How To Make Your District the “Resource” for Your Community and Business owners.
Have you personally ever tried to call the county or the city to get help for something you needed? Have you ever been frustrated when no one was able to give you an answer? Now think of your situation, knowing the contacts that you have, and then multiply that by ten for the average community member or business owner who doesn’t have those same contacts. I can visualize steam coming out of someones ears now.
Improvement Districts can and should be considered a lynch pin. As a lynch pin, you pull everything together – the government agencies, local community and owners. You should be the place people go to get answers or at least give direction to get answers. You and or your staff should be able to help as many people in your district that you can. Sure, you get some people who can be a bit of a nuisance and call for EVERY LITTLE THING. Those calls can be frustrating, however, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big of a deal. On top of that, many times it’s those same people who will sing your praises for your district at every community or business meeting they attend, if you do help them.
Below are 5 Simple Things that can help you become an invaluable “Resource”
1. Have a list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for Property & Business Owners
Property and Business owners have a lot going on. Anything you can do to lighten their load, will endear them to you. Questions about business and building permits, street cleaning schedules, and things of this nature are important to owners. Have the direct phone numbers they can call to get the help they need if you aren’t able to help them. Also consider giving them a directory of local community organizations or groups you think they would benefit by being a part of. Doing this could potentially drum up business for them from local residents and other businesses in your district.
2. Have a list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for the Community.
You and your staff should have a printed or digital document to reference when the locals call. They should be a list phone numbers, addresses of government departments, schedules of anything that relates to residents. Garbage pick up dates, who to call to get an abandon vehicle removed (if its not in your district) . Where to take their old refrigerator, etc. This may seem petty, but when you can give people answers, they will be more likely to support what you are doing. Be sure to also have a list or directory of businesses in your district categorized by type that community residents can benefit and patronize, i.e restaurants, entertainment, etc. Kind of like a “Fun Things to Do” while they are in your district. You can categorize, sort and find out every business in your district easily using the “Tags” feature in the PBID Manager software.
3. Gather collateral (printed and digital information and forms ) and have them available for people
Have printed local contact numbers and addresses for people to pick up from you. Make them available in your office or digitally on your website. Have copies of your local newspaper if you have one, as well as a list of websites from your district that may be useful for the general public.
4. Log Calls Received that Relate to Gov’t Agencies and pass the information along to them to help them improve their process
Let’s face it. Dealing with many government services can be an extremely tangled web. There is no excuse, that’s why your are here. Many times . things are not fixed because they are not reported. Most people thing that it’s someone else’s job to report a problem. Whether it’s a broken road, or a streetlight that’s out, the city or the county can’t fix it if they don’t know about it. As a Business Improvement District, you should be logging and sending the calls you get to your government contacts so they are aware of what’s going on.