BBB Staff with Jeff Katz Part 2

0:00I'm Jeff Katz. I happen to be the owner of an accredited business. Very proud of that fact. And I just love the better business bureau writ large, but especially the better business bureau serving central Virginia. It's a wonderful collection of people doing great work for our community. I'm thrilled to be joined by by Crystal and Debbie and Jen this morning as we chat a little bit about the better business bureau serving central Virginia. What makes this particular BBB different and you ladies don't have to say it, but I'll say it better better than other BBB chapters, right? I just nod in agreement. That'll be not that'll be enough. Crystal, let's start with you because you've been here a while and well, you know what now that I think about it, you're you're actually the lowest in terms of sir, which is incredible because you've been here for 18 years. Wow. What is it that makes better business bureau serving central Virginia better than the other BBBs around the country? Our staff. There you go.

1:08That's right. Absolutely. All right. Anything else. There might be one or two other things. What do you do differently than others? How about that? There are some offices that are more everything. You know, automated. We're going to have more attention to detail and oversight as far as looking at everything before stuff goes through. Right. Jen, for example, does a great job with customer reviews. If she's picking up a pattern, we're going to hop on stuff immediately. We're not going to let it linger. Well, that is one of the real strengths of the BBB serving central Virginia is that when you either call or you're here at the office, there are real live human beings who are nice and friendly and helpful and supportive, which is a, which is a really nice thing. Jen, what is it that you find different about this BBB? What is it that you try to do differently each and every day? Because you've been here a while as well at 20 years. Yes. Yeah. So I think like Crystal said, the personal touch. We try to build a relationship with all of our credited businesses. And then we're also here to help consumers guide them through how to find what they need on BBB.org. Right.

2:16And then also the ignite program. We were the first one on the East Coast to bring that program to fruition. And it's really taken off with our community conversations. And then I would say just the, like you said, the leadership, Barry has a different vision for where our office should be. He comes from the for profit world. So he kind of had a way of bringing the for profit to the nonprofit and making us kind of. Kind of do things a little different than we had done before. Right. So we do have that personal relationship with those accredited businesses versus it just being. You know, another number and another, you know, sale. We actually have. Raving fans with our credited businesses. Well, we, we, you do, you do have some raving fans. I'm sitting here as a raving fan who operates in accredited business. I do know how wonderful this staff is. And I do understand and appreciate the vision that says we've got two sides of this coin. And some people might think they're in opposition. Right.

3:23The business is over here. You got the consumers over here. And everybody can joke about the other side. You know, the only thing that couldn't screw up the business as customers or the customers who are firmly convinced everybody's out to fleece them. And you're right there on both sides saying, not even one of those things is really true. And we're going to help you navigate that bridge. Yes. Yeah. And get the most for it. Now Debbie at 27 years. Yeah. Which is amazing because you yourself are 28 years old. So I don't know exactly how and when you were able to work here. But I don't know. I think that you know, I've been started with the better business bureau for such a long time because I enjoy working here. And again, the staff, yeah, Crystal and Chris and Jennifer, we've been here together for quite some time. Yeah. And I enjoy their company. But the consumers and the accredited businesses, we are a better business bureau company.

4:31Yeah. We want things to be better for you. Right. So why not, you know, again, I'm going to say why not? I mean, we are different from other bureaus. I customer service that we showed was that I consumers and accredited businesses, we will make you feel like you're at home, like you are welcome anytime you want to come into the better business bureau. 27 years, what have you seen change here? Or has it always just been the best of the best? I have seen a lot change. Let's check the statute of limitations. Make sure everybody is covered and if it's available. I've seen a lot change. I do remember that I think I'm taking myself way back billboards. Sure. We first started off with billboards, advertising on the billboards. So that was one thing then, I guess from after that, it started being, you know, websites. So advertising on websites is things that's gone on. And then now we have the AI things that's coming up. So yeah, that's a lot of changes since I've been here.

5:40The logo has changed. That's something that I never thought would, but it has. So let me ask you about a business owner hypothetically. We've talked about the value of being an accredited business. We've talked about the value to consumers and the rest of it. What's different? What's changed? Let's say you're a business owner who at one point was a BBB accredited business. And for whatever reason decided, I just don't think I'm getting anything out of this. Or I'm not getting enough out of this and kind of let their accreditation labs and now sitting on the sidelines. Any of you can grab this question. Maybe all of you should grab it. Why should they come back? Why should they think about coming back? I think the joining better business bureau is great, but a business also has to put that into life for themselves as well. Make sure you're utilizing the seal. Definitely give us a call and Debbie can go over new benefits that we offer where we didn't previous to maybe who we were working with at that particular company is no longer there.

6:50And that's why you didn't see the value because the communication was lacking. Well, the information we have is from someone else. Right. So, yeah, I think that for the business to put it into life, advertise the seal, take advantage of request to quotes. Yeah, I mean, double track in with us touch base with us. We can get you to Debbie. Debbie can go everything with you. Give you a new snapshot of your statistics that we have for your company. And we love to hear. Oh, all right. Well, wait a minute, Debbie. What sort of snapshot and statistics of my company? Can I get a snapshot is going to show that how many people has looked at your on BBB dot or on your profile page. Wow. So if your company, which is Jeff cats, I can go on to BBB dot or. And then it says you are credited. And I can click on there and read that information about you. So it's going to show that people are looking at your company. That's important. Yeah. A lot of people say that companies will say that I'm not getting anything from you. You don't know because I'm not going to tell you that I'm checking that that company. And I tell them all the time I said, who's going to tell you that they looking at you?

8:05I mean, because then again, you might do the job. Well, because I'm looking at you, but I want you to do the job because you say that's what you're going to do. Wow. So I don't tell you know, yeah, no one's going to tell you, but they are looking at you. Absolutely. Jen, you talked a lot about your sort of the operational parts of this. So again, an accredited business who for whatever reason kind of fell by the wayside. Now they're hearing Jen talk about her, her operations. What would I see that's different on the operational end that might encourage me to say, you know what, I, I need to get back involved with the BBB if they'll have me. Yeah. Well, I think one big thing that's changed is our customer reviews. People used to get real upset because our customer reviews would expire after three years. So those five star ratings would drop. So those don't expire anymore, which is is a plus. I think a big piece for them for the benefits is looking at what we offer now, especially if they are accredited prior to 2022. We have a lot of things that we've put into place like the ignite program.

9:12Like the Virginia breeze radio ad. Yeah, the podcast studio, which is part of ignite, you know, that you can come in and do the complimentary podcast. It's huge for advertising. And the advertising opportunities that we have in general with the different new stations and things like that where you can get those discounts. Yeah, you know, the the Keldair where you can put yourself out if you if you're looking for people to hire. I mean, there's so many benefits that we have now. Yeah, and like Crystal said, it's a matter of of you implementing them as a business, you know, we're only as good as what we offer, but you have to take that and put it to life. Absolutely. Crystal, how about the final word from you for that accredited business who fell by the wayside or somebody who's thinking, maybe I should become an accredited business. Again, if I can go through the process with them or the consumer, how do they reach out? So they can give us a call at 804 6480030 and then also at our website at www dot BBB dot org.

10:14All right, BBB dot org is sort of your one stop landing page and that phone number one more time. 804 6480030. What an absolute pleasure it has been to spend some time with the the staff at the better business bureau serving central Virginia on a personal basis. I will tell you that they are amongst the finest people I've ever interacted with professional friendly, helpful supportive. It is a wonderful organization. If you are an accredited business, you do need to reach out and take advantage of everything they offer. The business owner thinking that it might be beneficial. I'm here to tell you it will be beneficial. Again, you need to reach out and of course for consumers. Follow the advice of my dad who always said you've got to look for that BBB designation before you do anything else. BBB sharing with Jeff cats.