I’m meeting with my US Congressman Tim Walberg in two weeks. He agreed to hold a round table discussion for retailers to talk about the Marketplace Fairness Act and other topics.

(Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 8am at the Chamber office for all my local peeps reading this – please join me)

A lot of indie retailers think you need to be a big guy to have a meeting with your congressional reps. You don’t. You don’t have to give them money, either. You don’t even have to belong to the same party. You just have to be informed, interested, willing to listen and have an opinion preferably based on facts.

Let me repeat that… You just have to be informed, interested, willing to listen and have an opinion preferably based on facts.

Gee, now that’s not so hard.

Do that and you can get a meeting with your state and federal representatives. Once they get to know you, they will begin to trust you. Once they begin to trust you, they will seek you out for your opinion on matters pertaining to your business. They will give some gravitas to what you say. It starts by first forming a relationship.

Yeah, I know, it can be scary calling for a meeting with your rep. But that’s a poor excuse for not making the call. Do the scary thing. Call your rep. Talk to him or her about Marketplace Fairness, about Obamacare, about roads and infrastructure, or whatever issue is on your mind.

Just be informed, interested, willing to listen and have an opinion preferably based on facts.

I am happy to say Mr. Walberg is not only in my network, he’s also a customer.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If I had to pick two, be informed and willing to listen. You can have more influence by listening than you can by talking. Try it. It works.