Comerica Bank helps thousands of small businesses every year and understands the types of challenges they face. With the rising interest rate environment and tight labor market, they’re feeling the pressure on all sides.
Small businesses face increasing resource costs, including office supplies, technology and office space. The more pressure put on their bottom line, the more difficult it is to grow their businesses.
We listened to what small businesses told us they needed. Our goal was to deliver tangible value and real solutions. Every bank says they support their customers, but how do we prove it? The answer is investing in our small business community.
We saw an opportunity to level the playing field for small businesses, and to raise expectations of what a bank can be by creating opportunities for our customers. This led to piloting three key initiatives in the North Texas market: Comerica SmallBizCo-op, Comerica CoWorkSpaces and Comerica Shredsite — all free to Comerica small business customers.
First, Comerica SmallBizCo-op was designed to give small businesses the tools and perks of a large corporation without the price tag. By sharing our resources, we provide customers with free market research and competitor insights through SizeUp by Comerica; free marketing; discounted office supplies and equipment; and even free tickets to the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers and other local games.
Second, Comerica CoWorkSpaces was born from our belief that all businesses, regardless of size, should have access to resources, support and capital to succeed. So, we’ve created a free space for small businesses to work, meet and collaborate. Of course, we added a few extra perks too, such as free coffee, Wi-Fi, conference rooms, monitors and even private office space for those who needed a place to meet with their clients.
CoWorkSpaces includes four different types of spaces, providing an option for every need. Common Space is an open environment with a desk and all the technology to get work done or to network with other customers. Private Space offers an office, great for everything from in-person meetings to interviewing a job candidate. Conference Space seats between six and 12 people with all the technology necessary for in-person or virtual meetings.
And finally, there’s Community Space — the space for both Comerica small business customers and nonprofits in our community. With a kitchenette, large monitors and flexible floor plan with room for a large group of people, it’s perfect for hosting meetings and events.
At the end of the day, CoWorkSpaces is more than just office space. It’s a bridge between local businesses and the resources they need for success.
Our third initiative, Comerica ShredSite, was created to serve the entire community. While information security is a top priority for small business owners, many don’t have affordable services to protect and process their documents. As a result, papers pile up, sitting around in unsecured areas. Or they’re thrown into the trash without proper shredding or secured waste bins.
So, we stepped in with ShredSite, a free and environmentally friendly solution. At select Comerica banking centers, anyone, regardless of whether they have an account with us, can drop off their personal or small business documents for safe disposal in a secure ShredSite bin.
We’ve partnered with Iron Mountain, a leader in information security, to make sure every document is properly stored, transported and destroyed. And since Iron Mountain converts your documents into pulp that can be used to make recycled materials, using Comerica ShredSite makes a positive impact on the environment. Protecting your sensitive information and helping the environment is a win-win in my book.
Today, small businesses can take advantage of a powerful suite of tools with Comerica SmallBizCo-op, free office space (and more) with Comerica CoWorkSpaces and secure document shredding with Comerica ShredSite.
All of these initiatives have proven to be very popular. ShredSite has collected several tons of paper since its launch this year, and we are expanding ShredSite and CoWorkSpaces to additional locations.
At Comerica Bank, we are big enough to matter but small enough to care. Meaning, we can operate at the level of a large bank, but we connect with our customers on a local, personalized level.
A place for opportunity and growth — that’s what these programs are designed to deliver. And the best part is, this is just the beginning. We believe customers deserve more from their bank.
To learn more about how we support small businesses, visit comerica.com/succeed.