Service Key To Survival
FLEXIBILITY, KNOWLEDGE CRUCIAL TO ENDURING TRYING TIMES
Thursday, November 12, 2009
SPRINGDALE — Businesses must be fl exible, build relationships and improve service to survive, according to four local business leaders.
Roger Collins, chief executive off - cer of Springdale-based, employeeowned Harps Foods; Steve Smith, owner of Steve Smith Country in Springdale; Dave Godwin, owner and founder of Marketplace restaurants; and Mike McFarland, Springdale president of First Security Bank, spoke at an economic summit Wednesday.
About 40 people attended the first day of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce two-day summit that continues today at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.
Supermarket sales and profi ts are hurting as customers look for more special deals and use coupons, Collins said. Harps reduced grocery prices by $1 million in the fi scal year ending in August, he said.
Coupon use increased 8 percent, Collins said, while competition with Wal-Mart Stores intensifi ed.
“For shoppers who have Walmart as their primary store, we want to give them another reason to come to Harps,” Collins said.
Harps advertises private label products like Always Save and Best Choice, “which cannot be found at our largest competitor,” Collins said. However, Walmart reformulated Great Value private label products and relaunched the line starting in March.
Collins said Harps’ private label item sales increased 2.9 percent in the fiscal year ended in August. The grocer increased advertising by about 50 percent to reach customers.
Harps will focus on acquisitions, like the recent announcement that it is buying the IGA Supercenter in Siloam Springs, and control costs, Collins said.
Steve Smith said his auto dealership faced numerous threats in the past year, from having sport utility vehicles in stock as gasoline prices spiked in summer 2008 to finding out in May that he lost his franchise to sell new Chrysler vehicles.
“When 2009 gets over with, I am going to be thrilled, because things have got to get better,” Smith said.
He now sells more used vehicles, provides more parts and service so customers can keep older vehicles running and cuts costs on new vehicles, Smith said.
“People still want new cars but maybe they don’t want all the frills that are on them,” Smith said. He removes sunroofs, DVD players and navigation systems and orders cloth seats instead of leather. Those four items save a customer about $5,000 on a new vehicle, or $100 a month on a six-year loan, Smith said, allowing them to qualify for a loan and buy the vehicle.
Consumer credit is tight, and foreclosures and short sales — selling a home for less than the amount owed — affect appraisal values on nearby homes. Fewer people can move up or buy a home as they lose equity, said McFarland of First Security Bank.
His young employees work harder to investigate a potential loan customer’s credit scores, job history, nearby comparable real estate values and review title searches, McFarland said.
“I tell our young lenders that work for us today that this is absolutely the best learning situation they can be in during their lives,” McFarland said.
Godwin, who has six Marketplace restaurants, said his field is labor intensive. People greet customers, cook and serve food and take orders.
Businesses can streamline by managing schedules and billing with Web-based software and evaluate expenses to cut. In addition, Marketplace will improve customer service and expand employee training programs, Godwin said.
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