4 Surprising Business Statistics You Can Act On

Don't go into information overload when reading the latest business statistics. Instead, use the data to improve your business.

Mark Twain famously described three kinds of lies: "lies, damned lies and statistics." A newspaperman, Twain clearly understood how the unscrupulous can twist data or use impartial sampling to make numbers say what they want rather than reflect the truth.

With that understood, statistics properly derived and accurately reported can give small-business owners the information they need to make smart strategic decisions. It's why you keep track of your important performance numbers. Other statistics, like these four surprising facts, tell us things we need to know—or may have forgotten—about business and consumers in general.

1. Word of mouth is responsible for 50 percent of all purchase decisions.

This information comes from research by McKinsey & Company, as reported in Robbin Phillips and Greg Cordell's The Passion Conversation. If you take that to mean that half of everything anybody buys from you is because somebody else recommended it, you read it right. In this age of mass emailing, SMS marketing and increasing depersonalization, you still owe half your revenue to people who are talking about you and your business.

Is your business giving 50 percent of its marketing budget to keeping existing customers ecstatic? If not, your priorities aren't in line with the facts.

2. Fifty-two percent of all small businesses are home-based.

Forbes.com recently reported this statistic, which came from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, in a list of less-surprising statistics. The number is from 2012, and it represents the highest percentage of home-based businesses ever, a growth that comes almost entirely from changing technology in communication and publishing. The fact is, it's simply more possible to work from home now than at any other time in history.

As a business owner, this means you have an unprecedented opportunity to cut costs and assemble the best possible team. Costs go down as you outsource tasks to a small, home-based business instead of keeping a full-time employee on your payroll. Your team selection broadens because geography is no longer a barrier to working with somebody.

3. Online banking fraud costs about one-ninth the cost of fraud that comes from in-person or mail banking.

According to a report by Javelin Strategy & Research, the average loss to fraud for online banking victims is $551, while paper and mail banking fraud results in an average loss of just over $4,500. This lower risk comes from two factors. First, online bankers check their activity more often and can thus spot fraudulent transactions faster than those who still bank only via paper and people. Second, data on a server is more secure than paper statements in your desk or trash. Despite fears of electronic identity theft, fraud is much more likely to come from a physical source. The lesson here is all about adopting new technologies. Although most people use online banking now, initial acceptance was sluggish because people didn't trust the idea of putting their financial information online. Their mistrust was misplaced. Is your company missing out on any opportunities because there's a useful technology you don't understand?

4. Twenty-seven percent of small businesses lost employees in 2012.

Despite an overall increase in employment over the past year, this statistic from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce simply points out a fact of doing business: that losing an employee is just part of your job as a small-business owner. The study didn't delve into the reasons for the loss—quitting, firing or a "no fault, no foul" situation like moving away or getting married, but it's clear that more than one-quarter of businesses go through this. As a business owner, it's easy to take it personally when an employee leaves, whether somebody exits on their own terms or makes you encourage their departure. But these numbers should simply remind you that it's part of what you signed up for when you decided to be in charge, and losing employees doesn't make you a terrible person or a bad boss. What business statistics, either in general or from your own business, surprised you the most recently? Tell us about them in the comments below.

Jason Brick has contributed more than 2,000 blog and magazine articles to local, regional and national publications and speaks regularly at writing and business conferences. You can find out more about Jason at www.brickcommajason.com.