Coffs Harbour is on the threshold of becoming the city that demographers talk about and use as examples: a city with a vibrant and viable business community. We missed an opportunity in the early ’90s when we had the chance to be a tourism destination.
I was already in town in those days and even though there were many well-intentioned businesspeople it did not happen. Why?
I feel the business community/business groups did not work together, some were carrying the load, but some were pulling in different directions.
The golden rules for a city to be better than others are: it must
have a viable business community,
have a Loving Place, and
be galvanised and work together to achieve goals.
The first step
Learn about other businesses
A couple of months ago at the August chamber of commerce breakfast we set ourselves “homework” to go and visit three other businesses, preferably businesses we had never dealt with before. The idea was to introduce ourselves not only as members of the chamber of commerce, but also as a representative of the business we work for. We then find and exchange basic facts, such as how long we’ve been in the business, owner/managers’ names, product/service, area we cover, the issues we have, number of employees etc.
This exchange does a few things, namely:
It starts relationships,
It creates/references points were they can be used in the future,
We learn about the issues other businesses face,
They learn about our business,
It promotes the chamber of commerce,
It creates goodwill among business,
It is the beginning of starting to work together.
The second step
Visiting local attractions
We as members and non-members will become tourists in our own back yard. The chamber of commerce in association with all the major tourist attractions will come up with social days where we can experience what as a destination we have to offer. This will add to the benefit of working together, as well we will learn about what we have to offer and then pass that knowledge on to our visitors and enhance their experience while they are in town.
The third step
Training our staff
We are perceived to be unfriendly when we are looking after our customers and visitors. The chamber of commerce is well connected and supported through its membership with organisations that specialise in training, so by working together with them we will develop training which can be applied to all areas of our business community.
Just think, so far we have learnt about other businesses, started relationships, we are referring business to each other, we have visited our attractions and learnt about them, and now we have trained our staff, not only in customer service, but we have also passed on all the knowledge from steps one and two, and when visitors come to our business, we can give them information about other areas of our beautiful city.
The fourth step
Identifying and solving issues
We as the business community can identify issues that affect us and we start working together towards a solution. Can we achieve all of the above? Of course we can. The only thing that stops us is our attitude.
Remember, change starts with us.