[KeliTheGuitarMomma]

One of my primary goals in my business is to create a social environment within my community. We really want to make our customers feel like family... like they are not alone and can depend on us. Is this the right frame of mind to have? To see more about the business I plan to start... check out my blog. Should I treat them like a business usually treats customers, or should there be a more personalized type of relationship... where they feel like family and feel like they are cared for as more than just a "customer base"? I need to know what frame of mind I need to be in. Thanks y'all!

[Cody.Z.Chang]

Dear KeliTheGuitarMomma,

I think what you may want to start out doing is evaluating the..."family-ness(?)" of other stores in the area.

Do those grocery stores, Wal-Mart(s), libraries, hardware stores, etc, pretty much know most of their customers on a first name basis? Are they frequent customers that chit-chat about they're cat, lawn, brother, sister, etc to the store owners and employees? Is your 3,000 people population pretty much a close-nit, everybody knows everybody community?
If the answers to those questions are all 'YES', then I'm sure you already know, personally, your target demographics. Whether it was your vision or not, your cafe will become 'family-like'. All you have to do from there is to extend yourself further until it meets your vision of 'customers feeling like family'

If the answers to those questions are 'NO', you may want to evaluate the reasons why. Too many people? Too fast paced life? No time during the day? angry people? etc.

Has this 'family-feeling' been created before by other stores? How do they do it? Does this contribute to their competitive advantage significantly?


Just some questions to consider...

[SalesGod]

Originally Posted by KeliTheGuitarMomma

One of my primary goals in my business is to create a social environment within my community. We really want to make our customers feel like family... like they are not alone and can depend on us. Is this the right frame of mind to have? To see more about the business I plan to start... check out my blog. Should I treat them like a business usually treats customers, or should there be a more personalized type of relationship... where they feel like family and feel like they are cared for as more than just a "customer base"? I need to know what frame of mind I need to be in. Thanks y'all!

Read Dale Carnige's How to Win Friends and Influnece People, this will help build your foundation and give you some insight into how you can achieve your goals in business.

[ttfing]

Just don't treat them like shit.

[UMD]

i do feel like that also

[Essenobi_]

culture is very important so if you do plan on making that part of the business culture then it's important that this is translated to EVERYONE in your company, otherwise you'll still be treating them just as customers and not family

[cybergift]

Show respect to your customers by giving quality services and treat them equally.

You also need to be decisive in building your business.

[fragin_bastich]

I was fortunate enough to work for the better part of a decade at a local (and by local, I mean neighborhood) auto repair facility as a mechanic. If there is ONE thing I learned working in that environment is how intimate business can be. Of course, I'm not saying the same approach applies to every business model, just that by making time for, and taking care of our customers not only were they willing to return, but also pay a higher rate than other places in order to feel secure in the services being offered.

I wouldn't say we did anything special to treat our customers like "family", we just took an extra minute to "take care of" our customers, and customers responded with loyalty, and checkbooks. Being in the auto repair business it was all about making customers feel safe, and secure that there $30,000 machine that they knew next to nothing about was being completely taken. I wouldn't say they were like family, but I did build several lifelong friendships with customers there.

Long story short, the lesson from that experience is that many, many people are willing to pay more for the same product/service if they feel secure that it's being done in THEIR best interest, and they will be taken care of.