ESTON, Sask. – As the waterhole shrinks, the animals who come to drink look at each other differently.
That’s the analogy Flo Frank used in talking about community and business development.
In a time of shifting resources and power, rural individuals and towns need to be alert to opportunity, she told a conference Feb. 5 sponsored by a west-central Saskatchewan economic development group.
Frank urged those at the Entrepreneurs 2000 REDA Inc. conference to reduce their dependency on government, since it is not secure. Would-be business people should also set personal action plans, build support networks with others and be adaptable.
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In a later session, the Meachem, Sask., business person looked at a wall papered with problems from the score of entrepreneurs in the room and said the list came down to three issues – management, marketing and factors over which people have no control.
To get management skills she advised the group to take classes, talk to mentors and get experience. Leadership and vision are what a business person must bring to their organization, said Frank.
“When I ran a restaurant in B.C. I cleaned the washrooms because it was too important to leave to anyone else. The washrooms were how people judged my business. Leaders create the vision, but also clean the bathrooms.”
Hiring reliable labor is an issue for most in business, but bosses have to create a good atmosphere at work, train staff and risk losing the best as they move on.
She also advised rural businesses to give customers a reason to come in – service, a good reputation or because the store hires their kids. Word of mouth works here since it is the best advertising. Frank used the positive example of an Edmonton hotel where the staff greeted her by name when she came back a second time.
She said research shows that in contrast to Americans, who generally go for the cheapest price, Canadians prefer quality and service, and will buy locally as much as possible.
Frank also advised using children to help a business. Teenagers generally know more about computers and the internet than adults. Also, children can serve as test customers because 12 year olds are “brutally honest” and 17 year olds are hard to please.
In another conference session Saskatchewan Agriculture specialist Catherine Folkersen said the two challenges for food processors are to develop a product and then sell it.
“It may be well and good to make a better chocolate chip cookie than Dare, but how do you get yours on the shelf beside Dare?”
Folkersen said the answer is to make what the customer wants and see where you can get an edge in marketing, whether by price, nutrition or packaging.
Most food customers want convenience that creates a meal in minutes using the freezer and microwave. Food safety is also a new issue as the public is concerned about E. coli and salmonella – words they had never heard a decade ago. Folkersen said to get onto Safeway shelves a food manufacturer must have a safety program in place like Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points.
Prairie manufacturers can get help in developing their products at government-built facilities like the POS Pilot Plant and the Food Centre on the University of Saskatchewan campus, the Lacombe, Alta., meat development centre and Portage la Prairie, Man.’s food processing centre.
But rural food businesses have one big disadvantage. Since the population base is so small, most of the product must be transported off the Prairies into larger markets in Ontario, the United States and Europe. But selling mail order through the internet is lowering that cost for some, she said.
