WBJ webinar: Relationships, financing & market insight are key to small biz success

Photo | Alexander MacDougall The WBJ panel discussion during the Small Business Strategies webinar on Thursday.

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By Alexander MacDougall

Small business owners can grow and manage their companies successfully within the area’s economic landscape if they lean into the established support networks, have a keen understanding of finances, and know their strengths and weaknesses, particularly within the market and knowing when they should seek help from outsourced providers and new employees.

This was the message during the hour long Small Business Strategies webinar hosted Thursday by Worcester Business Journal, discussing the best practices for Central Massachusetts companies. The panelists were David Bennett, senior vice president of Middlesex Savings Bank in Natick, Richard Cheney, the regional director of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network office at Clark University, Breanna DiBella, principal of creative direction at Studio DiBella in Worcester, and Karen Pelletier, the executive vice president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. The event was moderated by WBJ Editor Brad Kane.

The hour-long discussion began with the panelists giving their thoughts on how businesses can ensure the products they are producing are successful in Central Massachusetts and what challenges small businesses face. All four agreed that the pandemic has forced businesses to rapidly adapt in order to survive, with some businesses having to change their entire model overnight.

Pelletier noted the chamber has been focused on advocacy and ensuring businesses succeed, fighting for things like the need for more flexible Paycheck Protection Program eligibility requirements. She said the chamber has been working to connect businesses with the resources they need to survive and rebound.

“The first round [of PPP] was really dependent on businesses already having pre-existing relationships with commercial lenders,” said Pelletier. “We get a lot of referrals at the chamber, and I know a lot of other business service providers do as well, and I think that’s an important relationship to be fostering right from the beginning.”

Cheney spoke about the importance of small businesses being proactive and reaching out for help, whether that’s through the SBDC or other organizations.

“You want to hire people that are going to be supporting you in that work,” he said. “For example, you might want to hire a marketing professional to build your marketing plan or webpage to allow you to go out and do what you do best, as opposed to spending time on things you aren’t very good at.”

Bennett talked about the importance of accounting in starting a business, as well as the challenges that businesses are facing in terms of qualifying for loans. He said Middlesex Savings has been working hard to be flexible and work with businesses to find the right lending solution.

“We don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t know where this is all headed,” he said. “But there are things we can control as individuals, like communicating to partners, customers and clients all the time and we stay in front of that.”

DiBella spoke about the importance of adaptation, both in terms of the way businesses are marketing themselves and the way they are operating. She said many businesses have had to get creative in order to survive, and the ones that have been able to do so are the ones that will thrive in the long run.

“To help sustain activity moving forward, whether it's marketing or something else, but you need to try and think creatively about how you might stretch your resources to achieve what you’re trying to do and improve your overall brand,” DiBella said.