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TORCHLIGHT BBB® | Winter 2023

Midwest BankCentre invests in trust pg 4

2023 TORCH Award winners pg 6

What’s new with your BBB pg 10

BBB polling on marketplace trends pg 11

Orvin T. Kimbrough Midwest BankCentre The official magazine of Better Business Bureau® Serving Eastern & Southwest Missouri & Southern Illinois

’TIS THE SEASON TO SIT BACK AND REFLECT. 2023 was another year filled with hard work and accomplishment for your Better Business Bureau.

vices.” The BBB Seal represents trust. Consumers associate that BBB Seal with trust.

As you’ll see in this edition, we just finished another wonderful TORCH Awards season. Outstanding businesses in St. Louis and Springfield were celebrated during in-person awards luncheons, while winners in Cape Girardeau, Columbia and Quincy were honored in unique ways in their markets thanks to help from various media partners.

You want to make sure that your Business Profile is loaded with information for those potential customers. A complete profile with details about your products and services, reviews from customers, and accurate, up-to-date information, is one of the key ways to leverage your BBB Accreditation. You want to make it easy for that consumer to find everything they need to know about your business through that profile.

I’ve said this before (and likely will say it again), but we couldn’t do what we do without the support of our Accredited Businesses and Accredited Charities in the St. Louis region. We are thankful for your faith in us and our mission in advancing marketplace trust. As the calendar turns over into a new year, I want to challenge each of you to take a second to reflect on what being Accredited means to you and your organization. Ask yourself if you’re utilizing your BBB Accreditation to its fullest. Go take a look at your BBB Business Profile. Millions of consumers visit BBB.org every week. Last year, our website logged more than 150 million visits overall with more than 2 million visits by those who live in our service area. A recent BBB survey found that 82 percent of consumers agree that “trust sets the foundation for the purchase of goods and ser-

That complete BBB Business Profile helps improve your optimization for search engines and can help you stand out from the crowd. Obviously, you need the basics like your address, phone number, website and email address. But what other things can you add? You can easily add your company logo to your profile. You can also let consumers know what products or services your business offers. You can list your social media handles, your hours of operation and what area you service. As an Accredited Business, you have the ability to add photos and videos as well as any refund or customer service policies you have. BBB also gives you the ability to manage your online reputation through the use of BBB Customer Re-

TODD SMITH ELECTED BBB BOARD CHAIR Todd Smith, Managing Partner at Waterway Car Wash, was elected chair of BBB St. Louis’ Board of Directors, effective Jan. 1, 2024. Smith succeeds Katie Statler, VP Order Management and Customer Compliance at Caleres. Statler remains on the Board as immediate past chair. Other officers elected were: Vice Chairman: Greg Kendall, Commerce Bank Treasurer: Adrianne Yates, Spire Secretary: Tom Linhares, Dodge Moving & Storage Director-at-Large: Ben Stegmann, Second Mile Service Company President & CEO of BBB St. Louis: Michelle Corey

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views. BBB uses a proprietary algorithm to aid in identifying fake reviews, and we make every effort to verify that a review is based on a real marketplace interaction. When your business receives a review, you are alerted so that you can be part of the process. You have the ability to respond to the review and you can let us know if you question the reviewer’s legitimacy so that we can investigate before it is posted for the world to see.

Board of Directors Carolyn Beard

Justin Lee**

Callier & Thompson

RubinBrown

Kitchen Bath Appliance Blake Birner Renewal by Andersen Don Brown Don Brown Chevrolet

Responding to customer reviews can boost your reputation as a trustworthy organization. Consumers are more likely to work with a business that values their input and cares about their experience.

Angela Courtwright

How important are customer reviews? A local customer review study released in 2022 by BrightLocal said “98% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses... And BBB is, by far, the most trusted review site.”

Nestlé Purina

We’ve tried to make it easier than ever for your customers to file those reviews through the use of our Customer Review Generator. Business owners can use the generator as they finish up a job for a consumer, so they can get feedback when their work is fresh in their customer’ minds. The generator can even text your customers, making it easy for them to respond. Utilizing the Customer Review Generator is a great way to enhance the value of your Accreditation, while also helping build your BBB Business Profile.

DH Pace Company, Inc.

Of course, you can also let your potential customers know about your BBB Accreditation status by utilizing our Seal in any number of ways. You can post it on your website. Use it in an email signature. Place it on company vehicles. Add the Seal to your social media, print and digital advertising, business cards, videos, invoices or hang up a Seal at your office. We appreciate all of you who have committed to and believe in BBB. We hope the coming New Year brings you health, happiness and continued opportunities for growth and success.

More for Less Remodeling Terri DeMent Jill Falk Schnuck Markets Joe Fisher Holly Francois Maritz Tom Gershman Gershman Mortgage Seth Goldkamp Design Aire Heating & Cooling

Tom Linhares Dodge Moving & Storage Ben Lynch Ameren MO Rose McDaniel Graybar Stefan Sigurdson Allen Roofing & Siding Heidi Singleton*** New Honor Society Todd Smith Waterway Carwash Katie Statler* Caleres Ben Stegmann Second Mile Service Company Mary Schwartz Westerhold Madison

Katie Hopkins

Communications

Truck Centers, Inc.

Aaron Windholz

Carlos Huddleston

McBride Homes

Gonzalez Companies

Adriane Yates

Greg Kendall

Spire

Commerce Bank

Michelle L. Corey**** Better Business Bureau

* Chairman of the Board ** Immediate Past Chair *** AAF St. Louis **** President & CEO Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern & Southwest Missouri & Southern Illinois 211 N. Broadway, Ste. 2060 St. Louis, MO 63102 Phone: (314) 645-3300 Fax: (314) 645-2666

Michelle Corey President & CEO, CAE

Hannah Kloppenburg, Editor Email: hkloppenburg@stlouisbbb.org Cover photo by Carla Smith Torchlight (ISSN 1547-2043 USPS 053-540) is published quarterly by Better Business Bureau, 211 N. Broadway, Ste. 2060, St. Louis, MO 63102. Subscriptions are available to BBB Accredited Businesses only. Periodicals Postage Paid at St. Louis, MO. Postmaster please send change of address to: Torchlight, Better Business Bureau, 211 N. Broadway, Ste. 2060, St. Louis, MO 63102.

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INVESTING IN TRUST

Orvin T. Kimbrough, Chairman and CEO of Midwest BankCentre, at the HUB, the company’s collaborative office space in Lemay, St. Louis, MO.

Midwest BankCentre’s relationship-based approach to banking A food service company, owned locally for over 100 years. A nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities. A north St. Louis commerce and community center. A local ministry restoring St. Louis homes. Their common thread? Thanks to partnerships with Midwest BankCentre, they’re able to do work that makes St. Louis a better place to live and do business. Focusing its efforts on local businesses, families and individuals, Midwest BankCentre has served St. Louisans since 1906 – to the tune of $2.3B in current assets and $1.8M in deposits at its 17 locations.

capital,” he explains. “My move to Midwest BankCentre five years ago was founded in my desire to have an even bigger impact by optimizing access to financial capital in a profitable manner for all communities.”

At the helm is Chairman and CEO Orvin T. Kimbrough, known by some as “the Accidental Banker.” After 20 years in nonprofit management, his move to lead Midwest BankCentre could be considered surprising. For Kimbrough, though, it was a natural progression of the work he had dedicated his career to.

That desire to make a big impact drives Midwest BankCentre’s approach to business: Investing in human, social and financial capital by working with people in the St. Louis community. “We consider ourselves the bank for ordinary people who often are trying to do extraordinary things,” Kimbrough says.

“I worked in the nonprofit sector to stabilize people’s lives and help them get on the path to social mobility by promoting assets like education, training, life skills competencies and personal networks everyone needs to participate in economic activity. I call these assets human and social

Midwest BankCentre’s intentional support of local nonprofits and businesses through loans, deposits and treasury management amplifies those organizations’ impact in the St. Louis region.

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Local organizations “make capital allocation decisions based on the full trust and confidence in the stability of Midwest BankCentre,” Kimbrough says. “Empowering businesses fosters investment in our local economy, investment in the local economy, attracts people and other businesses to the region. This investment creates a sustainable tax base to cover public benefits and support charitable endeavors to improve more lives.” The bank also dedicates itself to the success of individuals and families, encouraging education and access to banking for those who the system has traditionally left behind. Midwest BankCentre has committed to investing $200M in underserved parts of the St. Louis region over the next five years. The bank is a local leader in programs such as Bank-On Save-Up and the St. Louis Regional Financial Empowerment Coalition that make banking and financial education more accessible for St. Louis families. “Helping people think about their money differently helps to create future investors, wealth creators, business owners, employers and of course, taxpayers,” Kimbrough says. The result is a “positive self-reinforcing loop” that benefits everyone. $95 of every $100 deposited at Midwest BankCentre stays in the St. Louis area, circulating locally six times on average.

In banking, the stakes for trust are high. Customers trust Midwest BankCentre with their money, sensitive personal information, their loans and their livelihoods. At a base level, trust in banks is validated by state and federal regulation and oversight. Vetting by organizations like BBB reinforces that base. Past that, Kimbrough says, banks must earn customers’ trust through consistent, exemplary customer service and high performance. For a community bank, relationship building fosters good business and profits just as much as it fosters trust.

what is right in business comes down to following the law and your conscience.” Integrity, then, is the embodiment of ethics – “It’s how you show up day in and day out,” Kimbrough concludes. “If we don’t have ethics that ground us, integrity that guides us and corporate values to which we strive, we don’t have a north star and purpose. When you don’t have a north star and purpose, you will pursue short-term unsustainable profits at the expense of long-term value creation that is based on the optimization of sustainable relationships.” This relationship-based approach to banking has been proven to work for Midwest BankCentre, and the bank encourages it by making sure employees are fully bought into the mission.

“We consider ourselves the bank for ordinary people who often are trying to do extraordinary things.” Midwest BankCentre invests in its employees as much as it does the St. Louis region, providing growth, wellness and professional opportunities and imparting upon the team that, in Kimbrough’s words, “they will be part of banking different and that this will lead to an outsized positive impact on the communities where they live, work and play.” Transparency with the team is also key to moving the mission forward. “We don’t pretend to be an organization who has it all figured out,” Kimbrough says. “I think part of building trust is to admit when you don’t know something, made a mistake, misfired because of a blind spot...and to communicate plainly corrective measures you are taking when you have fallen short.” Midwest BankCentre has been BBB Accredited since 1957, making it one of BBB St. Louis’ longest-Accredited businesses with a strong track record of trust. Kimbrough feels that BBB Accreditation affirms the bank’s commitment to high standards of quality and customer service. “It reflects our dedication to transparency and integrity,” he says.

“In the simplest language, doing what is right in In the new year and beyond, Kimbrough intends for Midbusiness comes down to following the law and west BankCentre to continue building upon that legacy of your conscience.” trust with its relationship-based approach to banking. Midwest BankCentre’s approach to building trust in mutually beneficial relationships is driven by its outlook on business ethics, which Kimbrough defines as a set of principles or moral values channeled through avenues such as faith, family or environment. “Most of those principles would go back to a general source statement: do what is right and just all the time,” he says. “In the simplest language, doing

TORCHLIGHT

“My expectation for Midwest BankCentre over the next five years is to continue to earn the trust of our markets that as they do business with us,” he says. “We in turn will responsibly do business with all of St. Louis and other locations we serve, including those most challenged.” BBB

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Each year, BBB honors organizations and individuals who go above and beyond in exemplifying the traits that make business better. The 2023 TORCH Award winners have shown their commitment to high ethical standards and exceptional service to their customers, employees, suppliers and communities. They’re part of what makes our region a great place to live and do business.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2023 WINNERS! Below: The 2023 BBB St. Louis TORCH Award winners and Student of Ethics Award winners pose with event emcee Maurice Drummond, BBB Board President Katie Statler and BBB President & CEO Michelle Corey.

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St. Louis

Oct. 3, 2023 • Missouri Athletic Club 2023 WINNERS TORCH Award Winners Agape Construction Better Life Maids Dodge Moving & Storage Elite Mechanical LLC HoneyFyx Kirkwood Fence More for Less Remodeling LLC Mosby Building Arts Schaefer Autobody Centers Student of Ethics Winners Abigail Michelle Seibert Sophia Frasher-Goetz BBB Ambassador Award George “Butch” Welsch

2023 SPONSORS Underwriting Sponsor The Dave Mungenast Family of Dealerships Student of Ethics Sponsors Caleres Drury Hotels Nestlé Purina PetCare Contributing Sponsor Lewis Rice Emcee Maurice Drummond, KMOV-TV anchor Keynote Speaker Susan Kilrain, Navy test pilot & NASA astronaut St. Louis event photos by Carla Smith and Marquis Crape

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Above: The 2023 BBB Springfield TORCH Award winners and Student of Ethics winner pose with BBB Springfield Regional Director Pamela Hernandez.

Spring field

Nov. 1, 2023 • White River Conference Center

2023 WINNERS TORCH Award Winners Air Services Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electrical Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Ozarks Craig Automotive Services Sharlin Health & Neurology Student of Ethics Winner Emma Tobey

2023 SPONSORS Premier Sponsors Lakeland Behavioral Health System US Bank Student of Ethics Sponsor Mr. Electric of Southwest Missouri Partner Sponsors BP Builders ACIS IT Solutions Five Star Painting of Springfield, MO Emcee Joy Robertson, reporter & on-air host Keynote Speaker Doug Hunt, Director of Entrepreneurship Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce

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Springfield event photos by Visionary Events & Photography

Quincy

TORCH Award winners from left to right: Arts Quincy • Craig Industries, Inc. • Schmitt Happens Masonry

Cape Girardeau

TORCH Award winners from left to right: Edge Realty • Jackson Solar LLC • Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence

Columbia

TORCH Award winners from left to right: Schaefer Autobody Centers • The Cleanest, LLC • The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri

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WHAT’S NEW WITH YOUR BBB ANNOUNCING: BBB LEARNING Your one-stop shop for professional development — for any industry! BBB just launched BBB Learning, a learning platform for BBB Accredited Businesses, designed to keep you ahead of the curve. Companies that embed learning in their cultures are more likely to achieve long-term success and growth, retain talented employees, innovate and perform better in general. BBB is here to help with courses, certifications and resources featuring a built-in ethics curriculum and exclusive discounts just for Accredited Businesses.

Check it out: BBB.org/learning Use discount code BBBSTLOUIS30

KHESHA DUNCAN JOINS BBB AS COLUMBIA REGIONAL DIRECTOR Please join us in welcoming new Columbia Regional Director Khesha Duncan to BBB! A longtime Columbia resident, Duncan brings expertise in leadership, program coordination and community engagement to her role. You’re likely to see her at events or on the local news educating the Columbia region on marketplace trust. Contact BBB Columbia at bbb@ columbiabbb.org.

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The US Postal Service requires publication of Form 3526 annually for all publications. If you would like a full-size copy of the form, please contact the editor: hkloppenburg@stlouisbbb.org OR Editor, Torchlight BBB St. Louis 211 N. Broadway, Ste. 2060 Saint Louis, MO 63102

BBB investigates: Marketplace trends One of the many ways BBB St. Louis puts your Accreditation dollars to work is by polling businesses and consumers in our service area on marketplace issues that matter.

Over half of consumers polled agree BBB is the best resource for finding trustworthy businesses We asked consumers: What is the best resource for finding trustworthy businesses? September 2023, 509 respondents

8 in 10 businesses impacted by supply chain issues We asked businesses: Did supply chain issues affect your business between 2020 and present? October 2023, 145 respondents

35% of consumers plan to donate less in 2024 We asked consumers: How do current economic conditions affect your plans to donate in 2024? December 2023, 279 respondents

TORCHLIGHT

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Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern & Southwest Missouri & Southern Illinois 211 N. Broadway, Suite 2060 St. Louis, MO 63102

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