When you are applying for a grant, loan, etc., you will be required to provide financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow).  An area that can be problematic is providing expense data (since the business is not yet off the ground).  Performance Plus provides you with an accurate cost structure of similar businesses in your industry. You can also analyze expenses based on different revenue levels and thus project how your cost structure may change as your business grows.  Existing companies have the option of entering their business data (revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, etc.) which can then be used to benchmark their company against industry averages.  This can help them identify areas in which their business deviates from the industry (e.g. not spending enough on advertising).

Another powerful free tool that should not be overlooked!

A survey is a great market research tool with many uses:  evaluating customer satisfaction, discovering areas for improvement, and even testing the level of interest for a new product.  It is an objective way to gather and analyze responses. Customer satisfaction is particularly important in this day and age.  Disgruntled customers no longer just share their frustrations with their close circle of friends.  Now, they also go on Twitter, Yelp.com, and YouTube and make their complaints public.

Last week, Tim Horton’s had to deal with an onslaught on Twitter when a franchise owner sponsored an event by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which is opposed to same-sex marriage.  By the time they issued a statement revoking sponsorship for the event, thousands of responses, not to mention rumors and misconceptions had been posted online.  In July, Canadian artist Dave Carroll created a video about his experience with United Airlines after spending 9 unsuccessful months trying to get compensation for his broken guitar.  Within 3 days, his video was viewed 1.3 million times, embarrassing the airline and forcing them to pay the $1,200 repair cost.

There is a vast array of online choices when it comes to surveys.  With Survey Monkey, for example, you can create everything from simple customers polls to complex professional surveys.  With a free membership, you can conduct online surveys, albeit, with some restrictions (e.g. limit of 100 responses).  For a monthly rate of US$19.95, you can increase that number to 1,000.  Another alternative is Free Surveys Online, which allows you to run a survey for free for about two weeks.  Following that period, you have to pay $14.99 to access the results.  There is also QuestionPro, a site that offers limited free service as well as  paid upgrades.

Staying in touch with customers and evaluating their level of satisfaction on a regular basis is an important part of any marketing strategy.  Word of advice:  don’t wait for a song about your company to come out on YouTube before engaging in a conversation with your customers.