Survey results – biggest SME concerns in 2010

Posted by paulgreen on May 10, 2010 under SME News | Comments are off for this article

Last month EnterQuest carried out its latest subscriber survey of small business owners to identify the issues that are causing the most concern in the year ahead, irrespective of which party will form a new government. We also asked for views about business owners’ own abilities and weaknesses, where they might require support, and who they preferred to turn to for help and advice.

The headline results reveal that business owners are most concerned about tax, business rates, red tape and business costs – with 80% of respondents saying they were quite concerned or very concerned about each of those particular issues. Respondents were least concerned about finding skilled/qualified staff and IT/technology issues. The weakest reported skill was in sales and marketing, with one in three business owners saying they were quite weak or very weak in this area.

In descending order the ten business issues that survey respondents reported they were fairly concerned or very concerned about are as follows:

Area of concern	Reported as concerned
1) Tax and business rates	81% (with 53% very concerned)
2) Red tape and admin	80% (with 49% very concerned)
3) Business costs	79% (with 48% very concerned)
4) Consumer spending	65%
5) Support from bank	64%
6) Access to credit	61%
7) Competitors	54%
Employment regulations	48%
9) Finding skilled staff	26%
10) IT and technology	25%