On Saturday I popped into Truro for lunch at the Colours Café. While I was there, I decided to explore the parts I didn’t know; there are lots of small streets and alleyways in Truro. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) currently has a campaign #MyHiddenGems highlighting small businesses that people may not have heard about, hopefully the campaign will increase their footfall. I thought my exploration might reveal a gem or two to posts about on social media and help support the campaign; I am an FSB Area Lead in Cornwall. This summer some of our popular venues are being overrun, so if we can spread the load everyone benefits. I had a fascinating afternoon and found lots of candidates for the campaign, a barber called Jabba the Cutt and a hair and beauty salon actually called Hidden Gem. Neither of those were of direct interest to me; I don’t have any hair and it would take an industrial scale intervention to make me beautiful on the outside. Pollen in the Park, a refreshment kiosk selling vegan cakes, was of great interest to me as was Victoria Park where it was situated, I love green spaces in built-up areas and I love trees. Follow me on Twitter to see what else I found.
My afternoon experience made me think about whether there are hidden gems in our businesses that we simply don’t notice.
Have you had a wander through your customer database, either manually or with nifty software, to see if there are some gems in there that need a polish to make them shine? I bought some nut butters a while ago (I’m vegan), because I had not reordered, despite the company sending me emails at suitable intervals, they eventually sent me an email with the subject line “Edward you’re a tough nut to crack”. That worked, I liked the humour, and the discount they offered me. I’m now a regular customer, waiting for an email saying I am a diamond.
Are there products or services in your offering that could shine out given a tweak so they add a sparkle to your business?
Is there an employee who if given extra responsibility, a new role or training would be a glittering star?
Seek and ye shall find. Matthew 7:7-8
and
Those who do not believe in magic will never find it.
Honesty Box
The seed of an idea for these business blogs has to grow and I nurture it until it is ready to harvest, then I prepare it so you can digest it. If you found the content useful please consider popping some money into the honesty box. Unlike buying eggs at the farm gate, you cannot put the cash in a box because you are reading this online. You can click on the Buy Me a Coffee link below which will take you to a page where by magic (nifty software) a small amount of money will disappear from your account and appear in mine. Don’t worry you are in control all the time. If the post wasn’t helpful, please leave a comment suggesting how it can be improved.
If you like what I say you can buy me a coffee if you want to.
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Business Thoughts 