YouTube video by Sandi L Boucher explaining why businesses should build relationships with Indigenous customers. She argues Indigenous customers are highly loyal when they feel safe, respected, and known; supports this with personal anecdotes about choosing a familiar bank branch and long-term service contracts, and urges businesses to attend community events and prioritize humility and relationship-building over transactional marketing.
Chapters
If you go into business, you want to grow your business. If you're in business, you want to stay in business. And for those people in business, there's probably something you should know about Indigenous loyalty and why it's worth building those bridges. Let's talk about it. Hi, everybody, my name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan and a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And welcome back to my YouTube channel where we talk about all things Indigenous Canadian reconciliation. This is where I support Indigenous empowerment and help non Indigenous people to understand a whole bunch of things that you weren't taught in school. One of the things you may not be aware of is that it has long been documented that Indigenous customers are the most loyal customer base out there. And my guess is it has to do with safe space, it has to do with comfort, it has to do with respect. I know personally, I used to drive past three branches of the bank that I deal with to get to the branch that had my business. Why did I do it? Definitely wasn't convenience. I drove to that branch because they knew me, they knew my name. They asked me how my kids and my grandkids were. We had a relationship. Now other newer branches came out, newer banks came out, lower fees, the whole nine yards. Did not even consider it. I can think of service contracts I have that I've had for decades and would not even consider changing them again. Not because it's convenient, but because they know me and what I need. So imagine if you built those kind of relationships, took the time to get to know a name, know about our businesses, rather than just jumping to I know what you need. Ego doesn't build bridges, it burns them. Humility builds bridges. Honest interest builds businesses or bridges to business. And we're going to stay with you. We are going to stay where we're safe and comfortable until or unless you do something that's going to get us to change our mind. I had announced previously that I was returning to community TV and I was going to be doing another TV show. And I was genuinely excited about that until I went to check out the set. And the woman that I have worked with forever, she has been there for over 30 years, informed me that the corporation got bought out and she got offered a retirement package. And I think like three days to consider it. They didn't see the value in her 30 years experience in her wisdom. So I didn't see the value in supporting their success. That's an Indigenous way of looking at it. So instead of spending all those money, that money on ads and all those marketing campaigns, build a relationship or two, attend public events, attend our pow wows when we have them, get to know us. You'd be surprised how often you're going to see us in your store or in your office or on your website. And we're going to bring our friends with us. It is worth the effort. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye, Sam.
