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www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | OCTOBER 2015 31 SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS FEEL OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THEIR BUSINESSES, YET BLEAK ON THE ECONOMY FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2015 A majority (71%) of small businesses owners feel positive about the cur- rent state of their business, yet concerns remain about the economic outlook through the end of the year, according to the U.S. Small Business Economic and Political Sentiment Survey conducted by Endurance International Group. More than half (52%) of small business owners still cite the health of the economy as the most important issue to their business. When it comes to Washington, a ma- jority (72%) of small business owners do not feel that the current group of presi- dential candidates is addressing issues important to small business, and those surveyed were essentially split on which party they feel best represents small busi- ness—with the Republican Party at 24% and Democratic Party at 23%. "With global stock market volatility and general economic unease around the world, small business owners are look- ing for our leaders in Washington to prioritize small business issues, and the presidential candidates should take note," said Endurance CEO and Founder Hari Ravichandran. "Small businesses don't feel their needs are being adequately ad- dressed. It is critically important that we encourage their growth and innovation." As for the presidential candidates, when asked about their thoughts on who would be the most effective leader on is- sues important to small business, small business owners selected Donald Trump the highest-ranking Republican candi- date at 23% and Bernie Sanders the high- est-ranking Democrat at 18%. Endurance's U.S. Small Business Economic and Political Sentiment Sur- vey provides insights and perspectives on small business owners' views on the economy, policy issues, and the current field of presidential candidates. The sur- vey was conducted between Aug. 24-31, 2015, and surveyed 1,263 U.S. small busi- ness owners, all of whom use Endurance's web presence solutions. For purposes of this survey, small businesses are defined as employing 10 or fewer people on either a full-time or part-time basis. MANY CUSTOMER-CENTRIC STRATEGIES FAIL TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL To keep pace with rapidly changing busi- ness environments, companies are under the gun to put customers at the center of everything. Many businesses are imple- menting customer-centricity strategies at great speed. A survey of 315 business ex- ecutives conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services found that 43% of organizations plan to have the strategy in place in a year or less. The study, "Mak- ing Customer-Centric Strategies Take Hold," was sponsored by customer expe- rience strategy leader Strativity Group. The study found that the implementa- tion of these strategies is likely to falter as many organizations fail to create mean- ingful visions behind them. The challenges start at the top: The survey found there is a distinct lack of confidence on the part of respondents in their organization's ability to clearly articulate a vision and strategy and align senior teams around them. The study uncovered a significant amount of organizational un-readiness. There was a significant gap between the importance respondents place on train- ing and the ability of their organizations to provide it: nearly 80% believe it is very important and only approximately 40% say their organizations do it well. Strativity's Arussy offers five strategies organizations can use to successfully ac- celerate customer centricity: Create a meaningful, human cause Integrate initiatives into a holistic pro- gram Design strategies for employee perfor- mance Align processes with metrics to accel- erate Set the standard at "exceptional" in ev- erything MOST SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS AT RISK FOR A DISASTER A new survey by Nationwide reveals that three in four small business owners do not have a disaster recovery plan, but more than half say it would take at least three months to recover from a disaster. "And yet they are the ones most af- fected by a disaster. That's why it's essen- tial for small businesses to have a disaster recovery plan." Nationwide commissioned Harris In- teractive, which conducted an online poll among 500 U.S. small business owners with fewer than 300 employees from June 8-19, 2015. Since there hasn't been a major na- tional disaster in years, America's small business owners may be feeling over- confident—even as they head into the summer storm season and National Pre- paredness Month (September). According to the survey, one in four believe the likelihood of a natural disaster occurring in their area is slim (26%). Just over one-third (37%) say climate change and the weather phenomenon El Nino BUSINESS OPERATIONS N E W S