I was thinking today about a telephone call I received a few weeks ago. The local managing officers of a large company here in Bend are concerned that they're not being considered for local business because the general public has recently learned that they are not locally owned. At first blush I am compelled to agree. In a smaller somewhat tightknit community working with people you know is considered to be very important. Employees who live and work in the same town or geographic region contribute to the overall goodness of the society.

However as I thought about the conversation today. Along with my own experience with their company and others I've approached wanting to do business with them the bottom line is the same.

They either want to do business with you or they are simply looking for a reason not to!  Not being locally owned is just an excuse. "You're an out of towner." "Your company is too small."  "Your prices are too high." "Your company is too big." "Your company doesn't have enough leverage in the community..." These are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the myriad of excuses one can make for not working with of buying from you.

Your marketing and advertising needs to let potential customers know why they should do business with you in a meaningful way that gives them the excuse TO do business with you.

Think about it today as you go to the store, watch TV or listen to others discuss what they buy, where they buy it and why. Think about why you decided to buy something today or what excuse you gave yourself for not buying something today.

Let me know what you find...I'm interested! gzerbin@zmmarketing.com

Happy Friday,

Gena