Did you know why running a small business is fun? Well, there are many reasons, but for Gail and Stacey Rogers, it’s all fun and play in their business.
Gail and her daughter Stacey are the owners of Chester, NJ, USA local business, Toys with Love. They sell quality toys, including their very own line of hand-made toys.
The business is thriving, even facing competitors like similar-sized toy stores and the big toy retail stores. But why is the business thriving? How do Gail and Stacey do it?
Here are some lessons learned from the success story of Toys with Love:
1. Sell what big stores don’t
Why competing head-to-head with the big guys, when you can be unique and carve your own niche?
Toys with Store sells what the big retailers don’t, not stopping there, they make everything custom.
2. Make your customers comfortable and know your customers well
Gail and Stacey encourage kids to play at their store with their toys. This will help enhancing the shopping experience.
One of the critical success factors is the fact that Stacey knows everyone’s name – not only the adult customers, but also the young ones. Gail says that this goes a long way.
3. They build their list really well
The money is still in the list. New customers are good, but existing, returning customers are great! Focusing on the latter, Gail and Stacey build a mailing list consisting of more than 6,500 members; regularly they send over newletters to keep them informed with new products, offers and so on. This has kept customers returning – and when it comes to custom toys, you will have a lot of returning customers if you do things right!
4. Partner with other small businesses; help with each other
Running a small business is often overwhelming and it’s easy to develop a mindset that as a small business, you need to do things on your own. Well, it doesn’t need to be that way; you can partner with non-competing local businesses and help each other business, as well as strengthen each other business offering.
Gail Rogers says that she’s in the business for 26 years, but she didn’t figure that out until last year.
One of Toys with Love’s partners is The UPS Store. Don Pollard, The UPS Store’s local owner helps Toys with Love with printing labels and mailing their products and newsletters (with 6,500 members on the list, sticking labels manually is not an option!) As Toys with Love has a big sale twice a year and they send out a postcard to advertise, help is much-needed, indeed.
Takeaway
Running a local business, you need to be aware that your existence is very much depending on how your fellow local business owners is doing; running a local business is not a solo game to play; it’s a collective thing.
Referring other businesses in the neighborhood won’t lose you customers; instead, you are sharing valuable info via your recommendations, which will also give you new customers coming from other local business owners who recommend your business. This is how things work best, especially for main street businesses.
