Courtesy photo Participants mingle during a meeting between the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau and Small Business Administration this week.

ESCANABA –î The Delta County Chamber of Commerce welcomed the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Michigan and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Michigan District Office last week for a meeting with local business and community leaders.

“We were happy to share with those in attendance the value of being a Better Business Bureau-accredited business,” said Nakia Mills, vice president of digital marketing and brand strategy with the BBB. “At the Better Business Bureau — îjust like the name says “îour passion is to help businesses become better.”

Wendell Gafford, BBB Director of Business Relations, explained that there is an application process with the BBB to become accredited, and that new businesses have to be operating for at least six months to become accredited. He also spoke about the value of being accredited by the BBB: “If you’re an accredited business, customers instantly know that you are a trustworthy business, and that you are going to take care of them, so it really is a powerful logo.”

Gafford then shared a statistic to show the value of being a BBB-accredited business: “Over eighty percent of consumers say they will choose the business with the BBB Seal over a non-accredited business.”

Brandon T. Adolph, Outreach and Marketing Specialist with the U.S. SBA’s Michigan District Office, joined the meeting via Zoom, and described the SBA’s Programs and Services that help Michigan businesses with free resources, funding, and contracting opportunities.

Chamber Associate Director Sheila Krueger, who coordinated the meeting, said she is grateful for the time that the representatives of the two organizations spent meeting with our business and economic development leaders.

“We at the Chamber would like to thank the Better Business Bureau and Small Business Administration for meeting with our business and community leaders in our waterfront community to help them better understand the services offered by these two organizations, and how our local businesses can benefit from their services, in addition to Chamber Membership,” she said. “Not only was this a great learning experience and information-collecting session, it was also our opportunity to share with our guests what makes Delta County a great place in which to work and start a new business.”

The variety of business people and economic leaders in attendance said they learned valuable information about the services offered by the organizations and appreciated the opportunity to ask questions of the organizations’ representatives.

To discover what Michigan’s new Better Business Bureau can do for your business, please visit bbb.org, call (517) 837-2162, or email info@mi.bbb.org or to find out about the services offered by the Michigan District Office of the SBA, visit SBA.gov or email brandon.adolph@sba.gov.

For information about joining the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, call (906) 786-2192, visit deltami.org, or search Delta County, Michigan — Chamber of Commerceon Facebook.

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Victoria LaFave works as media and communications officer for the Delta County Chamber of Commerce.