Found: The secret to small business success

SAN FRANCISCO
April 27, 2006 8:17am

If you hope to see your small business survive and succeed, you’ll have to be innovative and swift to implement those new ideas, says a new survey by Wells Fargo Bank.

While the small business competitive landscape becomes increasingly crowded, small business owners continue adapting to economic fluctuations and market demands by focusing on innovation, the survey says.

According to the survey done for the bank by Gallup, innovation is a critical focus of business owners looking to remain competitive.

Seventy-five percent of small business owners surveyed have adopted new procedures to improve quality assurance, demonstrating a strong customer focus as a top business line objective.

Innovation around technology spending has also been important, as 71 percent of business owners surveyed cited increased spending on new technologies like computerized bookkeeping and updated computer systems. Additional areas of focus include different ways of marketing and selling products (71 percent), and new product or service innovation (60 percent).

"Small businesses are built on the concept of innovation, and their ultimate success depends on their ability to grow and adapt to unexpected market changes," says Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, executive vice president and head of the small business segment for Wells Fargo, in a written statement. "Innovation happens in many different ways: through ideas, product development, process enhancements, or revised marketing strategies. There is no blueprint on how to innovate, but time and time again, small business owners demonstrate resiliency and an uncanny ability to respond to the changing needs of their customers."

More than half of small business owners surveyed -- 57 percent -- currently allocate time for idea generation and creative exploration. Fifty-nine percent also are taking courses or training to improve their skills and continue to learn, while 55 percent are providing additional skills training for their employees.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 603 small business owners conducted March 1-15. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points.