1-It’s easy to build trust.

It’s easy to build trust with small business owners because most of the owners are present in the day-to-day activity that surrounds their business. In fact, there isn’t much that takes place in a small business that the shop owner doesn’t have a hand in. So once they establish a trusting relationship with someone else who is an asset to the well-being of the business, they tend to keep that person in their close circle.

Try building a friendly relationship with the store owners in your home town. Make an effort to know their customers so they trust you to help make their businesses grow.

2-No hoops to jump through.

Because you are most likely working directly with the owner, there won’t be any hoops to jump through to find someone authorized to make a decision. Small business owners tend to keep decisions to a yes or a no. There won’t be any phone transfers, upper-management, or lag time to deal with.

Once you have developed a trusting relationship with a small business owner, they’ll feel comfortable to entertain your promotional product ideas and the buck stops there. They either like it or they don’t!

3-If they’re happy, they will tell someone.

If small business owners are happy with their products and service, they WILL tell someone. And if someone should ask where they got something, they WILL tell someone. Where big brand companies stick to commercials and print ads, small businesses do most of their marketing through word of mouth and social media these days. Selling trendy promotional products to one store might result in supplying an entire Main Street with promotional products.

It’s not uncommon for entire communities to rally all of their small businesses together for Shop Small Saturdays and Sip and Strolls so go ahead and encourage your customers to share your contact info for city-wide events.

4-Be along for the ride.

Don’t you want to be along for the ride when that small store becomes one of many? Every large company and corporation started as a small business! They might be ordering minimum quantities right now but that just means there’s nowhere to go but up! And if your marketing tools (promo products) have been helping their business grow from the beginning, they’ll continue to need you and your products as they grow.

If your customers are growing, you’re growing!

5-They’re small but mighty.

Small businesses might be small when they stand alone, but they’re certainly mighty when they stand together. For every US corporation, there are 1162 small businesses! Towns all across America are looking to revamp their downtowns with quaint boutiques, restaurants, and stores. While all of the department stores have made the move online, the Ma & Pa shops are keeping their doors open and their shelves full of trendy, earth-friendly, and reclaimed items.

Small businesses are as trendy as the products inside them and they provide vital revenue for our home towns. Let’s make sure we support them by shopping small and offering marketing solutions (promotional products) that fit their budgets.