Hire from within your community
There are endless benefits to staffing your business with members of the local community. Local employees spend less time commuting, saving them cash that they would spend on gas or transit. This money saved can then be spent at local businesses – including yours. Local employees also get stuck in traffic less frequently, meaning fewer late arrivals.
Perhaps more importantly, hiring locally provides an immediate connection to your community of customers. If an employee works close to home, there’s a good chance that he’ll know a few regular customers from the first day of work. Your customers will be happy seeing a familiar face behind the counter, and your staff will be building relationships for your business that can last a lifetime.
Invest in local
Being a committed member of your community means taking an active role. When you are approached by local nonprofits, schools, or sports teams with donation requests, say yes as often as you can. Every nonprofit organization in your community is connected to numerous potential customers, and many of them have email newsletters with large subscriber bases. Supporting local nonprofits is a win-win, as they get the financial support they need and you benefit from positive word of mouth within their extensive networks.
While important, donating a product or a gift card every now and then is just the first step. Get involved! Participate in community events, show your face, hang your banner and let people know that your logo represents more than just a storefront – it represents a community partner. Encourage your staff to volunteer at local nonprofits by informing them about opportunities, sharing the details of the sponsorships and donations you give, and even offering them a little paid time to get them motivated to pitch in.
Source local goods
There are few better ways to solidify a community’s economy than to source goods and services locally. New Seasons Market had great success with our Vancouver vendor fair, where our buyers met with dozens of area farmers, ranchers and food start-ups. We’ve brought more than 60 new local products to our shelves as a result of that event, and that number is still growing as prospective vendors take the feedback our buyers gave them to prepare their products for market. Products are spreading beyond our Vancouver store’s shelves, and some vendors are now finding distribution partners, larger production facilities, and huge increases in their profits since partnering with us. Most importantly, their success is our success – everyone benefits and everyone thrives.
Source local services
From cleaning services to couriers, there are plenty of opportunities to work with local service providers in your day-to-day operations. Ask your fellow local businesses who they’ve had success with, and be sure to share your good experiences around, too. As any manager knows, word of mouth is a powerful thing.
Tell your story
Once your commitment to your community has become part of your business’s DNA, be sure to spread the word. Let your staff know that you’re proud to keep your profits in the community. Tell your vendors that you value working with another local business, and why it’s important to you. And connect your employees with your vendors, so they can become familiar with the faces behind the products. At New Seasons Market, our bi-annual company meetings always feature presentations by a few home grown food producers and plenty of time for one-on-one conversations. Our employees take those experiences back to the store where they can share their stories with our customers. This closes the loop, and gets everyone invested in sustaining those valuable community relationships.
Danielle Halstead is the manager of New Seasons Market in Fisher’s Landing, located at 2100B Southeast 164th Avenue
in Vancouver.
