People talk about wanting to support small local companies quite frequently. There is a political and ideological element to all this. And in a town like Reading PA (or for that matter any other town with a lot of university students) you’re likely to have been exposed to the philosophical form of this argument. However, there is a very practical argument that gets ignored. It’s more important for support type businesses, so for example an Reading PA based company would benefit more for turning local when looking for an IT company than when it comes to something like buying a car. When you look for an Reading PA IT company you’re preparing to be return customers because technology will require some sort of support frequently, if you find a company that offers a good price for service you can benefit a lot.
So why rely on a local company? The fact of the matter is you are much more important to them than you would ever be to a national company. You’re going to represent a larger share of their income. They might not have the same resources as a larger company, but for an IT company that shouldn’t be too hard for a small to medium sized company to overcome. You might not want to rely on the guy who works out of his home if you’re looking for an IT company for a growing business, that’s someone you call for PC help, or similar. However, if you’ve got real technological systems you’ll have local options for an IT company that can provide the degree of support you need. When you become return business for a small local IT company they will rely on you more than a national company would, and they’ll be more worried about what you have to say.
When it comes to national companies a few disgruntled customers are inevitable, but their voices are more likely to be lost in the noise, and the word of mouth impact is lower. When it’s an IT company embedded in a single city or region like Reading PA word of mouth can be dangerous. The business community in any given field is often a “small room” these means that if people in that field have had bad experiences with a single company and tell their friends and competitors about it, or even that news of the problem spreads more companies will avoid the IT company in question. Perfect service is not something a company can guarantee, there will always be people disappointed or annoyed with the product they get for their money. However, if you matter a lot more to them (as you will with a smaller company) you’re going to get a more consistently high effort from them.
