When it comes to disagreements, Mike Odneal doesn’t mind being the middle man. As the new branch manager for the Mid-Missouri Better Business Bureau (BBB) in Columbia, it’s part of his job.

Now approaching its 100th anniversary, BBB was developed as a private, nonprofit organization unaffiliated with government or court systems. It’s become widely known as a third-party arbitrator between consumers and businesses.

The Mid-Missouri BBB branch serves 13 counties in the central Missouri area. It is part of BBB’s St. Louis region, which includes 92 counties in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois.

Former University of Missouri football standout Adrian McBride helped open the Columbia branch in August 2010 and was branch manager until Odneal joined in July 2011. Odneal previously was the executive director for the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the American Red Cross.

BBB benefits business owners by letting them know of potentially harmful trends in customer service or products. For consumers, BBB offers a formal process to resolve a dispute with a business. “The main goal of the Better Business Bureau is reconciliation,” Odneal says. “While the process may seem uncomfortable or inconvenient to some, it’s not necessarily negative.”

Odneal says status as a BBB-accredited business also helps business owners build trust with the public. To become accredited, a business must be at least a year old and receive a rating of at least a B. That rating is based on 16 different factors, automatically and objectively calculated by a mathematical algorithm. For businesses that qualify, the BBB seal of accreditation on a business window or webpage lets consumers know that the company functions with certain standards.

Achieving and maintaining BBB accreditation is especially important for businesses that provide a service, Odneal says. “For example, hiring contractors and roofers is a big investment for consumers, and there are hundreds of businesses to choose from,” he says. “When people are looking at the wealth of information that’s available, it’s difficult to know where to start. The BBB makes it easy for them to quantify a short list of companies for quotes.”

Operating without leverage on the judicial or governmental level, BBB’s effectiveness is based largely on self-regulation and peer pressure. When customers file a complaint, it’s the response of that business that determines the public’s trust level.

“By keeping the information public and available, everyone sees in a transparent fashion what’s going on with a particular business,” Odneal says. “Businesses know consumers can see their rating, so businesses have a motivation to make sure they’re serving customers well in order to maintain a good rating and accreditation.”

To find out more about business ratings, the accreditation process and other BBB services, visit midmobbb.org.