The Biggest Pain Points of Small Business Owners
As their business matures, owners’ pain points tend to shift away from cash flow management and revenue to talent acquisition and keeping the customer base consistent. Recently Mutual of Omaha conducted focus groups with small businesses to understand their pain points and what keeps them up at night. They have cited talent acquisition, employee performance, customer satisfaction, cash flow and risk management as some of their biggest pain points. Additionally, most owners do not have a succession or emergency plan in place. Approaching clients with an understanding of their needs is a great ice-breaker for a conversation about life insurance for small business owners.
“We have a number of options but nothing formal. If something happened tomorrow, it would be a problem.”
Buy/Sell Arrangement:
- While owners are aware of the need to plan for the future, day-to-day concerns often trump strategic planning.
- Owners consider themselves to still be growing, so they don’t think about planning for retirement yet.
- Most owners don’t think about impending or possible changes – or they plan on addressing this in 10 years.
- When this discussion was brought up in the focus groups, many felt they were unprepared and wanted to call an agent right away to get guidance and a plan in place.
“We’re a family business; we’re going to work this out at some point.”
Cash flow:
- Reducing and controlling costs
- Budget cuts with government
- Having enough money to pay employees insurance
- Concerns regarding the cost and quality labor
- Fear of failure
- Owners want proof that the benefits outweigh the costs to participate
“We hold a lot of responsibility, and what if something fails?”
Mitigating risk/safety:
- If something happened to the owner, the business could quickly become a liability.
- Being liable or sued if something happens.
- Understanding the benefit of protecting family (life insurance for themselves).
- Unknown health care factors.
everyone would win.”
Employees:
- Issues surrounding employee hiring, training, safety and retention
- Employee safety
- Growth – if we grow and hire more people, what happens if business doesn’t continue to be successful? Is it better to stay where you’re at now?
- Employee motivation
- Management team – personality conflicts
- Costs for employee
“Hiring the right talent is always a challenge.”
- Vendors keeping schedules, ensuring timely product delivery
- Delivery/performance of product/service
- Keeping a consistent customer base
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& Mutual of Omaha