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Having a small town business can be a dicey proposition—people live in small towns because they want a more personalized experience but they might not want to be bosom buddies.  The right degree of familiarity is important when dealing with your clients; you want them to feel valued but not smothered and certainly not obligated through friendship to buy products they don’t need or want.

Another challenge you have to overcome is the general population’s assumption that because you are a small town business, your prices will not be competitive because you don’t have the resources to buy in bulk.  With “club warehouse” stores springing up all across the country, that assumption is no longer true.  Plus, you can purchase a lot of your merchandise over the internet to save on transportation expenses and time.

A presence on the internet is a must if you want to keep your sales numbers up.  Just because you’re in a small town doesn’t mean you have to ignore the rest of the world.  Get a website and keep it fresh and current, adding content at least once weekly.  You don’t have to pitch a new product every time or even talk about your business.  Most people are sentimental about small towns and love to hear about characters and experiences connected with them.  If you can entertain your “audience” they will return to the site frequently, establishing a relationship that will most likely turn into sales.

You can also use the internet to keep in touch with all your customers whether they are local or located in other states or countries.  An internet newsletter is a great way to do this.  There are several business that publish newsletters sent to my inbox but very few that I continue to receive on a regular basis.  Those that I do keep are filled with new developments about the products lines and entertaining trivia and suggestions.  For instance, I love good coffee and enjoy getting a newsletter from a Cuban coffee company I order from occasionally.  They tell stories about Cuban traditions, insert small blurbs about fashions in their country, include recipes of the cuisine and a lot of other interesting facts and tales.  It’s truly a delight to read and when I see my coffee supply dwindling, I think of that company first and foremost!

You see, a small town business will only remain as small as your imagination so get busy and be creative!