Buyer's Guide Small Business Owner Survey Results

MONTHLY FINANCIALS MAY NOT BE ENOUGH
We surveyed NY Report readers to find out how often they check their financials and most of them said monthly. According to David Rudofsky, president and  founder of consulting firm Rudofsky Associates, LLC, “I see a lot of smaller businesses missing the opportunity to look at the profit and loss statements in a way that gives them insights into business drivers, including accrual basis results, gross profit margins for key lines of business or even by customers, trends, balance sheet ratios and so on. Further, the best run businesses we have worked with use the monthly financial close as an opportunity to review key non financial metrics as well.”
How often do you review your company’s financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, etc.)?

MAJORITY OF LOCAL BUSINESS AFFECTED BY CRUNCH
Most NY REPORT readers say they have been affected by the credit crunch. Lowered credit card limits, capped credit lines, and bank freezes on business cash flow were the most common reasons as to why the respondents were affected. Founding partner of Greenhouse IT, Chris Zawacki, said, “Although we’re a healthy customer, we’ve seen big banks pull back on the amount of credit we’ve been allocated in the past.” Some businesses, however, are benefitting from the financial crunch. Vito Mazza of GREENFlag Profit Recovery said, “Because we serve business owners who need help with cash flow, 2008 was our best year ever!”
GoSmallBiz.com and Pre-Paid Legal Services prefers the boost of optimism from Gen Y-ers: “I like the energy that Generation Y adds to my company; it’s motivating for me.”PREMIUMS ON THE RISE
We asked NY Report readers: How do your 2009 insurance premiums (liability, umbrella, etc.) compare to 2008? Most respondents indicated that premiums increased from 2008 to 2009. Peter Laughter of Wall Street Services changed brokers and lowered his premium because his new broker “more aggressively monitored” Peter’s policies. On the other hand, president of CSDesignWorks, Nick Chiechi, had an increased premium: “Every year I am forced to look into alternative health insurance options. The trend over the last five years is crappier coverage for more money.”
In light of the current economy, how do your 2009 insurance premiums (liability, umbrella, etc.) compare to 2008?

HOW DOES YOUR SITE GENERATE REVENUE? 
NY Report asked local business owners and decision makers about how their company’s website generates revenue and nearly half said their company sites help influence purchases. Marcus Padulchick, CEO and founder of Source Excellence Ltd, said: “Even though our website is for initial contact from potential clients and is not e-commerce driven, it can not help be a revenue generator. Individuals check the site, find something of interest or value and then act. They contact us via phone or email, then it’s our job to take it from there to show them the benefits.” McGilvery Design’s Kathy McGilvery said her companies site is used for “portfolio purposes and to showcase past work.”
Which of the following describes how your company’s website generates revenue?

BUSINESS OWNERS GET WHAT THEY PAY FOR 
NY Report recently surveyed small business owners to find out if their businesses has received good value from the legal services they have used in the past and most said they had. However, “value” is the key word, as Charles Tiso, vice president of ATS Environmental Services explained, “We used a local lawyer that had a low hourly rate but ended up costing us a great deal of money because they did not know how to handle our claim. When we hired a major law firm (2.5 times the hourly rate), they were able to settle our claim in a few short weeks versus the 11 months the original attorney took. It would have been cheaper to hire the second firm first.” Tiso said he spent “a lot of unnecessary money, time and anguish” and learned that in order to get good service, you should approach and utilize equally good services and products, especially when handling litigation.

FEW BUSINESSES HAVE RENEGOTIATED LEASES THIS YEAR
Despite a favorable tenant’s real estate market (see “