Business Scene for the week of December 27, 2016
SCRATH N WIN TICKETS
If you were one of the lucky winners who were called as a winner of a Scratch N Win card from Santa’s Sleigh Days be sure and pick up your winning ticket. Some merchants are going to be closed around the holidays, but the scratch cards are valid until Jan. 31, 2017. You don’t want to miss out on the great gifts and shopping spree money.
DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY
Diamond Mountain Casino Hotel and Brewery will be having their annual New Years’ Eve party featuring the live music of Forgery. There will be a prime rib and crab dinner starting at 6 p.m. and the dance starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale now in the gift shop. So call your friends and head on out for a fun filled night on the town.
NEW YEAR’S EVE PRIME RIB
If you are tired of cooking after the holidays, head on down to the White House Restaurant in Susanville for their annual New Year’s Eve Prime Rib or Seafood Pasta special! Owners Tom and Joy Lim will have the fire stoked for a romantic dinner. Champagne is also available. The White House is located at 3085 Johnstonville Road, Susanville. For more information, see their ad in this week’s paper or call 257-6666.
RENEW YOUR COMMITMENT…
Weekly, we dedicate this space to share with you news tidbits about our local businesses. Today, as you read through this column, pause for a moment to consider just what it takes for these fine businesses to survive in this county. Simply said: We need them and they need us. For that to truly work, businesses have to provide consistently good service and selection at a fair price. In turn, we have to do the shopping.
Are all the players-merchants and shoppers – doing their part consistently? So, isn’t this the perfect time to renew our commitment to our fine county, to help our community, to help ourselves? You know the old adage, “What goes around, comes around!” How true is that when it comes to supporting our students and their extracurricular activities, our clubs and organizations, volunteer firefighters and even our local hospital and health care?
So, here’s a challenge for you:
Forget what happened yesterday. Dismiss any prior, perhaps bias, perceptions you might be hanging on to. If someone shared with you what he or she thought was a bad experience at a local store, don’t give it much merit. Instead, go find out for yourself.
If Mr. or Mrs. Merchant, you’ve become apathetic because of something you’ve tried in the past failed to meet your expectations, let it go and try it again. Better yet, try something new and different. If you don’t try to make your business better, it will only get worse. Above all, while you are letting customers know you want their business, be sure you also show them how much you value their business by doing your part to provide the best possible customer service with a good selection at fair prices.
POINTS OF VIEW WORTH CONSIDERING
A good reminder for anyone who owns a business or has employees:
Count change back. Don’t just dump a handful of money and the receipt in the customer’s hand. It demonstrates laziness and a lack of interest in your customer.
Be consistent with your hours of operation.
Be reliable for your customers so they know when they can get what they need from you without being confused or becoming frustrated.
Personal calls. This one is easy: stay off the phone with personal calls when you have customers standing in front of you. At the very least, they deserve your undivided attention.
Have phone number on the front of your building or on your signs. With today’s use of cell phones, if customers driving by your place of business could quickly see your phone number it could very easily result in a sale (of course, it’s illegal to use your cell phone while driving), order or service call from your business.
