For
the second year in a row, SCORE National has awarded SCORE Bucks County the 2020
Platinum Leadership Award, the highest recognition possible for any local
chapter. Notably, only a small percentage of SCORE’s 348 chapters nationwide
qualify for this annual honor. SCORE
Bucks County Chairwoman Linda Zangrilli said the chapter provided
2,457 services to Bucks County small business owners and entrepreneurs from
Oct. 1, 2019 through Sept. 30, 2020 – a 63.26 percent increase in total
services as compared to the previous year of 1,505 total services.
“Because
of COVID we dramatically increased the number of services we provided to the
community,” she said. “Business owners have turned to organizations like ours
to keep them alive.”
In
addition to offering free webinars on a range of topics, including starting a
franchise, cash flow management, business funding, and sales and marketing,
SCORE Bucks members provide free virtual mentoring sessions, as well as email
and telephone sessions with clients. Prior to COVID,
most one-on-one mentoring sessions and educational workshops were held in-person.
“Everything
is virtual,” she said. “It has actually been a benefit for a lot of people to
do their sessions via video.”
As
part of the Platinum Leadership Award designation, SCORE National reviews more
than 20 areas, including assessments from client, technical
skills, ethics, leadership, diversity among the chapter’s volunteer
mentors, and total services within their area. Zangrilli said she was
proudest of the chapter’s 93 percent net promoter score, which is calculated
based on surveys that clients complete rating their SCORE mentor and the
likelihood of recommending SCORE to someone else.
“The
Platinum Leadership Award exemplifies not only the quantity of work SCORE Bucks
has undertaken, but more importantly the quality of our work as
reported by our clients,” Zangrilli said. “The qualifier for this
honor is customer satisfaction as shown by positive feedback
from our clients. We have succeeded in our mission only if they say
so.”
For
the coming year, Zangrilli said she plans to make greater strides for volunteer
and client engagement.
“We’re going in the
right direction,” she said.
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more
than 8.5 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE
provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000
new and growing small businesses.?With 50 members across the
county, SCORE Bucks?County?provides over 1,500 free
mentoring services annually to local small business owners
through one-on-one counseling and small business seminars. To stay up to
date on news and happenings, join SCORE Bucks County’s email list. Text
SCOREBUCKS to 22828.
