Small Business Market Poised For Continued Growth

Administaff released their latest Business Confidence Survey of small business owners after interviewing over 5,800 of them with their questions. Here are some of their findings:

• More than 82 percent of small business owners said their companies were growing on schedule or at a faster pace than originally predicted at the beginning of the year
  
  
• 59 percent said they are meeting their initial business projections this year, 23 percent said they were exceeding their initial 2007 expectations
  
  
• Half of the survey's respondents said they were hiring additional full-time employees, 13 percent were hiring part-timers to fill in work force gaps. 41 percent were making do with existing staff
  
  
• 61 percent of small business owners are attempting to attract older, more experienced workers
  
  
• Employee compensation was up 6.4 percent, with commission rates increasing 11.7 percent over second-quarter 2006. Overtime pay was 10.2 percent of regular pay
  
  
• 58 percent of respondents said a competitive salary or wage package is the top incentive for attracting new employees, while 26 percent pointed to a good benefits package. Others cited flexible scheduling, training and development, and vacation and additional paid time off
  
  
• To retain employees, 47 percent of companies offered higher salaries, 46 percent provided workers with "new challenges and responsibilities" and 35 percent extended opportunities for advancement
  
  
• Fifty-three percent said the greatest issue is "hiring the right employees," while 31 percent cited the cost of medical insurance coverage and 29 percent were concerned about increased competition from other businesses. Other concerns included economic conditions, the housing market, capital issues and regulatory compliance

Evan Carmichael

Xerox Update - Small Business Templates

In early February I was invited as a guest to Xerox's Ignite Small Business Conference. One of my key recommendations was to share their best practices with entrepreneurs. Small businesses are always looking up to the big companies to gain insights as to how to run a growing company and put the proper systems and procedures in place.

As a follow up on February 18th I wrote a post on exactly this strategy:

Small companies are always looking to their bigger counterparts to get best practices and learn how to grow their business. How does Xerox get positive press coverage? How does Microsoft hire the best people? How does Bell prepare its business plan?

Well I am pleased to announce that Xerox is listening and I received an email this morning from VP Paul Gleason. Xerox just released a section on their website that discusses how to get press coverage. They included background information and two downloadable word document templates for small business owners to use.

It is a step in the right direction. I have given Paul a few more suggestions and am looking forward to seeing more detailed resources covering an array of SMB best practice topics in the near future.