or an accountant? I'll look one up. A bicycle? Easy to find online or in the yellow pages.
Therein lies the problem. When I was a kid, my parents took me to a chain department store to buy a bicycle. Like shoes, they're easy to find, and if you want one cheap and don't want to be hassled by a sales clerk, you can anonymously get one just about anywhere. If you really want to avoid the icky experience of shopping under fluorescent lights, you can get what you want online and have it delivered to your door within a week.
While there have been recent trends to shop locally, online and department store sales are undercutting the locals so significantly that it has created a no compete situation. In sales, you either win with the lowest price or with quality. It's the quality that keeps the local shops alive, the personal service, and the pride of knowing you're supporting your community by filling the tills of the people who bed down in your neighborhood.
And while quality is a real thing, delivered from one hand to another, it is also a perception. Why do the big box stores win so many hearts? They are big and shiny and polished. They enter your living room during commercial breaks and tell you they care. Again and again.
I'm not advocating the force-feeding of a bill of goods to the masses, but I do suggest that every small business owner take a good look at their image. When I was in high-school, I was out with a group of friends. One girl was asked what was the first thing she looked for in a guy? "His shoes," she answered. "You can tell a lot about a guy by how he keeps his shoes."
Circling back to Bicycle Depot: Why not polish your shoes and perhaps turn a few more heads and feet towards your door?
