3 Stories That’ll Make You Want to Purchase Business Insurance
Fifty percent of small businesses fail in their first year. If you’re in the process of building your small business and about to open your doors to the public, reading that above statistic no doubt felt like a punch to the gut. If the statistic was even 30 percent (though still a big number) you would feel better about your chances of succeeding. If your business gets a couple bad reviews on Yelp or if an upset employee tries to exact revenge on you by bad mouthing the ethics of your company, it could all come crashing down around you, and without affordable business insurance to help pay for business interruption or even litigation fees, you’ll be closing your doors before you greet your 100th customer.
Here are three small business horror stories that’ll keep you up at night.Click To Tweet#1 Poor Customer Service
78 percent of customers have chosen not to complete a transaction and have even boycotted a business because they were dissatisfied with the customer service they received. We have all had to deal with a negative customer service experience as customers and business representatives — this is not something that is going to go away anytime soon. Some of these poor experiences have had to do with the sales staff not getting enough training before they’re put out on the sales floor. Others can be as serious as having to do with the store’s stance on traditional values.
If your company does not work to improve staff training or maintain transparency with the public, your customers will take their business elsewhere, which will in effect hurt your business. After the anger and protests Starbucks was hit with after their failed red cup design in 2015, they partnered with some of their graphic design and artist customers to make a cup that would delight everyone. In showing that they took their customers’ feedback to heart, Starbucks was able to diffuse the situation, even with customers like Joshua Feuerstein continuing to leave bad reviews and doing news interviews badmouthing the company. Being a large corporation, it was easy for Starbucks to right the ship. As a small business owner, you won’t necessarily have the financial means to protect yourself against virulent customers. With business insurance you won’t have to worry about business interruption or being served with papers because your bundled and affordable business insurance policy will take care of all of that.
#2 No Social Media Presence
There are pros and cons to having a social media presence. The central argument may be that you’re opening yourself up to reviews by customers who either love you or hate you: there is no in-between. But, if you want customers/clients to be able to find you, to understand your mission and value statements and to help people understand what your company represents and what your brand means, it is 100 percent necessary to have a company page available online via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. According to a Pew Research study, 52 percent of adults online use two or more social media sites to connect with family, friends and get the news. They will understand through pictures, blog posts and news articles how your business supports the community and how your products/services help people. Should your social media presence go sour thanks to a few negative (and untrue) posts, your business insurance will cover you, you just need business insurance.
#3 Blowing the Budget
Small businesses can go over budget due to an inexperienced leadership team, bad communication and poor bookkeeping. Though we’ve all heard the expression that you have to spend money to make money, you still have to be frugal in your first few years of business, that is, if you’re lucky enough to make it passed your first year. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a step-by-step guide that will help you understand your budget, set your budget and stick to the budget. If anything should happen that causes your budget to implode, your small business insurance policy should cover the costs. Just make sure that before making the insurance purchase that the policy covers you every which way.
Knowing what you know now, protect your small business and see that it celebrates its one-year anniversary!
