Main Street Monday – Better Business Bureau Survey Reveals Small Business Growth Opportunities

July 27, 2020

By: Caity Witucki
Contributing Editor, Main Street Monday

Main Street Monday – Better Business Bureau Survey Reveals Small Business Growth Opportunities

The stories of resilient, honest, and innovative business owners across the U.S. continue to inspire and create hope for a brighter future in a post-COVID world. To help capture these success stories and shed light on new challenges, the Better Business Bureau conducted a recent pulse survey with nearly 1,000 accredited small businesses.

According to the report, nearly a quarter of the small businesses surveyed say instilling customer trust is going to be both a challenge and an opportunity for growth going forward. Of those surveyed, 42% of businesses say the most significant way they plan on building trust is by increasing communication with customers, followed by implementing new health and safety protocols (25%), and offering financial discounts (7%).

Other post-COVID challenges for small businesses include cash flow (affecting 50% of businesses), maintaining health and safety standards (37%), and meeting customer expectations (30%). In contrast, opportunities for growth include attracting new customers, creating stronger relationships with customers, supporting the local community, increasing market shares, and changing business models.

To take advantage of these opportunities, the  Better Business Bureau has put together a list of five ways small businesses can make the second half of 2020 a success:

  1. Create or update online business profiles.

     

  2. Communicate with customers by being transparent and responsive.

     

  3. Differentiate the business from others by adding a level of trust and confidence before and after purchases.

     

  4. Give back to the local community to make connections and show that the business cares about its customers and their families.

     

  5. Get in front of customers by marketing the business’ accreditation and communicating the business’ commitment to building trust.

“Today’s consumer appreciates honesty,” says the report. “Making a claim and not delivering on it will not work. This will become all the more important in the new normal”

Sources:
Better Business Bureau