YODLES FIRST ANNUAL

SMALL BUsINEss sENTIMENT sURVEY

AUGUST 2013

EXECUTIVE sUMMARY
Small businesses are usually referred to as the backbone of the U.S. economy. The owners of these businesses justifiably have a reputation of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, but that does not necessarily give an accurate depiction of their satisfaction or outlook. Yodle commissioned an online survey in June 2013 through a third party research firm to measure the true sentiment of small business owners. The 300+ respondents from across the country own small businesses in a variety of white and blue collar industries ranging from law and financial services to construction. Among other things Yodles First Annual Small Business Sentiment Survey examines work-life balance, identifies professional and personal concerns, gathers perspective about economic and political issues, and also takes a look at small business owners approach to technology and marketing. Yodle has served small businesses for more than eight years and is proud to reveal the results of its inaugural sentiment survey.

WHO WAs POLLED?

Yodles First Annual Small Business Sentiment Survey includes a sample of 306 small business owners across the United States that work in services industries. Heres a breakdown of the small business owner respondents by role, age, blue/white collar, amount of time theyve owned their own business, and the number of employees they have.

PROFILE OF REsPONDENTs BY ROLE

SOLE OWNERs PART OWNERs 243 63 306 79% 21% 100%

PROFILE OF REsPONDENTs BY THE AMOUNT OF TIME THEYVE OWNED THEIR sMALL BUsINEss
0-2 YEARs 3-5 YEARs 6-10 YEARs 11-15 YEARs 16-20 YEARs 19 32 53 47 36 119 306 6% 10% 17% 15% 12% 39% 100%

PROFILE OF REsPONDENTs BY AGE

18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+ 3 9 42 118 132 306 1% 4% 14% 39% 43% 100%

21+ YEARs

PROFILE OF REsPONDENTs BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEEs

NONE 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 80 177 28 13 8 306 26% 58% 9% 4% 3% 100%

PROFILE OF REsPONDENTs BY COLLAR

BLUE COLLAR WHITE COLLAR 73 233 306 24% 76% 100%

sURVEY REsULTs

WORK-LIFE BALANCE
A slight majority of small business owners appear to have a decent work-life balance. 52% of small business owners work 40 hours or less a week, while only nearly 1 out of 10 (9%) small business owners work more than 60 hours a week. 72% of small business owners take at least two weeks of vacation per year. More than 1 out of every 4 (27%) small business owners take at least four weeks of vacation, while the same number (27%) take 1 or less weeks of vacation per year.
30% 40% 25% 39% 20% 15% 12% 10% 8%
21-40 41-60 61-80

27% 18%

27%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

1-20

16% 11%

1%
81-100

5% 0%
None 1 2 3 4

HOURS WORKED PER WEEK sURVEY REsULTs

VaCatION WEEKS/YEaR

OWNING A BUsINEss
A significant number of people are content that they own a small business. A vast majority (91%) of small business owners are at least somewhat happy with their choice to go into business for themselves, with more than half (55%) reporting that they are extremely happy with their choice.
60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
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The majority (59%) of small business owners definitely wont or likely wont sell their business in the next few years. Conversely, over 1 in 4 (29%) small business owners are leaning towards not owning their business anymore.
35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 13% 4% Would you like to sell your business in the next few years? 25% 25% 34%

55%

36%

How happy are you that you became a small business owner?

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sURVEY REsULTs

PROFEssIONAL AND PERsONAL CONCERNs

The top three professional worries for small business owners include finding new customers, affording healthcare & other employee benefits, and keeping current customers.

Despite the strong satisfaction levels of most small business owners with regard to being self-employed, many still have significant professional and personal worries. The top three personal worries for small business owners include affording healthcare, saving for retirement, and providing an adequate family lifestyle.

PERCENTAGE OF sMALL BUsINEss OWNERs THAT HAVE THEsE PROFEssIONAL WORRIEs

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Finding new customers Affording healthcare and other employee benefits Keeping current customers Paying bills for the business Hiring good employees Competition 42% 39% 33% 33% 29% 21%

PERCENTAGE OF sMALL BUsINEss OWNERs THAT HAVE THEsE PERsONAL WORRIEs

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Affording healthcare Saving for retirement Providing an adequate family lifestyle Paying bills at home Saving for college funds 48% 46% 33% 31% 29%

sURVEY REsULTs

GOVERNMENT AND INsTITUTION sUPPORT

27% think that the federal government helps 73%
HELPs HINDERs

A large percentage of small business owners generally do not believe that the federal government or other institutions provide adequate support. Only 27 percent of small business owners small businesses more than it hinders them.
25% that the federal government does not 75%

3 out of 4 small business owners believe provide adequate tax incentives to small business owners.
ADEQUATE INADEQUATE

Small business owners named trade associations and banks as the two most helpful organizations at 34% and 26% respectively. However, a higher percentage of small business owners (39%) reported that they do not find any organizations some of which are specifically set up to support them as helpful to their business.
5

sMALL BUsINEss ADMINIsTRATION

26%

39% 10%

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT

34% 15%

7% 8%

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TRADE AssOCIATIONs BANKs NONE OF THEM ARE HELPFUL

sURVEY REsULTs

ECONOMY AND AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT

More than half of small business owners (54%) are at least somewhat optimistic about the economy. 61% of respondents think that the Affordable Healthcare Act will have a negative impact on small businesses.
35% 30% 25% 20% 16% 5% 10% 4% 15% 10% 5% 0%
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How would you describe your outlook on the economy? 16%

What impact do you think the Affordable Healthcare Act will have on small businesses? 14% 9% 3% 9% 9% 15%

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sURVEY REsULTs

TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETING APPROACHEs

Although just over half of small business owners use technology for accounting, only a minority use automated technology for other key business operations. Technology adoption rates for various business functions are as follows:
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Accounting Appointment Booking and Scheduling Customer Relationship Management Point-of-Sale Systems Acquisition Marketing 51% 39% 34% 25% 14%

Most small business owners have still not adopted modern technology or new marketing techniques. Almost 1 in 4 (23%) of small business owners report that they dont spend any money on marketing, while just over half (56%) spend less than $500 a month.
On average how much is your business monthly marketing budget? 18% 10% 3%
49 99 49 99 $0 -2 -4 -7 -9

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 23%

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A majority of small business owners dont have a website (52%) or a mobile-optimized website (90%).
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sURVEY REsULTs

MARKETING EFFECTIVENEss AND MEAsUREMENT

Given lack of spend on marketing, its unsurprising that small business owners identify word of mouth and professional referrals as their most effective customer acquisition approaches, at 78% and 56% respectively. Additionally, more than half (56%) of small business owners do not measure the results of the marketing efforts.

EFFECTIVE MARKETING CHANNELs FOR FINDING NEW CUsTOMERs

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 Word of Mouth Business Referrals Business Websites Email Marketing Online Directories Online Advertising Social Media Print Directories Event Marketing Direct Mailings Location Signage Print Ads Truck/Vehicle Signage SEO Other Radio Ads Daily Deal Coupons TV Ads 78% 54% 31% 13% 13% 12% 11% 10% 9% 8% 7% 7% 7% 6% 5% 2% 1% 1%

HOW DO YOU MEAsURE YOUR REsULTs FOR MARKETING?

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 I do not measure results from marketing I track the number of phone calls I receive and where they come from I track the number of emails I receive and where they come from I count likes or check-ins I track in some other way I use a marketing vendor that tracks customer leads for me 56% 31% 25% 9% 6% 4%

ABOUT YODLE
Yodle connects consumers to local businesses simply and cost-effectively. The combination of automated technology and comprehensive customer support makes Yodle easy to use. Yodles offering is also ROI-driven: local businesses set a budget for which they receive calls and emails from qualified consumers. Today, Yodle delivers results for more than 35,000 local businesses. To do so, Yodle establishes a comprehensive desktop and mobile web presence, implements unique SEO techniques, and deploys proprietary paid search technology that dynamically optimizes online media buys across multiple desktop and mobile outlets. Yodles solution also includes relationship marketing, display advertising, and a simple performance dashboard. Yodles competitive advantage is derived from the sheer scale of its local performance data across multiple industries. Yodle is ranked #28 in the Forbes list of Americas most promising companies. For more information on Yodle, visit yodle.com.