Marketing

I always say everything boils down to Marketing, you're looking for a job, you Market yourself, you are looking for a spouse, you Market yourself, you know, dresss nice etc, everything boils down to Marketing. Now and then you see some really BAD Marketing and just go "wow!"
My husband was interested in quilting, so we visited a local quilting shop in Antioch, not mentioning names, but there's just one! Anyhow, he asked for information and she told him "you HAVE to take a class first and there aren't any until January" I stepped in and asked if there was at least a book or something he could look at and was told "oh, you MUST take the class, the Rotary Cutter is very dangerous" and went on to lecture us about how dangerous it is, c'mon people, not like it's a machine gun or something! Anyhow they didn't add anything positive to the experience of visiting their shop, couldn't have been LESS helpful and at the end they said "do you want a business card" we declined, and even after we left, my husband says "you don't offer a business card, you just hand them one!" anyhow, they failed on Marketing, I was really blown away, as a small business owner, you do what you can to be helpful to your customer, even if you don't have what they need. Now and then in Martinez, another Soap Company comes to the Farmers Market (they belong to the Mtz Art Guild) and she and I have learned what the other has and have no problem sending customers to the other person if they're looking for something we don't offer, that's how it should be, help your customers! Sorry to go on about that, it just amazed me. the thing is we support local as much as we can, but they have to deserve the business. Off to Joanne's Fabrics when they open!