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Accreditation Benefits and Services

Your Company BBB Identification

As an accredited business, your company will receive a distinctive, customized BBB Accreditation certificate suitable for framing to show your customers, employees, vendors and competitors that you support and adhere to ethical business practices. A plaque and window decals are available upon request. Surveys have shown that people do buy because of reputation and that 4 out of 5 customers have more confidence in doing business with BBB Accredited Businesses.

Accredited Business Reliability Reports

Prospective customers ask for BBB reports on companies and charities thousands of times each month, to assist in their buying and giving decisions. Every caller who inquires about your company is told you are a BBB Accredited Business, which means you support the BBB's services to the public and your business practices meet our standards of accreditation. Often the caller is comparison-shopping and wants more than one report, giving you a substantial edge over your non-accredited competition!

Accredited Business Referral Lists

Consumers ask the Bureau for names of honest firms every day. While the BBB cannot endorse or recommend a specific company or service, we do offer Accredited Business Referral Lists by industry. We advise that these lists contain local firms who have met our standards for accreditation, and as such, may provide the caller with an excellent starting point in their search for a reputable firm.

"Accredited Business Only" Hotline Number

Your BBB maintains a private, dedicated telephone line exclusively for use by Accredited Businesses and their employees. The hotline offers extended weekday hours and speedy, direct access to Bureau offices and staff specialists to assist you in meeting your personal and business needs.

Advertising Review

The BBB promotes business guidelines for ethical advertising based on the "BBB Code of Advertising". We monitor advertising on a daily basis, work with businesses and the media to ensure that ads are not misleading or deceptive and offer advance review of ad copy. The BBB encourages accredited businesses to report false or questionable claims by competitors to the BBB. When necessary, we will challenge a firm's advertising, asking them to substantiate, modify or discontinue questionable copy.

Solicitations Review

Everyone in business gets constant requests for donations. The Charity Review Program provides a simple, convenient method to screen these requests, separating the worthy causes from the fraudulent ones. The quick reference list of those local charities meeting the BBB standards for solicitation is updated regularly, and detailed reliability reports are available for in-depth review. This program alone can save many times the cost of BBB Accreditation.

Accredited Business Newsletter

Our monthly newsletter, "Start With Trust", is packed with business information. It provides updates on Bureau programs designed to help accredited businesses enhance their marketplace image and credibility; it contains fraud alerts to protect both accredited firms and their employees from business and investment fraud; and it features the latest current events and advertising tips.

Education and Networking Opportunities

All accredited businesses are invited to attend and participate in various BBB hosted events. These events are to introduce, inform and educate Accredited Business executives and staff members. They include our Annual Dinner and Silent Auction benefiting our Education Foundation, Customer Service Seminars and Accredited Business Orientations.

Global Information

With over 130 BBB offices throughout the United States and another 15 in Canada, the Bureau system contains hundreds of thousands of reliability reports on businesses around the world. Bureau Accredited Businesses receive priority assistance in accessing this wealth of information. By identifying yourself as an accredited firm, our staff will make the calls for you and where possible, secure a written report for you within hours.

Consumer Information Brochures & General Advice Reports

Valuable information on how to buy over 100 different kinds of goods and services are available from the BBB. Let these tips brochures and reports help guide you in your buying decision single copies are free to accredited businesses.

Accredited Business Recognition in Various Publications

A roster of BBB Accredited Businesses in good standing is printed annually and available on the public website 24/7. The printed alphabetical and categorical listing of accredited businesses is available to businesses and consumers throughout the year. All efforts are made to encourage the buying public to do business with a BBB Accredited Business!

Educational Programs

Our public awareness programs include speeches, brochures, press releases, alerts posted on our public website and newspaper features throughout our entire 8-county service area. These activities are designed to educate consumers and businesses how to differentiate between sound business practices and fraudulent schemes. These efforts help to increase the confidence in business as a whole and in BBB Accredited Businesses specifically.

Community Protection and Responsibility

As a leader of the community, you and your business have a vital stake in the direction our community takes in the future. To grow and prosper the public must have confidence in our business institutions; what is good for the community is good for business! Your BBB is a unique organization; it is supported by the business community for the good of the marketplace. Ethical businesses want their customers to have a place they can turn for accurate, impartial, and trusted information and assistance . . . the BBB.

Voluntary Self-Regulation / Less Government Interference

History has proven that self-regulation is the only alternative to government regulation, and the Better Business Bureau is the only business organization committed to working through the self-regulatory process. The BBB works proactively with businesses to correct abuses and concerns through self-regulation, thereby halting the necessity of government intervention. Many government agencies have frequently admitted that without the work of the BBB, they would require much larger staffs, bigger budgets, and more laws, all funded through increased tax dollars. As a business leader, which would you prefer?

You are part of an elite group
BBB Accreditation is by invitation only.