How to Check Whether a Business Is Really Veteran-Owned

You see “veteran-owned” on a website, a truck door, or a proposal, and you want to know what it actually means. Maybe you prefer to buy from veteran-owned businesses, or maybe a customer of yours asks you to document your suppliers. Either way, a few simple questions can tell you a lot.

What “veteran-owned” can mean

The phrase is used in several ways. At its simplest, it means a business is owned and run by someone who served in the military. Some businesses go further and hold a formal status issued by a government agency or another organization. Others join a directory of veteran-owned businesses, which lists members who have gone through that directory’s own verification.

These are not the same thing. A directory listing, an agency-issued certification, and a self-description on a website each carry different weight, and each has its own rules. The label tells you who owns the business. It does not tell you how good the work is.

Ways a business can show it

Here are the common forms of proof, from lightest to most formal:

• Self-description. The owner says so on the website or in a proposal. Honest and common, but it is a claim, not a record.
• Directory membership. The business appears in a directory of veteran-owned companies. Look for a public listing you can open yourself, not just a badge image.
• Agency or program certification. A federal agency or your state’s veteran programs may issue a status after reviewing documents. Each program has its own requirements, and those requirements change.
• Supporting documentation. Some customers, especially larger organizations, ask for paperwork as part of onboarding a vendor.

Because the rules differ from one issuing organization to the next, check current requirements directly with the organization that issues the status. Do not rely on a summary from the business itself or from a blog post, this one included.

Questions worth asking

You can ask these politely, and an established business should be comfortable answering them:

1. Which kind of recognition do you hold: a directory membership, an agency certification, or neither?
2. Can the listing or the issuing organization’s record be viewed directly?
3. Who owns the business, and who runs it day to day?
4. Is the status current, and when does it need to be renewed?
5. Is there a specific form you can provide if your own customer or auditor needs one?

Notice that none of these questions ask about anyone’s personal service history. Owners are free to share that story, but they should not have to in order to earn your business. Respect it if they prefer to keep it private.

Verify the listing yourself

If a business names a directory or an agency, go to that organization’s own website and search for the business there. Check that the name matches, that the location makes sense, and that the listing is active. A badge on a web page can be copied by anyone, but a record on the issuing organization’s site is much harder to fake.

If you cannot find the record, ask the business where to look. A simple answer is a good sign. Vague answers are worth noting, and you can decide how much weight to give them.

A label is not a measure of quality

Choosing a veteran-owned business is a fine reason to prefer one vendor over another. It should not be the only reason. Whatever the status, you still need to judge the work itself.

• Do they respond when you call?
• Are the prices and scope written down clearly?
• Can they give you references from customers in a similar line of business?
• Do they explain things in plain language and admit what they do not know?

The best veteran-owned businesses are happy to be judged on those points, because that is where reputation is built. Treat the status as one useful piece of information alongside everything else you would normally check.

Where to start

If you are vetting a vendor today, pick the one or two questions above that matter most to you, ask them in an email so the answers are in writing, and then confirm the listing with the issuing organization. Keep a short note of what you verified and when, so you can answer quickly if someone asks later.

For transparency, Zippie IT is a veteran-owned small business based in Meridian, Idaho, and a verified SDVOSB member of the Veteran Owned Business directory. That is the extent of the recognition we are claiming, and you are welcome to look the listing up yourself. You can read more about Zippie IT, and if you have questions about how we work with small businesses, we are glad to answer them. Call (208) 810-1795 or email info@zippieit.com.