By ALICIA WALLACE

Operating a small business in The Bahamas is difficult. The cost of doing business is high, and it only seems to increase over time, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. Real estate seems like a game that the ordinary person simply cannot win. Even renting space is expensive and comes with headaches that renters could once dismiss as the owners’ problems.

Now, building owners shirk their responsibilities, either drawing up illegal contracts, ignoring the terms, or making communication so uncomfortable that renters prefer to avoid them and try to endure the issues or find ways to resolve them on their own. Utilities are not only high cost, but offer low reliability rates, failing when they are most needed, often slowing or completing halting operations.

The issues with small businesses in The Bahamas begin with the systems within which they must operate. The infrastructure and public services are abysmal. The processes owners have to endure, starting with business registration, are exhausting and frustrating, wasting obscene amounts of time.

It is easy for business owners to become resentful of the businesses for which they had great passion and were prepared to invest a significant proportion of their time, money, and energy. For many, by the time that they can legally operate and interact with customers, their enthusiasm Is dulled.

The job market is tough, and there seem to be far more people in need of employment than there are jobs for them to fill. Employers often take this to mean that people are desperate enough to take jobs and perform well without adequate preparation. The assumption is often made that anyone can clean, anyone can answer the phones, anyone can book appointments, anyone can sell items in a store, and anyone can give common sense answers to customer inquiries. These are basic tasks that, it is assumed, require no skills and no training. This is a colossal mistake that costs no small amount of money.

People do not magically know how to keep an office clean, from product use to daily and weekly task management. People do not simply know how to offer assistance in a store because they have been to stores as customers before. People do not just know how to handle questions that seem silly, that have what they believe to be obvious answers, or to which they do not have the complete answers. Training is required. For any any every job, training is required.

People need work, yes. People also need to receive the training necessary to understand the standards and meet them at work. This means employees need to understand the business. What is it? It is not enough to know their own role in the business. They need to know the reason the business exists. What is the problem that they have a part in solving? Why are people walking through the doors, and what do they expect to receive when they get inside? What are the values of the company, and how do they demonstrate that they are aligned with those values?

A customer may enter a clothing store looking for a dress for a party, but they usually want more than to look and find a dress. They may want to say something about the event. It is their best friend’s 50th birthday party and it is taking place at a hotel. They want to fit the theme of the formal party, but they have a tendency to get cold in air conditioned spaces. Someone needs to listen to their desires and concerns and make great recommendations.

Maybe they would like a dress with long sleeves. Maybe they want a scarf. Maybe they would like a two- or three-piece ensemble that works for different temperatures and lets them transform their look throughout the evening. Maybe a customer is shopping with a friend and that friend is making their opinions more important that the customer’s, and they need someone to ask just the right questions to bring the focus back to where it needs to be. These skills are learned when working closely with someone who has done it for a long time and learned, through experience, the ways of navigating the shopping experience, varied personalities, and competing priorities.

There are definitely clothing stores that just want to sell the dress. There are also clothing stores that want to deliver an experience. They provide options. They listen to the customer’s concerns. They help them to accentuate areas they love. They are honest about the selections. They offer guidance on accessorising. They want the customer to remember the 20, 30, or 60 minutes they spent in the store, regardless of the price on the item they purchase. They think about the event and the compliments the customer will get. They want to ensure that the customer has a positive experience to share and is compelled to tell the story of the day they walked in, sure they would not find what they needed, and surprised by the care and attention they received at this one store they can hardly wait to visit again.

The store that wants to simply sell the dress and the store that wants to provide an experience beyond the dress have different values, and this impacts the in-store experience and the market share of the business in the long run. Their success will vary, and their success will almost certainly be measured differently. Salespeople, then, need to be trained differently.

The customer experiences the frontline staff. In many cases, this the first experience. In others, it is the second. The first may be the online introduction and/or interaction. Many businesses are leaning heavily on social media to do the work of converting people into customers, and doing so in a place where people still expect, to some extent, a personal experience. The social media posts rarely have all of the necessary information which results in people ignoring them or having to ask questions.

It has become fairly common to “advertise” without stating a price. The comments on many social media posts are often filled with people asking “How much?” and “Price?” Rather than editing the posts, these businesses frequently reply, “Check inbox.” They would, for some reason, prefer to individually message people with the price of an item rather than simply stating it on the post.

These days, most inbox messages from strangers go to a separate folder than most people never see or forget about for months, so that information comes too late, if ever. It is, overall, a silly way to do business. It is a quick turnoff. For customers who persist, actually bothering to contact to a person or show up at the brick-and-mortar business, the service needs to be exemplary. In most cases, it is not. Then come the social media posts that they “had to run down the people for the price and they have a stink attitude when I ask a question.” This is not just a customer service issue. It is an issue with the business practices.

Train staff to deal with difficult customers. Everyone does not have a sunny disposition. Everyone does not have a big budget. Some people struggle to communicate clearly. Some people bring all of their struggles and trauma with them throughout the day, and it impacts the way they interact with people who had nothing to do with the issues they have endured. What we may perceive as a terrible attitude or haughtiness could be the result of a bad day. Sometimes, maintain a pleasant demeanor can help to regulate the other person.

To be clear, no one is obligated to be exceedingly kind to a person who is being a jerk. No one should experience harassment or abuse at work, and it should not be tolerated under any circumstances. This is not debatable. This is not something for staff to endure. Staff need only keep themselves at a distance from customers’ negative attitudes, focusing on maintaining their own. They are there to help customers explore the available options. They are not there to absorb negativity. It is okay to say, “I’m sorry that we’re not able to help you today,” or “I’d like to ask the manager to personally assist you. Would you like to leave your contact information?” There should always be a manager who is readily available to step in and respond to customer dissatisfaction and/or employee discomfort. Sometimes a customer must be asked to leave, and it should not be the frontline staff person’s responsibility to do this.

Running a small business is no easy feat. That is a fact. It is also true that there are ways to make it easier for people to become customers. Make it easier. Provide the basic information as early as possible and as clearly as possible. State the available sizes, colors, and prints, the price(s), the locations, the hours of operation, and ways to contact the staff. When contact information and hours are provided, stick to them.

Respond to inquires quickly and completely. If three questions are asked, respond to three questions. If questions are silly, answer them anyway. Treat all questions as important, because the answers are often the difference between being able to pay the electricity bill on time and being in arrears until the unplanned closure of an unsuccessful business that could have survived with appropriate systems, training protocol, and staffing.

Define the values of the business (even if the only value is to make a profit). Communicate the values to the staff in clear language and through proper training. Support staff by having managers available at all times. Respond to customer inquiries in a timely fashion. Make a distinction between a bad attitude and abusive behavior; prepare frontline staff for the former and protect them from the latter. Create systems that are easy to navigate for both customers and staff, and make adjustments in responsive to learning and feedback.

With the high cost of doing business in The Bahamas, training of staff and delivery of good customer services are not optional.