These businesses know their customers, often on a first name basis. Their customer relationships, like every real relationship, encounter the occasional rough spot. Being small and human means making plenty of mistakes.

But when these businesses mess up, unlike AT&T or Microsoft, their customers often love them more.

via Finding Your Village of Customers | Copyblogger.

This entire article really spoke to me in two ways: as a business owner and as a consumer.

I’ve been a consultant since 2003 and I treat my clients like they are friends.   I find that even after a project is complete, I continue to have contact with a past client.  We telephone and email (or text). Share a meal.  Converse about how business is going and how the family is getting along.  Sometimes, I’m able to introduce past clients to each other and they are able to form a business relationship to fill a need.  It increases the strength and size of my village.  Some of the work was truly a one-time thing and I may never work with a particular client again; but we keep in touch because we’ve become close enough to care.

In regards to being a consumer, I’ll be the first to admit I like to spend my money with businesses that treat me like an old friend.  Some businesses have learned the knack of creating a small community of consumers.  I mourned the closure of my closest Starbucks because I missed not only the employees, but the other customers I have shared a hello and a how are you with for ten years.  I go to Bagel Boyz rather than Subway because the guy behind the counter remembers that I’m likely going to get tuna, even though he’ll try to persuade me that his chicken salad is just as tasty.  And I prefer to stay at the Hotel Monaco in downtown DC because the staff members treat me like a long lost relative instead of treating me as just a hotel guest.

In times like these, when the economy is tight, these businesses who operate like a village are going to continue to thrive while the big boys are going to flounder.  I think it’s because we see theses businesses like we see our friends:  we love them and we want them to be successful.