Business Monitor
The advantages to seeking local business explained
Local is one of those words that carries a lot of baggage. On the one hand it assumes many virtues: convenient, nearby, sharing many attitudes. On the other hand it can mean small, parochial, lacking commercial ambition.
Marketing expert Paul Clapham reports. I
n general most people take far more positives than negatives from ʻlocalʼ.
Part of this stems from the justifiable flak that major multiple grocers have taken and of more recent times companies such as Volkswagen who made it clear to lots of people that big is no longer beautiful.
Operationally for you as a small business local has plenty of advantages. Just about anywhere that thereʼs a printwear business there is also a range of potential customers varying by sector, size and needs. Do you want to go charging all over the country to get new clients? I doubt it especially if there is plenty of untapped potential a short distance away. You will save on fuel costs for both sales visits and deliveries. OK theyʼre both costs of doing business but if you can cut such costs, do it.
Killer stats
I do like a killer stat and hereʼs one. When companies and private individuals buy from businesses outside their locality, 90% of the profit generated leaves the community. When they buy local, 90% of the profit stays in the community. Anyone who has children for whom they want a future nearby should be conscious of that when placing orders. Of course itʼs easy for me to say ʻdonʼt just look for the best priceʼ, but in practice most buying is done with an eye to more than just price. We aim to buy local is a selling point. Assuming youʼre keen on buying local make sure to say so. It might generate more inbound sales calls than youʼd like, but when youʼve heard their pitch, they have an obligation to hear yours, no? And there are few businesses that wouldnʼt benefit from using printwear. So whoʼs on your side when it comes to being a local buyer and seller? Start with your county council. Like many business owners you probably think that the return on your personal council tax and business rates is pitifully poor. Here is a potential exception.
County councils, rather than local councils, have the responsibility to give active support to businesses in their area. This comes with both good news and bad
| 28 | November 2017
news: some of them are excellent and some are rubbish at this part of their remit. Youʼll have to pick up the phone and talk to them. Better still go and see them.
Good news
My personal experience here in Kent has been good to excellent. They have a service called PinK – produced in Kent. I suggest thatʼs exactly what you want, so take a look and tell – yes tell – your County Council to copy.
There is some more good news in that. County Halls around the country are full of local government officers waiting for people like you to call and ask for their help. It is that way round, for right or wrong. As a consequence, you may find that your County Council is falling over themselves to help you. Depending on the time of year, they may well have some new budget or unspent budget that your wants justify being put in your bank account. Donʼt laugh – this happens. As a minimum, be aware of when unspent and new budget could be available.
So be clear about what you want: a list of local businesses of different sizes who will see the potential and benefits of selling themselves via printwear; a list of businesses that have made enquiries in
the past three years about building their sales; a list of businesses who are actively exploiting the ʻlocalʼ opportunity. Plus whatever ideas they suggest to you. Contact the Chamber of Commerce. As with County Councils they can be a ball of fire or virtually comatose.
Local suppliers
As I said above, I doubt there are many places in the country that donʼt have a printwear business local to them. Granted that rather depends on oneʼs definition of local. That said there is always the ʻno supplierʼ frustration lurking.
I have come across this one regularly: people swear blind that there is no local supplier of product x or service y, despite the fact that I know to the contrary. Printwear is actually a good example of this and it stems in particular from the fact that there is no single recognised name for the service. If you donʼt know what a service is called itʼs devilish difficult to do a Google search for it or look it up in an old Yellow Pages. Those who are more tech savvy than me say that a lot of people do their Google searching wrong. If you want a local supplier, that locality should be right up front in your search criteria. Obvious, but apparently an awful lot of people donʼt do it.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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