{"id":26291,"date":"2020-04-03T17:15:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T21:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26291"},"modified":"2020-04-03T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T21:15:11","slug":"relationship-is-key-focus-for-local-small-business-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/relationship-is-key-focus-for-local-small-business-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRelationship\u201d is key focus for local small business owners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a time of crisis,\nit can\u2019t all be about dollars and cents; maintaining relationships is of the\nutmost importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So says Deb Clark,\nowner of Oakridge Fashions, the popular boutique in the Aurora Shopping Centre\nat Yonge Street and Murray Drive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Clark is just one\nof countless small business owners across York Region who have been grappling\nwith the new normal that COVID-19 has imposed upon us for the time being, while\nalso looking at creative ways of continuing to serve customers while keeping\nrevenue coming in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Relationship\u2019 is\nthe key word,\u201d she says. \u201cAt a time like this, it can\u2019t all be about dollars\nand cents, but, at the same time, our small businesses are under attack in a\nway by this very virus. One of the things I determined very quickly was that\nwhile we could no longer have a face-to-face experience with our customers, we\ncould use technology to reach out to them and let them know, first and\nforemost, that we are thinking of them. I have three messages I keep giving to\nmy customers: I am thinking of you, I miss you, and I hope that you will\nremember me as one of your favourite small businesses at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important for\nsmall businesses, she says, to \u201cbe sensitive\u201d to the fact that at this moment,\nindividuals are being necessarily cautious about their spending and the\nquestion to customers should be, \u201cHow can I serve you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the\nday, every business is measured by its ability to serve its customers,\u201d she\nsays. \u201cI think that one of the differences that has always been true of small\nbusinesses versus large conglomerates has always been about the extra service.\nThat is the difference-maker and that is the reason so many Aurorans love their\nfavourite small businesses: because they have come to know when they walk\nthrough these doors, they are a known entity with a name, a face, and a record\nof business together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it can\u2019t be\nsaid that Oakridge is running \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d, they are moving forward in a\ndifferent manner. Ms. Clark has been in the store just about every day working\non orders that have come in through their website, personally making deliveries\nto local customers wherever possible to maintain those all-important\nrelationships, and taking to social media platforms like Instagram to stay in\ntouch with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram videos, for\ninstance, take customers step by step through the online ordering process while\nintroducing new lines of product specifically chosen to meet the needs coming\nout of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur feeling is this\nis not the time for high fashion: this is a time for pieces that are\ncomfortable, affordable, and that make sense for at home,\u201d says Ms. Clark.\n\u201cAnother thing we are doing differently is we recognize that people may have\nbirthday gifts to buy for someone, or special occasion gifts to purchase for a\nwoman, but with no store open to go to. We are trying to draw attention to\nthose kinds of items on our website that may be purchased online that do not\nhave an issue about fit. For example, we have a video to draw attention to a\nbrand-new collection of lightweight spring ponchos and the idea there is that\nit is one size fits all. The idea also is that it is a lovely, comfortable\nlittle treat to perhaps give to yourself if you\u2019re at home. It certainly is a\ncomforting thing, it brightens your day, and if you\u2019re looking at wanting to\nmake a purchase to support my small business, this is one way a woman can do so\nwithout worrying about the question online of \u2018Will it fit?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen, the next thing\nwe are going to do is put a whole bunch of beautiful spring accessories\ntogether in the video for those same reasons. What can you get for a gift that\nyou need to buy that has not got an issue around fit? What can you purchase for\nyourself to brighten your day? We\u2019re mindful it is about the right things to\nsuggest to our customers who really do want to support their favourite local\nbusinesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this\nsignificant gear shift in business operations, Ms. Clark says feedback has been\nnothing but positive and she is \u201cextremely grateful\u201d that long-time customers\nare staying in touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message is, \u2018How\ncan I brighten your day, and how can I serve you at this time? And how can you\nsupport me?\u2019 I do like to give my customers some ideas I feel have integrity,\nthat have really good, common sense behind them because I have had customers\nwho have said, \u2018How can I support you? I have never shopped online before.\u2019 We\nhave put together a tutorial video that they can just watch, which shows me\nputting an order through from start to finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people just\nneed a little extra help. We\u2019re at the end of the phone helping our customers\nand we\u2019re also at the end of emails. We\u2019re everywhere, but the response back\nfrom that initial video that I put out greeting my customers last weekend was\nso heartwarming. At a time when I, like every other small business person, is\nnervous, anxious and worried, to receive orders coming in right after that,\nonto our online system, was absolutely encouraging. It reminded me that our\ncustomers are there and they care. I think it is just a matter of reaching out\nto them and reminding them that you\u2019re here, telling them that you care, that\nyou\u2019re thinking about them, and that you\u2019re here to serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more, visit oakridgefashions.com or follow them on Instagram @oakridgefashions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a time of crisis, it can\u2019t all be about dollars and cents; maintaining relationships is of the utmost importance. So says Deb Clark, owner of Oakridge Fashions, the popular boutique in the Aurora Shopping Centre at Yonge Street and Murray Drive. Ms. Clark is just one of countless small business owners across York Region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Q3","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 13:38:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}