Scoring Success in 2015

What Small Businesses Are Saying About Scoring Success in 2015

As we slowly thaw from the winter doldrums, small businesses across the nation are in growth mode, and they’re as optimistic about the economy as they have been in years.

In fact, according to our SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard survey data, nearly 80% are optimistic, compared to just more than half at the end of 2012. And as low as 33% in 2011.

Meanwhile, 61% are planning to grow larger and 52% say they have extra cash on hand.

The data tells us that small business owners are ready to put more people on the payroll, as they attempt to boost sales, profit and revenues. Their expectations are high after roughly 60% reported a profitable 2014 and revenues that exceeded 2013.

In 2015, 70 percent expect to be profitable.

How Will Small Businesses Make a Profit This Year?

Part of the formula for a profitable 2015 will be running a lean and efficient operation, so small businesses can cut costs. This is something they became experts at doing during the recession. While those were difficult times, they also afforded small business owners an opportunity to innovate and become more flexible in how they achieved greater productivity for less money and with less manpower.

Outsourcing to vendors for services such as payroll, IT and marketing is one important way small businesses are saving time and money.

Just like you don’t have a lawyer or an accountant on staff, they’re finding they can use software as a service to perform certain business operations or 1099s to lend expertise in specific areas, such as graphic design.

Outsourcing payroll services is one area where small business owners can streamline an important task that can be complicated and costly if they incur penalties for mistakes. The small cost of a service will pay for itself if it means more time focused selling a great product.

Expanding Their Reach

In addition to improved efficiency, as the economy improves, small businesses are looking to expand their reach:

• 39% plan to create new marketing materials both in print and online format.
• 38% plan to increase their web presence through social media and advertising.
• 31% plan to update technology internally with new computers, tablets, and better Internet access.

Already, one third of small business owners are using Facebook advertising. Half are going to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to recruit and check into job candidates – this is up from just 37% a year ago.

With 70% making changes to the way they do business to account for an increasingly technological environment, small business owners have implemented the following tactics:

• 47% have updated their company websites
• 46% have recently engaged on social media
• 15% are spending significantly on search engine optimization
• 14% are building websites for the first time
• 14% are spending significantly on paid advertising with Google

A New Approach

While caution was the name of the game, understandably, for small businesses in the last few years, we’re starting to see a shift. They’re becoming more aggressive about hiring, updating technology and growing aware of their offerings online.

Just last year, the biggest barrier to hiring was the cost of salaries and benefits. Now small business owners are telling us it’s finding the right candidate.

Past years may have been about surviving. But as 2015 progresses, we have high hopes that small businesses will thrive, as their employees and the overall economy reap the benefits.

Data Courtesy of the SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard