Getting to Know Your New Community | Krystal Rineck of Chuck and Don’s Pet Food and Supply of Longmont.
When I was asked to open the Longmont location of Chuck & Don’s I was a little nervous because it was a new place with new people, miles from the Highlands Ranch store I was currently managing. Was this location going to have the same great customers? Would Longmont welcome us? Most of our locations were opened within just several miles of each other, the farthest being about 15 miles apart. Because of this we were able to take the momentum from already open locations to direct customers to new locations that may be closer to their home. With Longmont, the closest Chuck & Don’s was going to be 33 miles away, over double any other location. This would take me into a community where my company was completely unknown.
I decided I needed to get to know this new community and spent 3 months before the store opened doing just that. I decided the Chamber of Commerce would be the best avenue, that way I could get to know other businesses in the area and find ways to partner with them. I went to the Chamber’s website and saw there was a meeting at a coffee shop and I love coffee, so I decided on that as my first leads group. I had never been to a networking event like this before so had no idea what I would be heading into. I had written and practiced a short introduction about myself and Chuck & Don’s prior to attending, this helped me feel at ease when I ended up needing to introduce myself not only to one person but an entire group. I met many wonderful people just in that first event who invited me to other events later that week or in the month. It gave me confidence to look around those following events and see friendly, familiar faces who would wave me over to introduce me to someone new.
Each time I was invited to a meeting or different Chamber event I would attend, connecting with more and more of the great business community in Longmont. Woody Allen said it best, “80% of life is just showing up.” This applies very well in networking; the more events you attend the more people you’ll meet and avenues that weren’t visible to you yesterday suddenly appear. Through this networking I was able to find great community events to sponsor to get Chuck & Don’s known in the community. These events also allowed me to gather potential customer information to send out reminders as the store opening got closer. The Boulder County Fair, The End of Summer Dog Swim, Paws in the Park, Paws on the Patio and 300 Suns Chili Cook-off are just a few of the events we were able to participate in prior to the store opening. All these avenues were created by just showing up and participating.
I knew once the store opened it would be difficult to attend all these events, l was going to get busy. But, I told myself no matter what I would make this a priority and while that hasn’t always been easy I’ve done my best to keep showing up. I found the groups or events in the Chamber and other areas of the community that I enjoyed the most and stuck with those. So, I was not only doing this for the business but also for myself. The more you incorporate your own happiness and personality into your work the more energy you will get from it. I also made it a priority to become that friendly, familiar face to new people joining the Chamber or just attending their first networking event. Because I’ll never forget just how much confidence those friendly faces gave me in the beginning of my journey.
To wrap up here are the bullet points I would offer anyone entering a new community or finding a way to introduce your new business.
- Go to your city’s Chamber website and find an event that appeals to you, for whatever reason, and attend.
- Create a small introduction about yourself and your company. Practice it and feel confident to share.
- Don’t forget your business cards as a reminder to those you meet.
- Anytime you are invited to another group or meeting attend those too. Attend as many as you possibly can; show up and participate.
- Figure out where you fit in to that community and start investigating those new avenues.
- Find community events you can attend, sponsor events that fit with your business. This creates your presence in your niche market.
- Find your favorite networking groups and make them priority to attend, even when you start getting busy.
- Become the friendly, familiar face that new Chamber members can look for at their first events. It will not only inspire the new person but also you and your business.
- Be yourself and HAVE FUN. You know what they say about all work and no play!