Do not trust small business surveys

OPINION:

Every time I read something about businesses and the economy, it’s generally because a new survey is making the news.

How reliable are these studies? Not very.

Most small-business surveys aren’t designed to inform you. They are designed to sell you something.

For example, a survey by a company called Revenued warned that nearly two-thirds of small-business owners report having less than two months of cash reserves and that many businesses remain vulnerable to economic shocks with limited liquidity to withstand downturns.

Spoiler alert: Revenued provides working capital financing to small businesses.

Bluevine specializes in small-business banking lines of credit and invoice financing. Guess what its recent survey concluded? Apparently, almost one-third of small-business owners delay paying themselves because of cash flow disruptions caused by late invoices, which (surprise) is exactly the kind of thing Bluevine can solve.

On the tech side, it seems that small businesses may be “losing billions annually” because of “unreliable technology, including downtime, poor connectivity, and outdated systems.” That “news” came from Vodafone, which — just by coincidence — provides connectivity, IT services and infrastructure solutions.

More concerningly: Small businesses are losing an average of $24,000 annually because of poor visibility on Google search and maps. Uh oh! How to fix this huge issue? Why, just hire Weblish, the search engine optimization firm that conducted the survey.

Advertisement Advertisement

You should be careful about your website too, because apparently, accessibility-related lawsuits increased by 37% in 2025. That “news” was based on a survey by Clym. Want to take a guess as to what Clym does?

On the human resources side, it seems that only half of employers plan to modernize their payroll systems this year, and this could “risk employee satisfaction.” That survey was conducted by Rain, a company that provides payroll processing solutions.

Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing women in the workplace, recently released a survey listing all the factors driving women out of the workforce. That’s why it’s very important to give money to Catalyst: so it can continue its good work protecting women in the workplace.

There’s also the big reveal that as many as 1 in 3 employees say they would report workplace harassment only if they could do so anonymously. Lucky for them, there’s Traliant, a platform that provides that exact resource (and who conducted that survey).

Vacation time is also declining, with Americans expecting to take even less vacation this year than before. Perhaps flexible work is a better solution? That seems to be the inference by the study’s author, FlexJobs, a jobs site that specializes in flexible, hybrid and remote jobs.

Advertisement Advertisement

Here’s another workplace fun fact: As many as half of workers say they would be more willing to return to the office if employers offered perks such as free coffee and food. Yum! Good thing Flavia, which provides multi-beverage systems, provided us with that helpful data.

I tend to avoid small-business optimism and sentiment surveys because their sponsors are, in my opinion, also biased.

The Small Business Majority frequently publishes surveys of its community that reveal things such as small businesses are “negatively impacted by reproductive rights restrictions” and (more hilariously), that California small-business owners actually — wait for it — “support expanding paid family leave protections, increasing paid sick days.” Who knew? Yeah, they lean left.

There’s also biased data from the right.

Advertisement Advertisement

Both the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce publish their own reports that show higher than realistic optimism levels among small businesses — particularly in these challenging times, but under a Republican president — mainly because (again, my opinion) they tend to lean right.

The Small Business Administration reported “record small business growth” in 2025 under President Trump, highlighting his great leadership. Hmm.

So does that mean all surveys are irrelevant? For the most part, yes. Perhaps we should lean toward reports based on genuine data.

For example, when it comes to hiring and jobs, I like Paychex and ADP’s employment reports because they are based on the millions of employees actually on their systems. For how manufacturing and services businesses are doing, I prefer the Institute of Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index reports because they require members to submit operations data.

Advertisement Advertisement

Intuit and Fiserv share real-time revenue and operational data gleaned from their merchant systems and QuickBooks.

The American Institute of Architects shares what its members are billing in the real world as a leading indicator of future construction and real estate transactions.

Earnings reports from banks and retailers reveal real capital and shopping data, not some baloney about consumer sentiment. If you want to really know what’s going on in the business world and the economy, then focus on real data. Not surveys.

That’s because most surveys can’t be trusted. They may be entertaining, thought-provoking or worthy of a conversation when you’re out with your friends, but most of them are nonsense. They’re created to fulfill a specific agenda, and they target an audience that’s accepting of the results.

Advertisement Advertisement

That makes them no different from the slanted and biased “facts” we receive on our social media feeds.

• Gene Marks, CPA, runs The Marks Group PC, a financial and technology consulting firm near Philadelphia.