Business Spotlight: Better Business Bureau of Southwest Missouri

Owner: Nonprofit 501(c)6 organization

President/CEO: Judy Mills

Founded: 1933

Address: 1516 St. Louis St., Ste. A, Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 862-8419

Fax: (417) 869-5544

Web: www.bbb.org

Services: Information resource on businesses for consumers and companies, marketplace dispute resolution and advertising review

2007 Operating Budget: $300,000

Employees: 4

Contrary to public belief, the Better Business Bureau doesn’t lay down the law for business crimes.

“There are myths that we are a government agency,” says Judy Mills, president and CEO of the southwest Missouri BBB chapter. “I’ve had people tell us to go out there and shut that business down. We are a voluntary agency, and we don’t have any enforcement powers.”

Working on behalf of consumers and business, the Better Business Bureau provides information about businesses in order to develop an ethical marketplace. For instance, earlier this month when complaints mounted up about unfounded credit card charges by Connecticut-based Affinion Group, the bureau sent out a warning.

The bureau, a nonprofit with 501(c)6 status given to member organizations, is celebrating its 75th year in Springfield.

National roots

The Better Business Bureau traces its roots nationally to 1912 and the start of the National Vigilance Committee, which represented local committees formed to self-police advertising, according to Alison Preszler, spokeswoman for the Arlington, Va.-based Council of Better Business Bureaus.

By 1921, the name had changed to the National Better Business Bureau of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World and eventually became just the National Better Business Bureau.

George Bender started the local chapter in 1933. Still preserved in the BBB’s St. Louis Street office is a collection of letters from that first year, and they read like a “Who’s Who” of Springfield.

Three letters represent the founding members of the southwest Missouri chapter: the Greene County Building and Loan Association with Rathbone, Ollis and Irvin on the letterhead (known today as Great Southern Bank); Systematic Savings and Loan Association; and The Citizens Bank (now Commerce Bank).

The significance of the BBB starting in 1933 was that Missouri was still in the depths of the Great Depression.

“Imagine a man like George Bender conceiving the idea of starting the BBB when everybody was broke,” comments Jim Craig, a Mansfield native, who served as the local BBB’s president and CEO 1968–2005.

Bender served until 1945, and Leo Busch took over through 1968.

Craig’s imprint

Before beginning his BBB stint, Craig owned The Credit Bureau of Springfield, developing reports on consumers for banks and businesses. As a sideline, he began a career as “a banquet speaker,” telling “silly stories,” he quips.

While the speaking gig was taking off, Craig decided to turn over the reins of the Credit Bureau and issued a press release about the changing of the guard.

Soon, he received a call from a BBB board member asking him to lunch. Craig agreed and was asked to take over the BBB. Reluctantly, he said he’d do it – “for six months,” he recalls.

“At the time, we had 32 members and $60 in the bank,” Craig says.

He admits to not having any idea what to do, but in the first month, he signed up 150 members. “Those were just all my friends,” Craig says rather than taking credit for beginning to build the organization.

But build it he did, to about 700 members and more than $140,000 in the bank when he decided to turn things over to Mills.

In 37 years as president of the local BBB, Craig took only health benefits and reimbursement for travel expenses.

“How many people would work for expenses, and not take a salary?” asks Jim Anderson, president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. “I dare say, very, very few.”

Complaints on the rise

Current President and CEO Mills was by her own terms “a struggling single mother” in 1990 when Craig hired her to work the bureau’s phones. Mills handled calls from consumers with questions about local businesses.

Mills says Craig mentored and prepared her to handle day-to-day operations and for working with the board.

Now with a membership of 907 accredited businesses – “and eight more pending,” Mills says as she holds up a stack of papers – Mills has continued to grow the organization during a time when there is more competition for the services the bureau offers.

“The BBB is needed more so today than perhaps ever before,” says Bill Turner, Great Southern’s board chairman. “Unfortunately, lots of people are looking for a fast buck and they prey on innocent people with scams.”

Google a company and if bad information is out there, a few clicks can find it. Services such as Angie’s List offer similar feedback on businesses across the country.

In spite of more options to get information on a business, Mills says the local BBB receives more than 10,000 inquiries about businesses each month – more than 90 percent registered through the Web site.

“We are seeing record numbers of complaints and inquiries on businesses,” says Dave Kunze, BBB board chairman and Missouri regional president for BancorpSouth Inc. “This is a sign of tougher economic times and reflects a growing need for the services we offer.”

The most common complaint, according to Mills, is when consumers are promised something they don’t receive. Mills said about 80 percent of complaints get resolved.

To become an accredited business of the BBB, a company must be in operation for a year and display a history of fairly resolving complaints.

Dues start as low as $275 for a company with three or fewer employees and go up to $1,000 for a business with 1,000 employees. It’s about $1 for each employee beyond the 1,000 mark.

What do businesses get in return? “I believe the most important factor of accreditation is name recognition,” Mills says.

They also receive the BBB decal and a listing in the bureau’s directory.

“We are probably one of the greatest salespeople (the accredited businesses) have,” Craig adds. “When someone comes in and wants a report on ‘ABC Company’ – nine times out of 10, it is a good report.”

BancorpSouth uses BBB information on a regular basis.

“When we make loans, we check out the business,” Kunze says. “When we open new business accounts, we also check them out with the BBB. It’s always good to know who you are doing business with.”[[In-content Ad]]