Serve the People You Care About - Businesses are Imbedded in Communities
A small restaurant called Modern Times opened in my South Minneapolis neighborhood earlier this year. It is a modest place that was opened by people that already have small business experience and is based on the Midwestern “cafe” concept. It serves breakfast, lunch, and coffee from approximately 7am to 5pm. The menu consists primarily of short order meals and they do not serve alcohol. What makes the establishment worth writing about, it that it is firmly rooted in a strong, dedicated cultural community that has been existent in this neighborhood for many years. It is a prime example of the fact that every business, regardless of the product or service it sells, must know its customer intimately and show significant care when meeting its needs.
When Modern Times opened it was immediately packed – and has stayed packed for the past 4 months – not because of the PR it has received, or its location, or due to the fact that the food is particularly excellent (although it is very good and nutritious by restaurant standards), but because it knows its core, niche customer very well and is able to provide them with exactly what they want, both in terms of food and an overall dining experience. When developing an enterprise, either as a sole proprietor entrepreneur or as a corporate entity, it is important when evaluating one’s strengths and core competencies to also consider which people or groups of people that you care about the most. Care and thoughtfulness are requirements for adding value to the lives of our fellow man, either as social relationship partners or as customers. All successful businesses must be focused on adding value to the lives of their customers in order to design and develop products that can be profitably sold to them.
So regardless of what community your business serves – be it doctors, engineers, hedge fund managers, or gutter punks – first establish why it is that you want to serve them and why do they matter to you. Without a deep sense of care and fellowship it is nearly impossible to develop and market products that will satisfy them and keep your business operating. It’s about the people that matter to you first, and only after dedicated care is demonstrated, can it then be about you and your business’s ability to be financially successful.
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