Last night at 8:30 as my son was printing out a homework assignment, the black ink ran out. Crap! We have another printer but it doesn’t want to cooperate with our other computer—not a match made in heaven. So I got in my car and drove first to Staples and then to Office Depot. Did you know they close at 8? Now you do. Kinko’s was my last resort and not only were they open, they had the cartridge I needed. The best part was that the cartridge was the same price as the ones at office supply superstores. Thanks for not sticking it to me, Kinko’s.
What makes this story ironic is that I always tell my clients to have extra cartridges on hand. So much for following my own advice. This morning after my sons left for school, I ran back to Staples and stocked up on cartridges and printer paper. I’m a quick study.
What can you learn from my humbling experience? Know what supplies you own, not what you swear you bought. What matters is that you have what you need on hand when you need it.
If you plan ahead you can find good deals on office products and supplies online. One of my favorite sites to find coupons and info about sales is Brad’s Deals. Brad scours the Internet looking for discounts from office supplies to office furniture to books.
I often feel better when I find out an actress with an incredible figure is wearing Spanx. That makes her more human. Now you can feel better knowing that someone who pushes organization on an hourly basis messes up too.
Interesting…as a small business owner we are always trying to compete with not only larger box stores but other small business owners. We do this by trying to offer better service, value, different positioning etc.I guess sometimes even though we may still play the right cards we can still loose out to big dollar advertising.
What do I mean? In this article you ran of ink and try the big box store. They are closed. You head out as a last resort to Kinko’s. Not only are they open late and could do the printing if they didn’t stock the ink but they do have what you need and at the same price as the box stores. Kinko’s has extended more value without a premium and saved your son’s butt – Kinko’s is your hero.
Here’s the part that drives small business owners nuts!!! The next day you do not reward kinko’s by buying from them. You go to the box store and buy from them. Why? Has Kinko’s not earned your business? Is it habit? Will you remember Kinko’s – sure next time the box store is closed.
I’m not saying you’re wrong or trying to make you feel bad for not going back to Kinko’s but as a small biz owner it’s important to understand human nature and more importantly when we don’t get the sale/customer. Just because we get a customer out of a bind does NOT make them a repeat customer.
I believe small business owners have too often given up many things that we should be charging a premium for in the hopes of earning a customer. I guess this goes to show that you can do all things right and still not gain the customer.
Does this mean you stop doing all the right things? No not at all. We must keep stepping up, however I think it just helps us to realize there is no magic bullet and the price of admission to small business success is perseverance.
Ouch, John…the truth hurts. You have several valid points and I didn’t really look at it that way. I’m a regular Kinko’s customer—they handle all my printing and binding—but they’re not the first place I think of when I need office supplies. But considering how helpful they were, there’s no reason for me to go to the big box stores for all of my supplies. As far as supporting small business, every service and supplier I use would be considered a small business and I do what I can to spread the word about them. You’re right that more of us need to do that. Thanks for your insightful and on-the-mark comments.
Small businesses are getting killed because there’s always some behemoth ready to undercut the small business. So the question is whether you want the people who treat you like a queen to survive … or whether you want to increase profits for the people who save you money so you’re … uh … rich as a queen.
The obvious problem is that it’s 2009 and we’ve come to expect ALL businesses to be faceless and devoid of personality. It’s easy because for businesses to survive, they have to pay low wages and thus the face behind the counter is rarely the same when we visit, so we assume that we’re dealing with a faceless, soulless corporate entity. And if we ARE doing that, why not take the not-that-unreasonable route of always looking for the faceless corporation with the lowest price?
That said, I DO actually make a point of buying all of my gas and all of my convenience store items from the convenience store on the corner by my house because I want the store to stay there … and I actually see the owner enough to have built a relationship. It pays off in little ways … like the guy spotting me a dime when I’m short … or just asking me how I’m doing. I’m living in the age of faceless, soulless corporations, but if I’m dealing with a franchise owner who pays attention to me … even just telling me when there’s a special or letting me in the door when it’s one minute after closing … or being polite at 2 or 3:00 in the morning, that’s worth something.
The more you ignore the customer service efforts of the little guy, the more the behemoth profits … and sooner or later, your little guy closes up shop.