Are you open for business?

[blockquote]”I don’t think people know we’re open.”[/blockquote]

Photo credit: sadiya

Last week, I made dinner plans for Monday. And then I had a hand-slap-forehead-moment when I realised that Monday can be a tricky night in a small town because a lot of places are closed.

I Googled the restaurant and found… nothing. I tried to locate them on Facebook, with no luck. I entered “restaurant name + hours” and came up empty-handed, although I did see results for other restaurants in the area who were closed on Monday. Then I found the restaurant’s phone number and decided to give them a call. The phone rang and rang and rang… and no one answered, not even an answering machine.

Finally, I decided to just go to the restaurant. After all, we could always figure out something else if it was closed.

I got there and the restaurant was open – pretty empty, but definitely serving food. I commented to our server that I was happy they were open and asked if it was always so quiet on a Monday. She said yes, always quiet, although she wondered why, as most other places were closed. And then she said, “I don’t think people know we’re open.”

So if your company is open for business, why don’t you make it easy for your clients and customers to actually do business with you? I’ll even give you my beginner’s 4-step plan:

1. Answer your phone. If you can’t, make sure you have some sort of voice mail system set up.

2. Have a website. Even if it just has your hours of operation, location address and contact information, that will be enough for people to find you online.

3. Set up a Google Places for Business profile (click here to get started). Add the same information as in number 2. After all, it’s Google, one of the most-used search-engines out there.

4. Start a Facebook page. Add the same information as on your website, and post an update once a month. The page will be accessible to Facebook users and will also show up in search results. Bonus points for setting up a vanity URL for your page.

Need help with these steps or know someone who could benefit from some coaching? You can always reach me at jen@jenuinemarketing.com or facebook.com/jenuinemarketing

And yes, Jenuine Marketing is open for business!