Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I know a Chamber of Commerce isn`t about starting up, which is the basis of this site, but I think it`s all part of growing your business and that`s what my chamber is trying to do.

We`re looking to poll our local citizens on the type(s) of businesses they would like to see come to our town. Now this isn`t a city of any sorts, it`s a town of 1,600 people and a surrounding population totaling approximately 5,000 people. So we have room to grow, but we`re not sure of the direction or growth. We have plenty of insurance agents, pizza parlors, banks and gas stations, but we need something more.

Anyone have ideas on how we could gear this poll so that we would get feedback on NEW businesses or how to accentuate our business base already?

You might write the poll more about people`s habits and activities, rather than making it so business-centric.  For example, don`t just ask what businesses people drive out of your area for, ask what people do when they leave your town.  Get into the minds of people, not just where they go.

So if people visit friends or family that live in another town, what do they do with those friends?  Does your town have comparable places for your residents to entertain?

Or ask about running errands.  Of the typical errands (grocery, bank, drugstore, etc.) where does your town lack?  And don`t just ask about typical errands, but what of those in larger communities?

And don`t just ask about businesses, but ask about habits at home.  If you find a lot of people are socially serving coffee to friends at home, maybe you need another coffee shop, as an example.  But you would not have known if you only asked about people visiting businesses.

Think about your poll from the consumer`s point of view, not the chamber`s.

I don`t see anything in there about clothing boutiques, hardware stores, general stores, or other service-type places. What about hair salons, handyman places, gardening, and so on?

Steve`s right...better to have a sense of what do people in the town like to do, what are their habits, and how far do they travel for regular types of shopping that`s unavailable locally.

CampSteve,

Very good point. Look at it from the consumer`s point of view. *Duh* LOL

CraigL,

Believe it or not, we have the general stores and as a matter of fact, we`re going to end up with 2 general stores and 2 dollar stores before the end of the year. The dollar stores are new and the combination of all 4 means that there won`t be enough economy in this small town to support all of them. Which in turn means someone will go belly up and I hope it`s not our long standing locally owned stores.