One of the things the Accreditation Review Team might ask is “how do you know if you’re doing a good job?” That’s a fair question. How do we know? We ask the customer – our clients. We ask them on a regular basis. Client evaluation forms are mailed from the Central Office on a regular monthly basis, typically within 30 45 days of case closure. Click on the underlined words to view the form. How do the clients think we are doing? In the SBDC’s annual report to the Small Business Administration, the program shares a summary of responses from clients whose cases were closed since the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1st. Here are our marks from last year:
- 99% of the clients rated SBDC services as Excellent, Very Good or Good.
- 93% said their request for assistance received prompt attention.
- 88% said that the SBDC responded to their needs (10% said they were unsure).
- 94% said that the SBDC representative they encountered had the necessary skills to provide the assistance they needed.
- 97% said they would recommend the SBDC to other small businesspersons.
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That is a fairly good report card. It also shows that there are some areas that can use improvement, feedback that is very important to the leaders of the program.
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You probably know that the attendees at every training event your Center sponsors or co-sponsors are asked to complete a workshop evaluation form. Completed training evaluation forms give us feedback about the speaker, the content of the presentation, and the room or space in which the event was held. Often, workshop evaluations include suggestions for future workshops and speakers. The feedback provided by our customers about training activities is also very important because it tells us what they need and want.
Every two years, the SBDC hires Dr. James Chrisman, an independent consultant that has been working with the national SBDC program for many years. His job is to survey clients in NYS, analyze their responses, and create a report about the impact of SBDC services. The report contains information about sales and tax revenues generated, the average cost of each new job, and the number of jobs created and saved as a result of SBDC consulting assistance.
In addition, in his analysis, Dr. Chrisman compares the total cost of operating the SBDC to the amount of tax revenues generated by clients. In the most recent report, Dr. Chrisman states that for every $1.00 in funding, NYS SBDC clients generate $12.10 in tax revenue. He also calculates the amount of financing clients obtain from external sources and compares it to the amount of SBDC funding. In the most recent report, Dr. Chrisman states that every $1.00 in funding for the NYS SBDC was leveraged by more than $58.16 in new capital raised from external sources. To be conservative, Dr. Chrisman uses the responses of only the clients who indicated that SBDC services were beneficial.
This report also tells us how well we are doing, and according to Dr. Chrisman, the NYS SBDC is a cost-effective program, in other words, a good investment for sponsors such as NYS and SBA. The most recent Chrisman report is dated 2004-2005. Click on the underlined words to view the report. |