Grading Small Businesses to Close Sales

We’re highlighting small businesses from around the country as nominated by you, our readers. If your favorite small business is using Twitter to communicate with customers, let us know about it @fbsmallbiz with the hashtag #mysbc, and it may be featured as an upcoming Small Business of the Day.

Small Business of the Day: KikScore.com

Who: Co-founder and CEO Rajeev Malik, 38, @KikScore

What: Merchant report cards for small businesses

How: Malik, a former laywer, first got the idea for KikScore when his wife was selling furniture online and realized that people were adding items to the shopping cart, but never checking out and closing the sale.

"Putting two and two together, we realized there needs to be trust there," he said. "There is so much information and data about small business owners, and we thought if we take all of that information and put it at the point of sale, that will help them close sales."

Along with his co-founders, CTO Travis Valentine and VP of products Mike Collins, Malik began developing KikScore in 2007. Today, the service costs $14.99 a month for small businesses, and also works for service businesses like plumbers and attorneys, in addition to retailers.

When: Launched in 2010

Biggest lesson learned from a customer: "To be very, very responsive to your customers," Malik said. "When there are issues, if you are super-responsive to them, within an hour or a few hours, you have a higher likelihood of keeping that customer. It's taking a personal interest in that small business."

To view more Small Businesses of the Day, click our interactive map