MARKETING COLUMN
NE WS & VIE WS
MONSEYREBRANDED Last week we asked you to share how you add value to your product instead of lowering the price. Here is one of the many replies business owners shared: Can I Trust You?
How things changed
How you can change it?
From the beginning of our lives we are taught to be suspicious. Don’t trust a stranger. Never tell someone that Mommy is not home. When someone is kind to you, you tell yourself that you must be his charity case. We’re constantly suspecting people to want to hurt us, or at least not to want what’s best for us.
In the early days, before the industrial explosion, consumers bought directly from a person; the meat from Herschel, the fish from Earl, the shoes from Shlomo. Shimon was their water carrier, Harvey the tailor. Their providers lived within a short distance of their home. They probably schmoozed in shul over schnapps, met in the park, and shared in each other’s simchas. At the end of the day they were good friends. Buying directly from the person they were acquainted with, they knew they can trust one another to provide them with best quality and prices.
There are two ways to build trust. Time or Honesty
It takes us humans a long time to build solid relationships. It takes us a long time and a lot of consistency to turn our natural suspicion into trust. The foundation of every relationship is trust. Can I trust you to respect me? Can I trust you to look out for me? Can I trust you to continue this relationship even if you know my flaws? It’s all about trust. Not surprisingly, trust is also the binding factor between any consumer-provider relationship. Can I trust that your price is correct? Can I trust that you’re selling me a product that you believe in? Can I trust you that you will not misinform me?
But as the economy changed, the owners of stores and businesses slowly withdrew to the comfort of their offices, their face being replaced by operating officers and then managers, represented by salesmen and customer service employees. Now when you walk inside, you’re shopping from nobody and you are a nobody. You don’t trust.
Arrow Group NY is Monsey’s leading marketing and advertising firm. Known for campaigns that are as memorable to consumers as their profits are to clients, Arrow Group has been one of the leading catalysts to the changes in the Monsey business landscape. For business inquiries or to be featured anecdotally in this column, contact monseyrebranded@arrowgroupny.com.
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If you can withstand the test of time and remain consistent, naturally the community will come to trust you- but that can take a long time- and you may not have so much to spare. Or you can build it with honesty, by being open and upfront. Honesty is the fast lane to build trust. Which route do you want to take? Ponder that. Next week we’ll discuss the practical applications of how to build trust- fast.
Until next week,
Pinchus Perlmutter, CEO of Arrow Group NY, A business adventure
NEWS & VIEWS NEW SQUARE COMMUNITY MOURNS PETIRAH OF VILLAGE MAYOR
Rabbi Mates Friesel a”h, Niftar at Age 91.
newly formed Village of New Square. To his fellow residents he was a person to turn to when in need of assistance, be it of a personal or legal nature. Rabbi Friesel saw his primary role as one of doing chesed for others.
This past Shabbos, the New Square community lost one of its founders and its longtime mayor with the petirah of Reb Mates Friesel, a”h. The levaya was held late Motzaei Shabbos. The aron was carried from the main Beis Medrash in New Square to the Beis Hachayim at the edge of the village. The niftar was 91 years old and enjoyed the rare merit of seeing four generations of descendants continue in his ways. In addition to being counted among the original settlers in what then was an isolated outpost, Rabbi Friesel also served as the village’s only mayor since its incorporation in 1961. Rabbi Friesel was born in the town of Tsanz, Poland in 1924. He was a teenager at the time of the Nazi takeover, and he suffered through the worst of the Holocaust. After arriving in America, he became a chassid of the late Skvere Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky, who founded the New Square community. Rabbi Friesel supported his family through a travel agency he owned in Manhattan, while accepting the position of mayor of the
The village was often embattled by hostile elements in the surrounding communities during its early years. Rabbi Friesel’s steady and calm leadership, under the constant guidance of the Skvere Rebbe, helped the village pull through many difficulties. Along the way, Rabbi Friesel earned the respect and friendship of the many politicians with whom he came in contact. The mayorship remained in Friesel’s hands right up to his passing, for a nearly unmatched 52 years. This was chiefly because he ran unopposed in every election. In recent years the mayor’s increasing infirmity led to most of his official duties being taking over by the deputy mayor, Reb Yisroel Spitzer. Rabbi Spitzer describes his relationship with Rabbi Friesel as a warm one. Rockland Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon
Wren Jr., who often dealt with Rabbi Friesel in the course of his work, cited one meeting Rabbi Friesel had with President Jimmy Carter on his presidential airplane as proof of Rabbi Friesel’s influence. Wren commented, “That showed how much political reach he had as mayor of the community to meet with the president of the United States. He rarely spoke publicly. He was a pioneer of the village.” Last week, Spitzer visited Rabbi Friesel in the hospital to bid him a final farewell. He said of him, “He was my mentor. As much as I learned from him, I didn’t learn enough. He gave me a very thoughtful farewell and all types of blessings.” He also described Rabbi Friesel as a “humble person who put the community and individuals first.” Reb Shlomo Koenig, trustee of Kaser Village, said of Rabbi Friesel, “He was a nice man and he had a way of talking to people. He accomplished things in a positive manner, not for himself but to help build his community.” Rabbi Friesel leaves behind a large family with four generations that have all followed in his footsteps. His sons and grandsons count among them several Dayanim and numerous leading Mechanchim in the United States, Europe and Eretz Yisroel. His warm guidance will be sorely missed. Content courtesy of Monsey.com
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