“Hey, We’re Just a Small Business” and a few other reasons why Ma & Pa may not make it into next year.

• “People are very open-minded about new things, as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.” — Charles F. Kettering

I’m not going to name the retail business, or the industry, because I want to preserve dignity here. This is a cautionary tale about small business in general, and business owners and managers who lamely say “I’m just not a techie” when asked to consider a better tool.

In this sports enthusiast business, the purchase items are in the $900-$1,200 range, and some of the necessary accessories are in the $180-$200 range, all the way down to the $15 price point. There’s also a healthy rental business, given the high price for the purchase. It’s probably a seasonal business also, with a peak from April to October. Just guessing.

I found the item I wanted to purchase during a business trip to Oregon in late July, but I was not ready to purchase it or haul it back to Northern California. In mid-August, I called the retail business in question (referred by a co-worker, also an enthusiast and local), and as luck would have it, spoke to the owner, who told me he would put the item I wanted on order and would call me back. I trusted the referral and the business so much, I offered to provide my credit card as a deposit.

“No, man, don’t do that. When I have the order ready, I’ll call you.”

Call me he did not.

I was in the area about a week later, and walked in on a weekend. Pure chaos. A line out the door, due to Covid. The owner was there, and I waited half an hour even to make eye contact with him. No luck. A store staffer helped me with an accessory item ($185), but they were out of my size. That part was acceptable, but I walked out without spending a dime.

This week, a month later after that chaotic visit and six weeks after my phone call, I walked in again, this time late in the day on a Monday, hoping for better service. The store owner’s wife tried to help me but I asked to speak with owner (I knew his first name). The wife became upset with me when I insisted on speaking with the store owner. There were two other people ahead of me. I asked about the accessory item, and again, my size was out stock.

Finally, the owner got through the two customers ahead of me, and I mentioned my name and that we had spoke by phone about an order, and to my knowledge he had never called me back.

“Here,” he said, “let me check my notes,” and proceeds to open a Walgreen’s spiral notebook, filled with Bic pen listings of names and phone numbers, all with custom order information, probably 150 names and numbers(so about $150k in business).

“I never heard back from you,” I said.

“Hey, we’re just a small business,” the owner said, finally locating my name through a bizarre process of elimination. Here he is, probably running a business with over $1 million in annual sales, in a high-traffic location, adjacent to where the enthusiasts gather to enjoy the sport, just outside a major U.S. city in a Metro area with 10 million people. And his customer records management (CRM) system is a spiral notebook and a Bic pen. I’m also guessing he gives his tax records to his accountant in a paper box, every March

I walked out. I’m not going back. I had a credit card in hand, ready to spend $185 and $700 on a retail order. But I’m not. It seems to me the rental business probably keeps this place going; the margins are probably much better.

If pressed, this business owner (and his knowledgeable wife) would probably claim they are “not techies.”

Well, I have news for them. Salesforce, Monday, Pipedrive, Capsule, HubSpot, and Quick Books are not technology at all. In some ways, they are just cloud-based versions of that spiral-bound notebook and Bic pen. There is no technology expertise required, but they are tools that can be used to help the business. This owner would not have dropped the ball on calling me back, on my order or my two unsatisfying visits. I’m never coming back, or referring anyone to them, and he’ll never know why.

One of his local competitors, closed in late 2019, way before Covid-19 hit. When will this store shutter for good, 2021 or 2022? I’m sorry, I tried to be a good, loyal customer, but he wouldn’t let me.