Loading

Grow Smart Business


Small Business Success Index 5

Index Score*   Grade
SBSI INDEX 73 C- marginal
Capital Access 67 D+
Marketing & Innovation 65 D
Workforce 76 C
Customer Service 88 B+
Computer Technology 75 C
Compliance 92 A-
*Index score is calculated on a 1-100 scale.
Read More
homepreneur

Search Articles

Most liked posts

Get great offers on Twitter from @NSOffers


Recent Articles

Popular Tags

advertising blogging blogs Branding Capital Access Customer Service Email marketing entrepeneurship entrepreneur entrepreneurship Facebook Generational Marketing GrowSmartBiz GrowSmartBiz Conference Grow Smart Business Inbound Marketing Job Search lead generation LinkedIn Marketing michael dougherty mobile marketing networking Raising Capital Resources sales sales process SBSI Search Marketing seo small business small business accounting small business hiring small business loans small business marketing small business resources small business sales small business success small business taxes small business technology Small Business Trends social media Technology Twitter Workforce

Categories

Posts Tagged ‘small business’

« Older Entries

Government Contracting: How Are Small Businesses Doing?

February 2nd, 2012 ::

By Karen Axelton

Small businesses who obtain government contracts know that the U.S. government is a desirable client. But how are small companies doing when it comes to landing federal contracts or subcontracts? American Express OPEN’s second annual government contracting survey of more than 700 active small government contractors found they are facing some challenges, partly because federal government contracting spending was down 14 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. Here’s what else the study found:

Small businesses are spending more trying to obtain federal contracts. In 2011, active small business contractors invested an average of $103,827 in both time and money in seeking federal contracting opportunities—up 21 percent from the previous year ($86,000).

Businesses owned by minorities invested more than the average—an average of $139,709, fully 56 percent more than small businesses owned by Caucasian men and women.

Women, overall, were spending less time and money pursuing federal contracts. The average investment by women-owned firms was 30 percent less than that made by men-owned firms.

Small businesses are bidding less often. Even as they spend more on their average bid, small firms are bidding far less. Both in prime contracting and subcontracting, bidding activity has declined by nearly half.

So what does it take to succeed in federal contracting? Here are three tips:

Be persistent. The small business contractors in the survey reported that they had to submit an average of 4.4 bids before earning their first prime federal contract. Once they did land that first procurement opportunity, however, things got easier. Two-thirds of active small business contractors reported they have performed more than one federal contract. On average, it took these firms just under a year after their first procurement to win their second contract.

Be selective. The study found that when it comes to bidding on contracting opportunities, there is
a law of
diminishing returns. Businesses that bid on six or more contracts in a three-year period saw their success rate fall below the overall .379 “batting average.” American Express OPEN suggests the best strategy is to concentrate on just a few procurement opportunities annually; don’t submit more than two or three bids per year.

Be patient. The average success rate in obtaining prime contracts was 38 percent. However, success rates were significantly higher among small businesses that had been seeking federal contracts for 10 or more years (53 percent success rate) compared to those who had been seeking federal contracts for three years or less (20 percent success rate).

Has your business bid on government contracting opportunities? Have you found it growing easier or more difficult?

Image by Flickr user Donkey Hotey (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Development, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

5 Tips for Staying Healthy on a Business Trip

January 25th, 2012 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Did one of your New Year’s resolutions involve being healthier and fitter this year? That’s great, but frequent business travel can undermine even the most determined health enthusiast. If you want this year to be the year you really get in shape, here are five tips for keeping your health and fitness regimen going—no matter where you go.

Stay hydrated. Often our bodies fool us into thinking we’re hungry when it’s really just dehydration. Carry bottled water with you and limit caffeinated coffee, tea and sodas. Drink liquids with every meal and watch alcohol intake. It may be part of entertaining for business, but go for lower-calorie alcoholic beverages like wine, or pair hard liquor with low-calorie mixers like club soda.

Get enough sleep. Speaking of sleep, it’s often the first casualty of business travel. Bring the accessories you need to get a restful night’s sleep, whether that’s earplugs, an eyeshade or white noise on your smartphone’s playlist. Try to catnap on the plane if you have a long flight—pillows and travel blankets can help here.

Take advantage of hotel offerings. More and more hotels are offering not just dreary fitness centers, but exercise gear (like DVDs, on-demand workouts on the hotel TV, or even yoga mats and exercise bands) so you can stay fit in your room instead of trekking down to the gym. If you’re a runner or fitness walker, ask the concierge to map out a safe and fun route. Find out what the hotel has to offer before you book, and you’ll have no excuse to slack on the couch.

Speak up. If you’re watching your weight, the good news is more restaurants are willing to work with you. Higher-end eateries will typically prepare foods to your specification without extra butter, cream or sauce—just ask. Chain restaurants in many states now have to post calorie counts, making it simple to see what you’re getting and avoid unhealthy dishes.

Make a plan. This is the most important tip of all. Whether it’s eating, exercising or sleeping well, the key to success is knowing what obstacles you’re likely to face and planning for how to get around them. If you will be going out to a high-calorie steakhouse, plan ahead for what you’ll eat. If you’ll be in marathon meetings, plan to work out early in the morning. You get the idea. In fitness as in business, failing to plan is planning to fail.

Image by Flickr user Matt McNier (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business | No Comments »

2011: A Good—and Bad—Year for Venture Capital

January 24th, 2012 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

The fourth quarter 2011 data from the National Venture Capital Association is in and there is good news and bad news about the venture capital industry.

The good news is that the amount of money venture capital firms are investing is on the rise; the bad news is that the number of venture capital funds out there is declining. In the U.S., 38 venture capital funds raised a total of $5.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, representing a dollar increase of 162 percent but a 41 percent drop in the number of funds compared to the third quarter of 2011. (In that quarter, 64 funds raised $2.1 billion.) This quarter marked the lowest number of funds raising money since the third quarter of 2009.

In all of 2011, U.S. venture capital fundraising totaled $18.17 billion from 169 funds. That’s a 32 percent increase by dollars compared to 2010, but the same number of funds.

“This past year we saw more venture capital money raised by essentially the same number of firms, a sign that consolidation within the industry is continuing,” said Mark Heesen, president of NVCA, in announcing the data. “We also continued to invest more money in companies than we raised from our investors. Both of these trends – if they continue — suggest that the level and breadth of venture investment is starting to recalibrate to reflect a concentration of capital in the hands of fewer investors. Our cottage industry is indeed getting smaller still and that will impact the startup ecosystem over time.”

How will this shakeout affect small businesses? Consolidation in financial industries generally makes it harder for smaller companies to get backing, as bigger funds with more dollars to invest are more likely to look for high returns and less likely to take risks on smaller firms without a high potential for ROI.

At the same time, a shakeout is also occurring in the IPO market. The NVCA recently reported that in 2011, 52 venture-backed companies went public, representing a value of $9.9 billion. That’s a 31 percent decrease in volume, but a 41 percent increase in dollar value compared to the previous year.

In other words, with both venture capital investment and venture-backed IPOs, the trend is toward fewer and bigger players, meaning bigger—but fewer—deals.

Image by Flickr user photosteve101 (Creative Commons)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Capital Access, Small Business, small business, Venture Capital | No Comments »

Census Reveals 5 Trends That Matter to Your Business in 2012

January 18th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

The 2010 Census data, released in 2011, was a gold mine of information for business owners. But what information will be the most important to your business going forward? The Brookings Institution picked out its top five trends rom the 2010 Census, and I thought I’d share them here.

  1. Slowing population growth: The 2000s saw the slowest growth in the United States in 70 years–just 9.7 percent, or 27.3 million people, were added from 2000 to 2010. The decline is a result of aging baby boomers, slower U.S. economic growth and declining immigration. However, the U.S. is still one of the fastest-growing industrialized nations. Growth was highest in the South and Midwest and lowest in the North and East; suburbs grew faster than cities. Despite the housing crash disproportionately affecting the Sunbelt, these areas are still fast-growing.
  2. Staying put: In the boom years of the 1950s, nearly 20 percent of Americans moved every year; in 2011, just 11.6 percent did. Aging boomers and higher homeownership rates are part of the reason for the slowdown, along with recession, dwindling home prices and tighter credit restrictions. For businesses, this means areas that relied on immigration for their work force may find it harder to get employees; on the plus side, cities that suffered from “brain drain” may find more of their best and brightest staying put.
  3. Minority becoming majority: Not quite, but 50 percent of U.S. infants are now non-white, and non-whites (primarily Hispanics and Asians) accounted for 92 percent of U.S. population growth in the 2000s. Foreign-born people account for almost 13 percent of the population. These minority and immigrant populations are also moving into the suburbs in greater numbers as segregation declines.
  4. Aging boomers: Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are now fully middle-aged or older. America’s 45-and-over population grew over 18 times faster than the under-45 population in the 2000s. The aging of the boomers, and the fact that younger age groups are waiting longer to get married and have children, means just 20 percent of U.S. households consist of married couples with children under 18 (compared to 40 percent in 1970). Large cities are increasingly defined by whether their number of young people is growing or declining, and many areas find themselves in a culture clash—for instance, Arizona’s senior population is more than 80 percent white, while its children are more than 60 percent minority.
  5. Poverty grows: The 2000s was the first census decade on record in which real median household income declined. Some 15.3 percent of Americans were in poverty. Nearly all of the 100 largest metro areas had lower incomes in 2010 than in 2000. But the recession wasn’t all to blame: The Sunbelt, manufacturing cities and the Southeast had all seen dramatic increases in poverty even before 2008. In addition, poverty is hitting the suburbs; the number of suburban residents in poverty rose 53 percent over the decade.

How will these trends affect your business going forward? You can access much more data from the Census at American FactFinder to see specific trends for your region of the country, state and city.

Image by Flickr user comedy_nose (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business | 1 Comment »

There’s Gold in the “Silver Segment”

January 6th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

You know that baby boomers are a hot market demographic. But did you realize just how hot they are? According to a new report by Boston Consulting Group, Global Aging: How Companies Can Adapt to the New Reality, by 2032, the “silver segment” of consumers age 55 and above will be responsible for at least 50 percent of all growth in consumer spending in the developed world.

In the U.S. market alone the population age 65 and up is currently a $1.4 trillion market. By 2032, 50 percent of the U.S. population will be age 55 or older.

What does this mean to your business? Well, if you’re designing new products, you’d be smart to target this age group. The report offers some forward-thinking recommendations for companies hoping to attract aging customers to use their products:

  • Today’s boomers are older, but don’t think of themselves that way. It’s important to design for someone who, while facing mobility, hearing or vision issues, still thinks of him- or herself as youthful.
  • The 55-plus consumer of today is very tech-savvy already, but in 20 years, the 55-plus age group (basically, today’s Generation X) will be even more comfortable with technology.
  • Older consumers prefer products that are “functional, simple, accessible, and convenient.”
  • When trying to design products to accommodate physical limitations of aging, try to emphasize “special needs” in a positive way that doesn’t sound patronizing.
  • Be aware of the different needs of seniors by age group. For instance, those aged 55 to 65 are likely to still be in the work force. Those in the 65 to 75 age group may be retired. And those in the 75 to 85 age group will likely have more mobility and health challenges.
  • To see what tomorrow’s seniors will want, try doing market research with them today (in other words, with the 45 to 55 age group). This can help you determine what they might prefer as they get older.
  • Keep in mind, however, that changing attitudes about aging make it unlikely future seniors will want to buy the same kinds of products their parents and grandparents did.

Image by Flickr user William Warby (Creative Commons)

Tags:
Posted in Generational Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Employees Have Mixed Feelings About 2012 Outlook

January 5th, 2012 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

How are employees feeling about their employers these days? Well, it seems like the gap between the 99 percent and the 1 percent isn’t the only growing divide these days. The gap between highly engaged employees and those who are “checked out” (or disengaged) from their jobs is widening, according to The Randstad Employee Attachment Index.

The Index found that while overall, many employee attitudes held steady from last quarter’s Index, there’s a large divide with half of employees feeling very positive about their jobs and their workplace, but the other half extremely worried about losing their jobs. To hold onto their jobs, 24 percent are willing to take pay cuts or work longer hours.

Here’s the good news about employee attitudes:

78 percent feel inspired each day to do their best in their jobs.
69 percent enjoy going to work every day.
64 percent believe their efforts at work are recognized and valued.

Now, the bad:

19 percent feel it is likely they will lose their jobs.
Almost a quarter (24 percent) of workers say it is likely they will get a pay cut.
76 believe it is unlikely they will receive a promotion.

“With the continued ups and downs of the economy, U.S. workers report very mixed expectations for 2012,” said Joanie Ruge, senior vice president and chief employment analyst for the staffing firm, in announcing the survey. “Many [workers] are taking precautions such as cutting back on expenses and putting more towards savings just in case.”

While some employees are worried, others have high hopes. Almost half (46 percent) think the job market will improve in 2012. And when it does, 47 percent plan to explore other opportunities. The risk is especially strong with highly engaged workers, of whom 24 percent say they plan to seek a new job in the next 6 months.

“Companies … need to particularly focus on those workers who are most engaged and, thus, most valuable,” says Ruge. “Our research shows that 33 percent of the most highly engaged employees are likely to leave their companies if offered an enticing new job while 30 percent would seriously consider another job offer. This is a serious threat to employers as the economy recovers.”

What are you doing to make your best employees feel valued and keep them on your team?

Image by Flickr user Scott Anderson (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

Americans Tightening Purse Strings in 2012

January 4th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Small business owners have heard a lot of heartening news in the past month as Americans pull out the stops for holiday spending. The holidays seemed to have unleashed a lot of pent-up desires for customers who’ve been cutting back on spending for three years. Well, according to a just-released Harris Poll, don’t expect the spending to continue. Instead, as 2012 dawns, consumers are going back to the “new normal” of reduced expectations and spending.

Over the past three years, the Harris Poll reports, consumers’ spending and saving behaviors really haven’t changed month. The survey, conducted every 6 months, asks consumers how likely they are to spend on a variety of things in the next six months.

Overall, the majority of respondents are planning to cut back on dining and entertainment. Six out of 10 U.S. adults plan to spend less eating out at restaurants (61 percent) and on entertainment (58 percent) within the next 6 months. Just 3 in 10 (29 percent) plan to take a vacation of longer than a week in the next six months.

Other areas where Americans don’t plan to spend:

  • Buying a boat or recreational vehicle (97 percent unlikely);
  • Buying or leasing a new car, truck or van (88 percent unlikely);
  • Moving to a different residence (86 percent unlikely) or purchasing a house or condo (93 percent unlikely); and,
  • Starting a new business (94 percent unlikely)
  • Buying a new computer (77 percent).

Just 26 percent of Americans predict they will have more money to spend the way they want in the next 6 months, down from the 28 percent who said so in May 2011 and the 30 percent who said so in January 2011.

“As the economy fluctuates and Americans continue to feel pessimistic about employment prospects, it only follows that non-essential spending would continue to be scrutinized,” the report notes. “As it stands now, the cycle of bad feelings and decreased spending does not look like it’s positioned to change anytime soon.”

With January traditionally a time that consumers re-tighten their belts after holiday spending, perhaps these pessimistic predictions will get a little sunnier in the next Harris Poll due in May.

Image by Flickr user Jo Naylor (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Development, sales process, Small Business, small business | 1 Comment »

Financial Execs Have Bleak Outlook for 2012

January 3rd, 2012 ::

By Karen Axelton

How’s the economic outlook for 2012? According to U.S. financial executives polled in the the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch CFO Outlook survey, not too good.

Just 38 percent of those surveyed in the annual poll said they expect the U.S. economy to expand in 2012, down from 56 percent in last year’s survey and 66 percent in 2009. The CFOs now give the economy a score of 44 out of 100, down from last year’s score of 47 and equal to the lowest score in the survey’s 14-year history.

What specific expectations do CFOs have?

  • Some 56 percent expect revenues to grow in 2012, a decline from 64 percent last year.
  • Forty-one percent anticipate growth in profit margins, down from 55 percent last year.
  • Just 18 percent of CFOs expect to participate in a merger or acquisition in 2012, down from 26 percent a year ago.

What are their big concerns for 2012? Topping the list was the effectiveness of U.S. government leaders, cited as a concern by 70 percent of executives in the survey. Other major worries:

  • The U.S. budget deficit: 63 percent
  • Healthcare costs: 60 percent
  • Unemployment: 58 percent
  • Consumer confidence: 55 percent

When it comes to their own companies, the financial concern was healthcare costs, chosen by 56 percent of CFOs. Other top worries were energy costs and consumer confidence, both at 43 percent; cash flow at 42 percent; and revenue growth at 40 percent.

There is some good news in the survey. First, in spite of their pessimistic outlook, just 7 percent of respondents said they expect layoffs at their companies; 48 percent plan to maintain the same number of employees, and 46 percent said they expect to hire.

Another good sign: CFOs were more likely than last year to say lenders have expanded the amount of capital available to them. In addition, just 21 percent expect their cost of capital to increase, down from 27 percent last year.

How do these responses jibe with what you’re experiencing in your business?

Image by Flickr user Mykl Roventine (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Capital Access, Raising Capital, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Mobile Email Access Is Growing Fast

January 1st, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

It’s a mobile world, and increasingly, even email access is going more mobile, according to a new study by email certification and reputation monitoring firm Return Path. Although webmail (accessing email via the Web) still accounts for 44 percent of all message views worldwide, and desktop (accessing email via a desktop client like Outlook) comes in second with 33 percent of all views, mobile is rapidly catching up, accounting for 23 percent of all views.

The Return Path study showed that between October 2010 and September 2011, mobile email message views increased by 34 percent, while webmail views dropped by 11 percent and desktop views dropped by 9.5 percent.

One reason for the growth of mobile email viewing is the surging popularity of tablets. Return Path data found that access of email via tablets grew by a whopping 73 percent in that April–September time frame.

What does this trend mean for your business? Make sure your emails—whether they’re brief messages or longer newsletters—are optimized for mobile viewing, and that any links in it lead to mobile-friendly pages. Customers or prospects who think your email is too clunky to view on their phones or get frustrated by being taken to your standard website may never go back to that email again.

Return Path also found some interesting data about when users are more likely to view email in a mobile format. As you might expect, most emails during weekdays are viewed on desktops, since people are typically at work. Monday is the worst day for mobile email views. However, on the weekends, mobile email viewing surges.

The survey also found that certain types of emails—in particular, entertainment, social networking and publishing-related emails—were more likely to be viewed on mobile devices, while messages from software or financial services firms were more likely to be opened via desktop or webmail.

Desktop and webmail aren’t going away anytime soon, but this study points out the necessity of making your messages accessible to your customers wherever, whenever and however they want to read them.

Image by Flickr user Sean MacEntee (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in Email marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology | 2 Comments »

What Bait Will Attract and Keep the Best Employees in 2012?

December 29th, 2011 ::

By Karen Axelton

Are you looking to hire new employees in 2012, or at least hoping to keep the ones you’ve got satisfied? Then you’ll need to know about the latest trends in hiring and compensation in order to lure new workers to your company and retain existing ones. A new survey by Robert Half International has some good news for employees about what to expect in 2012, but it may not be such good news for employers.

First, raises are coming back. (That’s the bad news for employers.) According to the study, the average starting salary is projected to increase by 3.4 percent in 2012. Perhaps not surprisingly, high-tech employees will enjoy the biggest average increase (4.5 percent), but they won’t be the only ones with fatter paychecks in the coming year. Here’s how some other industries’ average starting salaries will stack up in 2012:

  • Finance and accounting (3.5 percent)
  • Creative and marketing (3.5 percent), and
  • Administrative and office support (3.4 percent).

“Companies are restoring raises, though they remain moderate,” the survey reports. “Still focused on keeping expenses down, many businesses have yet to reward employees to the extent loyal workers feel is justified. In turn, employee frustration and the risk of voluntary turnover has risen.”

To help retain employees, firms are using perks as well as salary to keep workers happy. The most popular perks?

  • Subsidized training/education (29 percent)
  • Flexible work hours/telecommuting (24 percent)
  • Mentoring programs (24 percent)
  • Matching gifts programs (13 percent)
  • Free or subsidized meals (11 percent)
  • On-site perks, like child care, dry cleaning (11 percent)
  • Subsidized transportation (10 percent)
  • Subsidized gym memberships (9 percent)
  • Sabbaticals (8 percent), and
  • Housing/relocation assistance (7 percent).

I think it’s interesting that two of the most popular perks—training and mentoring—benefit employers as much as, or more than, they benefit employees. In fact, training’s popularity may be not so much out of altruism as necessity. Robert Half reports that the market for skilled professionals is more competitive than it has been in several years, with shortages of some types of skilled workers. As a result, if you don’t move quickly to snap up a good job candidate with a good offer, you’ll likely lose out.

What does it take to attract and retain workers in this environment? Robert Half offers three tips:

  • Make sure your compensation package is competitive.
  • Make sure top performers feel appreciated and know they have career potential with your business.
  • Offer in-demand incentives—training and flexibility are the most desired perks for employees today.

You can download the detailed report at the Robert Half International website.

Image by Flickr user Podknox (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries