Buy :Local– Keep the money here in town!

  Now that the holiday season has arrived, everyone is in the market for gifts!  Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone!  Buy Local Saturday has also come and gone– with, unfortunately, not much press by American Express, the firm who created Buy Local Saturday.
   When you buy local, you help a fellow business owner with his/her own business.  You normally get much better service, greater reliability and a much more knowledgeable staffer who knows how to help make the item work, fit your application, or improve what ever it is that you have just purchased.
    National studies consistently show that approximately 67 cents of every retail dollar spent a a local business stays in the community.  This is contrasted with only 40 cents of every retail dollar spent at a national chain.
    Local vendors are normally much more caring and giving back to the local community.  After all, it is you and I that live, work, support and recreate in the local community!
    We recently upgraded all of our information technology equipment firm wide.  There was never any thought of going anyplace other than local vendors.  In fact, we received quotations from a couple of vendors.  We ended up using a local vendor who we had a previous relationship with and knew the quality of service which was provided.  Yes, the service was exactly as advertised and the price, the same as most other places out of town and out of state!
    I have written previously about not giving your local business owners an opportunity to fulfill your needs.  Yes, in some instances, the cost may purportedly appear higher.  However, if indeed you have any problem with service and have to call India or the Phillipines, be placed on indefinite hold and then have to send the product to Timbuktoo for service, whatever money initially saved has been spent on time wasted, excessive downtime and increased frustration!
    Give the local business a good hard chance at your business this holiday season!  As a business owner, go after the local business.  This may mean adjusting your hours of operation, being open later during the shopping time of the holidays, even open on Sunday when you normally are not open on Sunday.  Now is retail harvest time.  At harvest time, all hands need to be on deck and do whatever it takes to bring the crop in.  In the business world, this is selling as much product as possible and adapting to the terms and conditions of the buyers.  Don’t get caught short now.  This is the time to go “full steam ahead” for the next 29 days.  Adapt to what your local buyer needs– you may be amazed at how your business increases because of your changes.