SBA Webinar Presents Ways Small Businesses Can Innovate & Thrive

On Wednesday, October 14, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in conjunction with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), presented a 30-minute webinar on how small businesses can succeed through innovation. A panel of experts discussed "new ways to grow your business" in a live, interactive session that used online polling and concluded with a Q&A session. The webinar, moderated by Bridgett Novak, featured an interview with SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills, and panelists Stephen Key, an inventor and founder of InventRight.com, and Steve King, founder of Emergent Research.

The session began by detailing how some small businesses have used innovative ideas to thrive and grow their business, including wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It! (HarperStudio), who ramped up sales exponentially by capitalizing on social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. Another entrepreneur, Stephanie Bernstein, created a start-up to sell products that encourage people to reduce their "forkprint" by using more durable, reusable utensils and containers for food and beverages, instead of throw-away plastic containers and utensils.

"You might have listened to the stories and thought, 'I am not like those people,'" said Novak. "But that's one of the myths about innovation. Many believe it's only something for the big boys or just applies to the world of high tech. That's not the case at all. Innovation goes on all the time in small businesses. It's so normal you might call it 'tweaking.' Innovations are new products or approaches."

SBA's Mills stressed that small companies and business owners tend to think about innovation constantly. "They try to understand how to deliver more value to their customers and clients," she said. "That's where innovation comes from. Large companies have more difficulty being entrepreneurial and encouraging innovation. They do things that try to imitate what small companies have. They get people together in small groups. They give people ownership of a task or a product line."

Mills noted that small business innovation is the key to strengthening the economy in the years ahead. "I'm a believer in small business," she said. "I'm a believer we can manufacture and do service businesses in this country that add value and compete. And innovation is key to that. Small businesses know how to innovate. We have to give them the tools to grow."

During the webinar, participants were quizzed to determine how innovative they are. One question asked, "when tackling a project, do you wait until you have every detail [or] instead dive right in?" Most attendees answered that they dive right in. "It's absolutely right," said King. "You have to dive in and reach out to friends and mentors and people in that business and ask questions. Learn from their experience, because you will never have all of the information."

Another quizzed: "Your company has maintained a 40 percent market share for years. When it comes to ideas for new processes, products, do you agree that ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Most attendees did not agree with the statement -- which is a good thing if a company wants to remain on top, said Key. "I think you have to be very, very careful," he said. "Even if you are doing well, even if you have a large market share, you have to be looking over your back. If you are successful, someone wants your spot. Someone wants to kick you off the shelf. Always, always be creative."

The panelists also concurred that if a company is losing revenue, the owner should be honest and upfront with the employees about it. The consensus was that uncertainty among employees would be worse, and, on a positive note, the news could be an opportunity to build loyalty and teamwork with employees. "Maybe they can help you come out of this situation," King said. "You can build morale. This will give them a sense this is about the company and me, as well."

Another topic covered during the Q&A was "innovation tournaments" in which companies ask the outside world to submit ideas (for example, Netflix's tournament in which it asked people to help improve its recommendation engine), or they may ask customers or employees to submit ideas, and then reward them with recognition or monetarily (for example, with prizes such as gift cards). "That's something that is happening more and more," Key said. "I think that starts to get everybody thinking of how to be innovative, how to be creative. Once your employees start to participate they feel like they're part of the business. That's a great way of creating that loyalty, as well." --David Grogan