Earlier this year Network Solutions in partnership with the Smith School at the University of Maryland, College Park surveyed 1000 small businesses the good old fashioned way – they talked to them. The survey covered many data points and its goal was to get a baseline on how small businesses rated themselves in six key areas – capital access, marketing & innovation, workforce (HR), customer service, computer technology and compliance (accounting and tax). The results were surprising in some areas and expected in others.
With the economic crisis in full swing, access to capital scored a ‘D’ which was not very surprising, customer service and compliance rated B+ and A respectively. This showed that people felt they did an excellent job keeping records and serving their customers which was the key to managing their cash flow and retaining their customers.
Marketing, Technology and Workforce was in the surprising ‘C’ range. This showed people were still trying to find ways to effectively use their technology, working hard to innovate and market effectively and hire good people.
The Second Edition is in and the results surprise again
The second wave was collected in June 2009 from 500 small business owners. Small businesses included in the study are privately owned, for-profit, have fewer than 100 employees, and have a payroll and/or contributed to at least 50% of the owner’s household income. The data are weighted to ensure representativeness to the entire population of small businesses in the U.S. The survey is longitudinal in nature, tracking small business trends over time; the completion of the second wave provides a six month trend line.
Released on August 1, the second edition of the Small Business Success Index, which you can download here, was released and after reviewing it I have to agree with the sentiment of the report. As a small business owner myself, I can attest to the fact of how hard it is to get funding from banks. Aside from the SBA loan rescue program implemented from the TARP program over the last few months, the credit markets have really tightened up but they are improving which might account for the slight uptick
The other area where things ticked up is customer service and that reflects the focus that small business are working hard to keep the customers they have happy and impress them to get referrals which are the lifeblood of many small businesses.
Where things went down is on the “Marketing Innovation” section and that according to the report “Surprisingly, the June 2009 wave revealed that relationship to be weaker than originally thought; businesses with minimal technology were nearly as competitive as the tech-poweredones. This is likely due to falling demand in the current economic climate, which has restricted the effectiveness of companies’ marketing efforts. Internet business solutions have their greatest impact on success in the Marketing and Innovation area of the SBSI, but in an environment with declining sales, the weak economy blunts the benefits of these technologies”.
There are a few negative quotes from the report:
“More small businesses think the economic climate for their business is worsening (38%) rather than improving (25%)”.
But there are some uplifting sentiments from small business owners:
“More small business owners expect the economy to improve in the next 12 months (38%), than decline (28%).”
“As many small businesses believe their 2009 revenues will be higher than in 2008 (29%) as think it will be lower (30%), with 38% expecting revenues to be the same.”
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT and leave a comment
Download the Report at this link and take a read. We would love to hear your thoughts and if you are experiencing the same thing.
Google+Web.com is now offering forums designed to support small businesses in cities throughout the US. Learn more about these forums here: http://Businessforum.web.com/
Tags: SBSI, Small Business Success Index, Smith School, University of Maryland
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Capital Access, Compliance, Customer Service, Entrepreneurs, Marketing, Raising Capital, small business, Small Business Success Index, Technology, Venture Capital, Workforce | No Comments »
