Is BBB Accreditation Worth It? Better Business Bureau Explained

Better Business Bureau (BBB) — Cleaned Episode Transcript

Guest: Collins Okoroike, Business Relations Representative for the Better Business Bureau serving Northeast California

Note: This transcript has been cleaned for readability. Raw timecodes and placeholder speaker labels were removed, obvious transcription errors involving BBB terminology were corrected, and repeated trailer material after the main episode was omitted. The substance of the conversation was preserved.

Opening & Meet Collins Okoroike

Sometimes it's not even the right person and they pass it on to somebody else, only for them to leave you a voicemail. And then who loves how long it takes to get back to. It could be a week. Two weeks. Who knows? Consumer says this is what happened. Let's hear what the business side says because there's always two sides to the story.

If somebody on the outside hears about they think we're only a complaint company, that's far from the truth. We want a consumer to have a good experience, and we want the business if they happen, if they're accredited for this to keep their higher rating, you can be in a business that is saturated and you're trying to figure out ways to stand out.

Yeah. Talk to us.

today I'm joined by my special guests, Collins Okoroike.

He is a business relations representative for the Better Business Bureau serving the Northeast California

Division.

Collins, thank you so much for joining us today. Glad to have you here.

Thank you for having me. I know saying that Better Business Bureau three times. It's ridiculous. It's a tongue twister. Yeah. No. It's awesome. Well, Collins, before we get into it.

We asked that our last guest leave a question for the next guest. And the question left for you is, what is one book that every person must read?

The Slight edge is a good book.

With the state of how things are in mental health these days. Whether it's in business, sports, life, just having that edge to you and having that thought process of how you want to get things done.

It's a good teaching tool. I would say

Cool. Okay. I'll have to put it on the on the reading list.

What the Better Business Bureau Does

Awesome. Well Collins, for someone that doesn't know much about the Better Business Bureau and hasn't heard of it, can you explain what does the BBB do and what is it about?

So the BBB is about helping businesses strengthen what it is they do.

A lot of businesses new or that have been around.

They're big on trustworthiness.

Transparency, honesty. Things that have business wants to thrive. So we're there as the seal of approval.

Just,

having those characteristics of trust, honesty, trustworthiness for a consumer. Because.

Because when a consumer is looking to buy a product or service,

they're they're wanting to go with some of that they trust. Some of that they know has a strong reputation. So if they see the Better Business Bureau seal on top of that business, it gives them that additional vote of confidence that, hey, maybe I should consider this business.

Nice. So it's kind of like an accreditation where companies, they go get audits. They have these audit certifications. This is more on the business side. So it's kind of like a seal that

you've had some sort of vetting of some sort. And you have that accreditation seal from the BBB.

Is BBB a Government Agency or Nonprofit?

now for the Better Business Bureau. Is it a agency? Is it a business? Is it a nonprofit? Like how would you categorize it? So we are a nonprofit, you know, a lot of people thought would think that we'd be an agency. We're more of a nonprofit. And

the accreditation dues or what primarily keep us going.

is it one location that serves everything or like, how are you guys structured?

Because I think I was doing some research and I found a local chapter here.

Yeah. So it's regionalized. So there's us.

then there's, the Bay area, there's this little cat location. So we're assigned a

certain region. So our location, for example, goes as far south as Modesto and as far north as the Oregon border.

Nice. So there's the Better Business Bureau, the governing body overall, the the nonprofit. And then each

Better Business Bureau facility has this little region that it supports those businesses in that area.

Correct.

So with the BBB accreditation business is going to get that trust. But there's also like Google there's Reddit, there's Yelp. There's all these other like review agencies and things like that. And so how is the different than just like one of those other social media review type of things.

BBB vs. Google Reviews and Other Review Sites

So we at the our third party when it comes to reviews and complaints, things of that nature.

What differs us from them is we see that review. We let the business owner know, hey, you have a negative complaint based on whatever situation happen, because sometimes a consumer could be having a bad day and they can take it out on the business.

And then that could turn into a negative review. Now, if a business owner is busy and doesn't have time to look at the review now, it's out there for public knowledge to see. And now somebody searching on the internet and they see this negative review there, they'll be like, well, maybe I shouldn't go with this company. We come in, let you know, hey, there is this complaint and get to the bottom of it.

Figure out what happened. How can we resolve the issue? So that's what differs us from them.

Nice. So it's not just like a set it and forget it where they leave a comment, review, whatever. And then that's it. In this case, there could be some mediation. Or you're facilitating the conversation between the consumer and the business to try to get some type of resolution so that the consumer is happy, the business has a good review and everybody wins in that situation.

Correct. Yeah. Nice.

Now, for someone who wants to register with the BBB, what's the difference from creating a profile and getting accreditation?

BBB Business Profiles vs. BBB Accreditation

Yeah. So yeah, you could set up for profile and then you're pretty much on the system. With the accreditation, not only are you in the system, we

provide your profile. That profile has a link

Consumers have access to the link on the profile. And it's a way to generate leads

that maybe where if you just had the regular profile, you wouldn't have the leads.

Gotcha. So the profile sounds like it's just your directory listing. Very limited in nature. But if you go for the accreditation and you go through the vetting then you get some options for lead generation.

Sounds like some marketing descriptions, logos, pictures gives you kind of like that full access to that profile. So when consumers are searching you they can see a lot more about who you are and what you do. Yeah. And a lot of some business owners don't have a website, and some of them don't have time to set that stuff up.

So the cool thing about us is we'll do that for you if you have like, we have, professional headshots. Once you become members, you you come into our office, we take pictures, put that on your profile. If you have pictures that maybe you want to upload, you send that to us or upload that on the profile. So it's not like a set it.

Forget it. We want to make sure that your membership is is valuable.

Gotcha. Awesome. So they'll build out your profile, your pictures and everything like that

for the accreditation. Does the the there's a fee for the credit, but is there a fee that just get listed in the the directory by by yourself.

No no no. So just creating a profile as free. So everybody should do it pretty much because why not. Yeah. But if you want to stand out.

your competitors, I mean, you're going to want to go the extra mile and create the profile and get yourself seen even more.

I know when you set up the profile, it goes higher up on the search engine, like so. If you're if they look you up on Google, you'll be higher up on the search as opposed to if you just have a regular profile.

Yeah. It's that search engine optimization. So I think I was doing some research and I think roofers surprisingly are benefiting the most from being listed on the BBB and being accredited.

just getting the the the Google rankings alone is is a lot.

So that that that's kind of cool.

Yeah. No it's definitely nice the. Yeah contractors h vac roofers pest control. You're going into people's homes so people are wanting are going to want to know

is this person trustworthy. Can I have this. Can I trust this person to come into my house and get whatever work needs to be completed?

So seeing that seal confirms, like, okay, they've been around for a while. Yes. Let's go with

business. Awesome. And once they get that seal, there's rating also. Right. So I was looking there's like a f to a a plus. So can you explain how does that rating system work.

How the BBB Rating System Works

Yeah. So a lot of that is consumer complaints making sure those get resolved.

How long you've been in business, making sure you're properly, properly licensed, your advertising with honesty. There's no false advertising, no scamming, none of that going on. So

the way your rating goes down is if, say, you have a complaint and you just don't even bother addressing it, you leave it unresolved. That knocks it down. If you're not licensed, that locks it down even further.

If you're doing any unethical business in the community, that knocks down further. So obviously it's like the more on top of it yard, the better your grade. So,

I can bear to applying for college so they see a C, A, D or F of course that schools and be like, okay, maybe this person isn't ready for college work, whereas they see a across the board then yeah, let's go with this person.

that totally makes sense. I mean it's great. It's a great rubric of sorts. And so you mentioned some things that could potentially lower the their rating. And so where do they start out. Would they start out with just a a plus right of way. And then they

could slide down or do they start is like a mid-range and they could go up or down like or do you do the full analysis give them a grade.

And then from there that's where they start. Yeah. So it all goes on the full analysis. Then they get a grade and then it goes from there. Yeah. The longer they've been in existence

they are trustworthy, honest and have fair business practices. And obviously they're at the higher end of that spectrum.

the only way I could see it being lower is if they have, like, red flags in there because we run background checks.

So there's a red flag in their background, or if they have a history of doing shady business, maybe in a different name, and they're applying for a new name, that could be a way of lowering that ranking. Yeah. We're just trying to create new businesses to hide what they're doing and just spinning it up, kind of like shell companies in a way.

Yeah.

And then one of the things that I was looking at is that you guys, there's a complaint process. And so we kind of alluded to the ratings early on and people leaving reviews and so on and so forth. So let's just say that I take a contractor, let's say we're using roofers as an example and the roofer doesn't deliver.

I filed a complaint with BBB. Can you explain what that process looks like? What happens next.

How the BBB Complaint Process Works

we receive it. Usually it takes like a day or two.

Then we reach out to the customer,

and kind of do like a, we're like, mediator in a sense.

So we ask, okay,

consumer says this is what happened. Let's hear what the business side says, because there's always two sides to the story that at that point we have them hash it out, talk about, whatever happened, and then come up with a resolution, and then it's up to the business to either take that resolution or not take it.

Now, if you don't take it, obviously that's going to affect your rating in a sense.

but we leave it up to the businesses. We're just here to mediate and give a recommendation on, hey, this is what we suggest you do this and then the ball's in their court at that point. Okay. So it's more of like the facilitation process.

So like if there's a complaint, you guys are really not in the middle of it. You're just helping that

business communicate back to the customer and the customer communicate back to the business. And then whatever they kind of resolve on their own, whatever consensus they reach to. That's kind of like the consensus that sticks.

yeah, ultimately the goal is to resolve whatever issue because obviously things aren't always perfect.

So we could help the business resolve it and then they can move on. It doesn't affect their rating. So it's a win win at the end of the day. And then the customer satisfied as well. Yeah that's awesome.

So in that facilitation process let's say I'm going up against like a really big corporation. What benefit is it going through the BBB versus just calling like customer service and complaining and trying to get Ahold of corporate? What would be the benefits of trying to do it on my own versus trying to go through the.

with us, we are more

one on one.

We're more direct with

the customer where as opposed to if you go to the corporation, you may get passed around four or 5 or 6 times

and who knows when they'll get back to you. And it could be multiple attempts of where you reach out, reach out, reach out. And they're still not getting back to you.

Whereas okay, we see the complaint. We're on it right away. It's more of an immediate

reply as opposed to I mean, if there's a corporate team that that's like specialized in that, okay. But if

you're looking for something more immediate, we're we're front facing. We're right there. Will contact you right away. We want to get to the bottom of it.

Because at the end of the day,

we want a consumer to have that good experience and we want the business if they have to be, if they're accredited with us to keep their higher rating so we can get on top of it and resolve it right away, the better, as opposed to getting past, because I we've all been through it.

Where you call,

you get passed long and it's not. Sometimes it's not even the right person. Then they pass it along to somebody else, only for them to leave you a voicemail and then who knows how long it takes to get back to it. Could be a week. Two weeks, who knows?

actually ran into something very, very similar.

I was investing one of my financial accounts and they locked my funds up. And I was like, what? What do I do? So

I was messaging them on like Instagram and on Facebook and then finally through the BBB.

I got some communication and eventually got resolved.

But it was a process, that's for sure.

I think the BBB correspondence is probably what helped me the most during that time.

yeah, just kind of be that extra line of I don't know if it be the fence, but

your issues are going to be resolved and it's not going to be a long drawn out process.

now the complaint process is just one of the things there's mediation we kind of alluded to earlier.

Mediation vs. Arbitration

And so can you tell me what is mediation and then what is arbitration and the differences between the two.

So mediation would be where

You have two parties that have an issue. We're in the middle. We're basically the middle person overseeing what is happening. We hear one side, we're the other side. And then our team comes to a point of, based on the facts, providing a resolution,

And if whatever reason, if the mediation, there's no resolution that comes out of it, then I believe it goes to that arbitration point. And that's where our partners in arbitration come into play and essentially take it from there.

Gotcha. So during mediation you don't decide who wins.

Now for arbitration. It sounds like that there's a neutral party that helps facilitate. And then there is ultimately a decision that is made through the arbitrator to figure out who's right, who's wrong, and then that would be legally binding.

But in that case, like if I'm a contractor and I don't have any arbitration clauses in my contract, let's say I'm a roofer or for whatever reason, and I say, well, if you don't like the roof, we're going to go through arbitration.

If I don't have that in the agreements, then is arbitration even something that I can do?

If it's on the contract? Yeah, I'd be kind of be kind of difficult to go through. Gotcha. Yeah. So so there's

probably some language then that the BBB can help you write into your contracts for the arbitration clauses. And then if it's not there, then it sounds like it has to be voluntary. If they both parties agree then arbitration can can go forward.

If not, then you really got to have it in the contracts

to take advantage of the arbitration process that the BBB offers. Correct.

So we're talking a lot about the accreditation. What are the all the benefits that you get when you're accredited versus someone who is not accredited. And just as their profile listed as in the in the directory.

Benefits of BBB Accreditation

like I mentioned earlier, the profile, the BBB profile, you get a seal,

some decals sent to you.

You guys get that also has, it's like a welcome kit that gets mailed out to you. I want you to become an official member.

invited out to networking events. We put on bites with the CEOs. We had a national event down in Modesto that my boss went to earlier this week. And it's an opportunity for businesses that are accredited to interact and mingle with other businesses because we all people know people.

So whatever it is you have in business, you may find a client through these events. So attending these networking events,

are valuable for members. Also, we work at the Small Business Development Center and once a month they do advising out of our office. Another cool thing we provide is if you're a member, two you can rent out space in our building to conduct business.

So there's a lot of perks with becoming a member. Nice. And I think I saw some educational discounts. I think I saw some like AI courses that people can take as well. So, there's like it's not just the seal, there's like a lot more that goes into it, which is pretty cool.

Yeah. We also have a The Torch Awards coming up on November the 5th.

It's basically where a business nominates themselves or nominate somebody that they know for awards. So yeah, there's a lot of benefits,

that come with being accredited with us. Then I got to get this podcast out by the fifth. Don't make it happen. No pressure. Just start working right after we're done. So,

the all that accreditation is great.

You can get that. But what about revoking that accreditation? Is that something that the BBB would ever do?

Losing or Misusing BBB Accreditation

So yeah, if there's, you know, misleading practices, false advertising.

Like I said, complaints will come in. Anybody that's in business, there's gonna stuff's going to happen. So if that goes unresolved or if your license gets expired,

that'll revoke it if any unethical practices happened.

Yeah, that definitely will, lead to a possible revocation.

gotcha. So as far as a few in between. But, you know, if there is some shady businesses that are found and so on and so forth, and its potential that a review revoked of the seal could occur, what happens if someone just tries to use the seal anyways on the website or things of that nature?

What would happen

they're there'll be a rating. The the rating basically signifies okay because we'll, it shows on a profile. So if we see A, a, D or F rating on the profile, nobody's going to want to associate with you in terms of business.

So we'll be we'll know I mean there's a way to see that. So yeah, sounds like at the end of the day still someone will check on the actual directory, see it probably file a complaint. And

The profile would probably get the F grade at that point.

And then it's like, well, the website says you're this, but your actual profile says something different. And then if a customer sees that, I'm sure that it will probably create more negative

comments. And so it's probably not a good practice to fraud the seal, essentially, right? Yeah.

BBB Scam Tracker

Now on the website, you know, and talk about fraud, there's this scam tracker tool.

And so can you tell me what is that Scam Tracker tool and what does it do.

if there's any potential if there's potential of a scam like similar to the complaints, we get notified.

none of the business information will go out. We'll look into it. We'll pass that along the law enforcement and see if there's any consistencies of fraudulent activity.

If there is, then it gets reported on their community reports for the public to see. Nice. So there is some law enforcement activities that get involved with those,

complaints that are on scams and fraud and so on and so forth. And I even saw some guides and tips of like, if you had, you know, going through what the scam was, guidance on how to go about protecting yourself and recommendations and tips, stuff like that, which is

pretty cool as well.

So you guys have guidance on how to prevent it from happening and recurring. So they're they're not just stuck in that essentially. Correct.

Now we glossed over this a little bit earlier too. Is that that get a quote feature that lead generation. So can you dive a little bit more deeper in how that works.

Lead Generation for Accredited Businesses

So basically it's a link that customers fill out.

They put in their information depending on what the need is

Once they fill that out, that business sees it. And it's a way to start that community engagement, conversation with the customer to possibly become a client. So it's just a way for them to put in their info info. And if

a need, obviously, then the business will reach out to them and see how they could be of help.

Yeah. That's awesome. Because like if I'm searching and I'm on the directory, I don't want to leave now, go to the company's website, just get in contact with them or go to their socials.

If I could just message them right there through the profile link, then great. I don't have to leave anywhere else.

And then they could get back to me and continue the conversation. So

a good way for customers who are interested in the business to utilize that business and services. So that's kind of cool.

when a customer utilizes that feature,

does the business pay for any of those leads or is that going to be free with your accreditation?

That's free with that comes with the accreditation. Okay. Cool. So any lead that I get is my lead and whatever is is full my commission is my commission or my cell is my cell.

So whatever I sell that customer is not taking a portion for generating that lead. Correct. Awesome. That's cool.

How to Become BBB Accredited

So for businesses that are interested, is there a requirement for getting accredited with the BBB?

Yes. So the business has to have been in existence for six months to qualify.

So that's the minimum requirement. You've got to be in there for six months. Correct.

Common Misconceptions About BBB

So what about misconceptions? What are some of the misconceptions about the things that people think are true that are not true?

think the biggest thing is the complaint feature. They think all the BBB is, is a place to complain.

Nothing gets solved. No, we we're all over it. So like I said, we understand things happen. We we do our best to provide a resolution and then leave it up to the parties that be to resolve it. But yeah, like if somebody on the outside hears about the they think we're only a complaint company. And that's far from the truth.

Yeah. I mean, I'm learning about a lot of the marketing things that you guys do, the networking events, the education, some of the discount programs. You guys have, the scam trackers new. I even saw like a heat map. So it's a lot more involved than just like a complaint center. It's not just like a review, a business review thing.

It's a lot more involved in a way.

Let's say if there's a business, they're listening. They want to know more about the BBB,

Is BBB Accreditation Worth It?

but they're not 100% sure if their accreditation is worth it.

What would you want to tell them?

Give us a call.

Reach out to our office.

What we end up doing is we put an application together based on the company's background, their history. Make sure that they're making sure that their license is active. If it's if it's not, we'll tell them. Hey, we need to get this up to date so we can, you know, possibly work with you.

But, yeah, there's a process where they fill out an application and then once they're approved, then we send out the welcome kit, and then that's when their profile gets set up. And a lot of fun stuff. So yeah, they have any questions they can call our office.

My direct line is (916) 307-4190 extension. 209 awesome. And we'll make sure we get that in the description and we'll get it on the description.

That good stuff.

What about if they're on the fence and they're not 100% sure to get accredited. What would you tell them to become? If they're 5050, what would you say? So they become either 51 or 49.

come to our events.

talk to us, see what it is that we offer. And maybe it is a fit.

just attending our events would be a good way to determine. Yes. You want to move forward or. No, not right now.

Yeah. So getting more education, figuring out what else is offered for their unique business and their unique service. And so what is the best way to get Ahold of you? Is it through your phone number? Do you have social media links, contacts,

How to Contact Collins & Final Advice

phone number? And then my email would be, cokoroike@sacramento.bbb.org.

Collins, what's one thing that you hope the audience take away from today's conversation?

I'd say if you're new in business and are kind of trying to figure out how to navigate.

talk to us. Like I said, we have a small business development center. They do advising monthly.

We have a marketing marketing meetings too. So if you're like new and business and trying to figure out how to navigate because it's you could be in a business that is saturated and you're trying to figure out ways to stand out.

Yeah. Talk to us.

Awesome. Well, there you go. Talk talk to the BBB to get more information and see how the BBB can help, especially if you're a new business starting out. So

Closing

Well, Collins, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure learning more about the BBB and

understanding more about what you guys do and what you guys offer.

It's been a pleasure. Thank you I appreciate it.

at the end of the day, if you're a new business and you're trying to build your credibility, you're trying to promote yourself and you're trying to get off the ground.

The BBB is something you should definitely check out.

So thank you for watching this episode of the Key Concepts Podcast, and we will catch you on the next one