![\"7](\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/7-Weaknesses-graphic.jpg\" "\\"Photo")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nAs we head into the busy holiday shopping season, we\u2019ll see lots of Shop Local messages working to get customers to think about shifting their shopping more to local stores. I want to add another layer, and get rural business owners to think about making Better Local Shopping to hold on to those customers.<\/p>\n
This is part 5 of a seven week series on the weaknesses and what we can do about them.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a local business,<\/strong>\u00a0you can take these to heart. Make an honest effort to improve in each of these areas over these 7 weeks. That takes us up to Thanksgiving holiday in the US, Shop Small Saturday, and the final few weeks of holiday shopping everywhere.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re with a Chamber of Commerce or other business organization,<\/strong>\u00a0you can gather a small group of merchants who want to work on these together. Meet, go over the weakness, brainstorm some ideas, and maybe find ways to share resources and turn them into strengths.<\/p>\n The Series:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This store is currently operating in a real small town. Lots of room to freshen up.<\/p><\/div>\n Ever walked into a small town store and felt like you stepped into a time warp, and not in a good way? You know the type of store I mean: one with faded labels, piles of dust, and items that might as well be “vintage” because they’ve been aging on the shelf.\u00a0Or maybe the clothing store still carrying 1990’s fashions. Or the cafe serving the same old stuff, when your customers and visitors would love something fresher. Then there are the business owners who smoke in the building.<\/p>\n What about those ugly storefronts? Or weedy parking lots? Who wants to go in there? And if you think customers won’t notice that mess out front, … well… you’re wrong. They do notice. They aren’t in your building every day, so they aren’t used to it.<\/p>\n A different store from the same block. Fresh, bright, welcoming and clean.<\/p><\/div>\n You probably realize that people judge you by your appearance, and the same is true of your business. People are judging your business all the time by what they see.<\/p>\n The view from the curb matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Roger Brooks explained the importance of how you look:<\/p>\n 70% of first-time sales at restaurants, retail shops, lodging facilities, and attractions can come from curb appeal. We all travel: Think about these phrases: \u201cThat looks like a nice place to eat.\u201d Or, \u201cThat looks like a nice place to stay.\u201d Virtually every person on the planet has said those words at least once, if not dozens of times. You can spend millions of dollars marketing a town or downtown, and none of that will make me \u2013 the visitor \u2013 walk through your shop\u2019s door. You, the merchant, must do that. Beautification, or curb appeal, is an investment with a tremendous return.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It doesn’t have to cost much<\/strong><\/p>\n Retail expert Scott Day offered a ton of great retail appearance tips in a workshop I attended. Here are some of the highlights.<\/p>\n \u201cWindow displays are always mentioned by merchants as their best form of advertising,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThey form the customer\u2019s first impression of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more of Scott\u2019s retail ideas here<\/a>.<\/p>\n What is that smell?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n If you smoke, resolve now to never smoke inside your business again. Period.<\/p>\n Do not keep pets in the business.\u00a0If you think your pets are different or you cover up the smell well enough, have a complete stranger run a smell check. I promise you are just used to the smell, but your customers are NOT.<\/p>\n Involve the city or town government<\/strong><\/p>\n Can they improve their part of the downtown? Maybe they can re-paint light poles or street striping.<\/p>\n Plan your improvements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Our own Glenn Muske suggest a good way to notice what needs fixed, get organized, and get it done in his piece, Pay Attention to Small Visual Marketing Details<\/a>.<\/p>\n New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the\u00a0Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see?\u00a0Get our updates<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops And what we\u2019re all going to do about them. As we head into the busy holiday shopping season, we\u2019ll see lots of Shop Local messages working to get customers to think about shifting their shopping more to local stores. I want to add another layer, and get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[49],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/7-Weaknesses-graphic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5205"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5499,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205\/revisions\/5499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Weakness 5. Dated Appearance or Ugly Buildings<\/h3>\n
![\"70s](\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/70s-store-decor.jpg\")
Solution: Look great and leave lasting impressions.<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Modern-store-decor.jpg\")
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