A good BRE survey asks a business a few questions it can answer in two to five minutes, and each answer leads somewhere. The business retention survey questions that matter cover five things: the business's profile, its outlook and plans, what would help, a confidential question, and who may see the answers. Anything a business asks for should become a named person's action the moment it arrives.
Why many BRE surveys produce a report and little else
A survey that produces a report nobody acts on has cost a community the goodwill of every business that answered it. Long questionnaires are the usual cause: a business spends half an hour, the answers go into a spreadsheet, and the business never hears back. The next year fewer businesses answer.
The fix is to ask less and act on more. Collecting business information is where most systems stop. A retention program has to turn each answer into an organized response, accountable follow-through, and evidence of results.
The questions that matter
Group the questions under five headings. Keep each short enough to answer from memory.
1. Profile: is what we know about you right?
Show the business what the record already says — name, address, contacts, what it makes or sells, roughly how many people it employs — and ask it to confirm or correct it. Confirming takes seconds, and it keeps the business universe current without a separate data project.
2. Outlook and plans
Ask about the next year or two in plain words:
- Do you expect to add staff, hold steady or reduce?
- Are you planning to expand, move, invest in equipment, or look for another site?
- Is anything coming due that could change your plans, such as a lease, a succession question or a major contract?
3. What would help
Ask an open question: what one thing would make it easier to stay and grow here? Then offer a short list of common areas so the answer can be routed — permits and zoning, staffing and training, utilities and infrastructure, financing, and help finding a site or building.
4. A confidential question
Give the business a way to ask something privately. Some of the most important answers — a relocation offer, a staffing problem, a dispute — only come out when a business trusts that the answer will stay with the right people.
5. Who may see the answers
Let the business choose: organization staff, a named project team, or the program administrator only. Saying so up front is what makes the confidential question work.
Red-flag answers and what to do next
Some answers should never wait for the annual report. In BRE Pulse a flag is proposed with its evidence and becomes real only when a named person confirms it.
- Red — retention risk. Relocation, closure, a serious unresolved permit or zoning problem, a critical utility constraint.
- Yellow — needs attention. A lease ending, a succession question, staffing trouble, process friction.
- Green — growth. Expansion, hiring, capital investment, a site search.
A confirmed red or yellow flag becomes a case with an owner and a date, so the follow-up does not depend on anyone's memory.
Asking by visit, link or QR code
The same questions work in three ways. During a visit, staff can prepare with the business at a glance and suggested questions, speak notes in the field, and review each proposed change before it is saved. Online, the Business Check-in takes two to five minutes with no login: share the link, print a QR code, or point businesses to your organization's public check-in page. On paper or by phone, staff can enter the answers themselves.
What the business sees back
Answering should not be the end of the conversation. A business that took part should be able to see where its request stands, what the organization committed to and when, and a person who follows up. That is the difference between a survey and a relationship. Individual answers are never published; aggregate results appear in reports without identifying a business.
Use these questions in BRE Pulse
The Business Check-in in BRE Pulse is built around these five parts, and seven built-in forms cover common BRE questionnaires, with links and QR codes and staff entry for paper or phone answers. See visits and check-ins for how each part works.
Frequently asked questions
- How long should a BRE survey take?
- Two to five minutes for a check-in. Ask fewer questions and act on each answer, rather than a long questionnaire that ends in a report.
- Should businesses need a login to answer?
- No. The Business Check-in in BRE Pulse has no login and no email required: a link, a QR code or your public check-in page.
- What happens to a red-flag answer?
- It is proposed as a flag with its evidence, and becomes real only when a named person confirms it; then it becomes a case with an owner and a date.
- Can paper or phone answers be recorded?
- Yes. Staff can enter paper or phone answers on the business record. See visits and check-ins.
Related
See BRE Pulse working
Walk through a demonstration township with your own questions: the business records, a visit, the follow-up list and a board report.
