If you need a new roof on your home, would you check roofers out with the Better Business Bureau before choosing a company? What if your business needed a new roof?
Our BBB branch office in Clarksville got a new roof last week, and you can bet that the BBB put on its consumer hat before we did business.
Consumers frequently turn to the BBB for reliability reports on companies before making major buying decisions. Now consider this: businesses are customers, too. New vendors should be researched with BBB before making major buying decisions. And not just vendors. Check with BBB before choosing a company to do business with in the following areas that have a direct impact on your business performance with customers and your ability to compete in the marketplace:
* Subcontractors: They represent your company in the marketplace and contribute to your reputation with their behavior. Check with BBB to make sure that your sub-contractors don't have an unsatisfactory customer history that could indicate they might create dissatisfied customers when working for you.
* Service Providers: Service providers for telephone equipment, computers, copy machines and other equipment with a record of dissatisfied customers should be avoided, least you become one of their statistics.
* Large Business Customers Paying On Credit: Check with the BBB as part of your credit approval process. BBB won't have specific credit or paying on time information, but if we do have a report on the company, the BBB report will include customer complaint history. Whether you are a customer or a vendor how you are treated speaks volumes about the risk you take as the little guy.
* Extending Credit: If you manage a bank, credit union, or other lending institution you know the importance and the risk involved in approving businesses loans. Including the BBB's reliability report on the business applying for the loan is another resource for business performance. Corporate entities don't repay borrowed money; however, people of integrity who own and manage businesses always live up to their commitments. Many times the first indicator of a business in trouble is a BBB record of unresolved customer complaints.
The BBB's list of Top Industry Complaints in 2003 includes sectors that businesses often use. The top six should be of particular interest to your business:
(1) Auto Dealers-New; (2) Travel Clubs; (3) Cellular Telephone Services; (4) Insurance;(5) Collection Agents; (6) Movers. BBBs across the country have reliability reports on many companies in these industries. Choosing a reliable vendor is always important. Identifying a reliable vendor in a complaint-ridden industry requires special care in the selection process. Your Better Business Bureau can help.
The BBB does not endorse, recommend or disapprove of any company on which it reports. It simply states the facts about the company's customer experience, as the BBB knows it. BBB reports on BBB Members and Non-Member companies. If the company is a Member of the BBB the report will state the Membership status. BBB reports will also detail the ownership, how long in business, and how they handle customer disputes. This is important because how a company handles its complaints should be a deciding factor when you are choosing which company to do business with.
Companies come to the attention of the Better Business Bureau when the public either inquire or complain about them. This is the hallmark of the BBB's approach to industry self-regulation and customer confidence in the marketplace. How business is conducted matters to everyone in Middle Tennessee. So before you do business, for your business, reach for a valuable business tool. Click to Check your BBB web site.
