Crow About Helping the Local Economy

Cities are hungry for tax revenues. Big Box stores and industrial parks often produce more tax revenues than do small to midsize retail businesses. As a result, cities these days may be overlooking the value of keeping local retailing corridors robust.
     To counteract the trend, crow with pride about how you help your community’s economy.
     Have numbers ready:

• Sales revenue impact: An increase in profitability can mean maintenance or increases in sales tax and property tax revenues. The dollar figure for sales per square foot varies widely even within the same type of retailing, such as fashion varying between $510 and $1,731 in one sample. This variation indicates there is the opportunity for growth with the proper profitability tactics.
• Job income impact: What is the median annual salary of a retail salesperson in your local area? For the U.S. overall, it’s currently about $23,600. For each retail job in your local area, how many more jobs are added in a community because of the income of the retail employee? In my home state of California, it is about 0.53 job positions. To calculate the value of this addition, determine the median income for all jobs in your local area. Use those numbers to calculate the economic value of keeping or adding each retail job in your community.

     But in the political arena, stories are more powerful than numbers. Last Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Obama, like every other presidential State of the Union address I’ve ever heard, exploits stories.

• Community quality of life: My favorite stories have to do with the results of studies. As one example, let’s start with how researchers at Virginia Tech, Babson College, and Florida Atlantic University found that improving the atmospherics in neighborhood retail stores tends to improve the self-esteem of the residents. Go ahead to gather testimonials to show instances of that effect, and you have yourself some influential stories.

     Here are some research-based tips on getting the best from stories:

• Keep stories short
• Make the point crystal clear
• If you talk about specific individuals, ask their permission first
• Keep important details the same each time you tell the story

     Sometimes your argument is best made by looking at specific retailing corridors. Researchers from London’s Imperial College Business School and Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre found that both the numbers and stories supported the value of retail shops in hospitals.

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