SME survey

SME Survey Summary

No survey in this edition, just a reflection on what has been covered in previous issues and a summary of the outcomes.

(Clicking on the question will take you to the edition that features the full survey results).

What impact does the current climate have on the turnover and profit for small businesses?

The survey asked questions about historic and future turnover. Comparing the data from the results of the 2 surveys, surprisingly less businesses were expected to shrink over the next 12 months than did in the previous year. 1 in 5 shrank historically, but only 1 in 8 are expecting to going forward. And a similar percentage to the most recent survey (73.1% versus 76.6%), around 3 out of 4 businesses either growing their profit or staying the same. A positive sign!

What has the biggest impact on your cashflow?

Lack of sales was by far the main issue. It is unclear whether this is due to the pandemic being faced at the time of undertaking the survey or whether this would apply under “normal” business conditions. Followed by debt, overheads and staff.

Did you take advantage of any of the Government schemes to support small businesses during COVID-19?

The Bounce Back Loan (BBL) was popular with 65.7% of those eligible taking advantage of this low-cost option for funding. With 80% of those who took advantage using it to bolster cashflow.

What marketing channel works best for you?

The top 3 channels for those that took part in the survey were networking (58.2%), social media (14.3%) and website (11%); with all other options being less than 2.2%. Clearly networking seems to give the most “bang for your buck”!

What factors are hampering your sales?

The biggest contributor is the current climate and the pandemic affecting the sales of 39.3% of the 61 respondents. This makes sense as pretty much every business has in some way been impacted by the lockdowns that the UK has been facing. Having said that, reassuringly 34.4% had not experienced an impact on their sales performance. This seems to point to the resilience of small business owners to adapt and respond to whatever is thrown at them!

What are your predictions for sales over the next 12 months?

The vast majority of those surveyed (85.2%) predicting sales growth going forward. Only 5% were expecting no growth or a decline in sales. 9.8% were uncertain which is understandable as they may not undertake sales forecasting and their industry sector maybe unpredictable; particularly if impacted directly by the pandemic.

What is you biggest operational challenge?

The top 3 challenges facing those small businesses that completed the survey were business processes (24.1%), sales systems and dealing with COVID-19 equal second (9.3%), then government “red tape” (7.4%).

Do you outsource services to support your business?

Accounting was the service that was most outsourced by businesses; followed by website. 6 people who responded to the survey didn’t outsource anything and 29 had no intention of outsourcing further.

Is having a business plan important?

87.2% thought it was important to have a business plan (which is good news). However 1 in 10 felt that it wasn’t important. Unfortunately the survey didn’t ask a supplemental question as to why those people felt it wasn’t important – may be a question for a future survey?

Do you have a coach for your business?

The survey showed that 55.6% of businesses had some kind of external influence. This is great news that over half see the advantage of someone to help guide the business forward. This then begged the question: what made you choose them?

Interestingly, as you can see below, the top reasons were (respondents could choose more than one option):

■ Personality (64%)

■ Experience (54%)

■ Methodology (32%)

■ Reputation (26%)

Hopefully you have found this summary useful. Do you have an idea for a survey? Let us know.

Get involved

To take part in the next survey – Is social media important to your business? – visit here: https://forms.gle/jS5a9i6iunKHAY7z6. The results will be shared in the next edition of this magazine.