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That 10 minute conversation with a barista that shifted my whole approach

I was grabbing coffee last week and the owner told me he spends zero dollars on ads. He just walks around downtown and talks to people for 5 minutes every day. Made me realize I've been overcomplicating local outreach while sitting behind a screen. Anyone else find that personal connections beat online targeting in a small town?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey1mo ago

The barista owner is onto something real. I found the same thing when I started going to local coffee shops and hardware stores just to chat for a few minutes. Those quick face to face moments have brought me way more return customers than any Facebook ad ever did.

samflores1mo ago

I get what you're saying west.casey but I honestly see it different. That "face to face moments" thing sounds nice in theory but I ran a small shop for 3 years and people just don't want to chat in my experience. They want to get their coffee or their paint and LEAVE. If I tried to have a five minute conversation with every customer I'd have a line out the door and people getting annoyed real fast. Facebook ads let me reach like 500 people in my neighborhood for cheap and I actually saw a direct bump in sales from those. Your way might work in some towns but for me the BEST return customers are the ones I never had to slow down for.

ben_lewis1mo ago

Wait you actually went to hardware stores just to chat? That's wild man. I can't imagine walking into an Ace Hardware and just shooting the breeze with the owner about random stuff. But I guess if it worked for you it worked for you. That's the kind of thing that sounds crazy until somebody proves it actually brings in business.