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Seasonal business: How to beat the annual “no bookings!” panic

By Becky McCray

Do you tend to panic about a lack of business at a certain point during the year? Do you always feel like you’ll never get enough bookings for the fall? I know several independent professionals who feel like this: a professional photographer who always worries in late summer that there won’t be enough bookings for […]

August 8, 2022 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, management, planning, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: annual planning, calendar, mindset, optimism, service businesses

How to remember customer names: write them down

By Rob Hatch

Guest post by Rob Hatch Chris Brogan recently shared a story of a local bookstore in his hometown. He asked them to order a specific book for him that wasn’t in stock. The owner wrote down his name and phone number and told him she’d order it. The next week, when he walked in the […]

May 28, 2021 Filed Under: customer service, marketing, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: Chris Brogan, customer service, memory, Rob Hatch, tips

Crowdsourced ideas for coffee shops and other third places

By Becky McCray

Coffee shop with local art displayed on the walls

  At the Main Street Now conference, I sat in on a session about coffee shops. I wrote down bunches of ideas that the audience shared. I thought you might know a coffee shop person, or you might think of ways to use these with other types of small town businesses. Hold trivia nights or […]

May 20, 2019 Filed Under: customer service, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: coffee shops, coffeesoutside, community, crowdsourced, customer service, food business, gathering, restaurant, small business, small business success, success, third places

Regular Customers Form Your Base

By Glenn Muske

Ask yourself: Who are your regular customers? What do they buy and why do they keep coming back? Who are the customers you no longer see? Why aren’t they returning? Why is it important that you can answer these two questions? It’s simple. Regular customers form the base of your business. And customers who have […]

December 12, 2018 Filed Under: rural, Small Biz 100, success

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