Weekly Column: Main Street USA

What can Wall Street learn from Main Street?

Quite a bit according to a recent blog posting at Harvard Business Publishing.

In particular, consultant John Baldoni writes that small town car dealers can teach big businesses a thing or two about economic growth and stability:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/baldoni/2009/05/what_you_can_learn_from_small.html

According to Baldoni, there are four keys that have helped car dealers in small cities survive while other car dealers have not.

The first key is to "know your customer." As Baldoni notes, "Small-town auto dealers know what vehicles their customers prefer." This is another way of saying that people in small cities know how to serve their customers because they know their customers first. When you are friends with someone, you tend to have a better business relationship with them, too.

The second key is that "service matters." Again, this is another example of where living in a smaller city can be beneficial. "Local dealers have no alternative to treating their customers right," Baldoni writes, "they live in the community, and word gets around."

The third key is to "invest in the community." A business leader in a small city knows that giving is more important than receiving. "In many areas, car dealers are the soft touch for youth sports teams as well as school musicals and church raffles." This helps build a positive brand for the dealer throughout the entire community.

The fourth key is to "maximize opportunity." An entrepreneur in a smaller place can have a bigger impact. "He has faith in himself, his business, and his community," Baldoni writes. And so when other companies leave or go out of business, the small city entrepreneur will pick up the slack.

These are simple principles that can have a profound impact on businesses throughout the country. But they all have a unique theme in common--they work best in places where people know and care about each other.

It turns out, that spirit of community is not only good for America, it's good for business.