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Use your loyalty card as your business card

By Becky McCray Leave a Comment

A loyalty card from Millie Coffee

At the LaunchRuralOK Small Business Resource event in Alva, I overheard the owner of Millie Coffee from Fairview, Oklahoma, talking to a service provider she wanted to work with. She  apologized for not having business cards with her, then handed over her shop’s loyalty card instead. I looked over my shoulder and said out loud, […]

December 15, 2025 Filed Under: customer service, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural Tagged With: customer service, marketing, non-retail, retail, rural business, service businesses, small towns

Caring is a small town business advantage

By Small Biz Survival

A woman smiling at the camera while standing in front of a clothing rack

By Stephanie Ward, Firefly Coaching Caring isn’t something you can do if you’re only using it as a tactic. You can’t fake caring, either you do or you don’t. The good news is that we all have the capacity to care. It’s a state of being that you can tap into, just like gratitude. We […]

October 2, 2025 Filed Under: customer service, entrepreneurship, rural Tagged With: customer service, entrepreneurship, guest post

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

Open Up – It’s the Customers

By Chris Brogan

As different places begin to allow local businesses to open up, you’re not alone if you’re breathing a sigh of relief mixed with a gasp of worry. We all need the money. We all want to get back to being useful for the people we serve. And some or most of us are worried about […]

May 19, 2020 Filed Under: customer service, economic development, entrepreneurship, management, marketing, rural, shop local, trends Tagged With: change, Chris Brogan, coronavirus, COVID19, crisis communications, customer service, disaster, economic development, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, guest post, recovery, reopening, resilience, shop local

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