Curt Clinkinbeard wants to give hundreds of landscapers, attorneys, shoe sellers and other businesses often considered “small” a voice in the world of economic development and government deliberations.

And he’s also counting on some big voices — including Target and Wal-Mart — to be heard.

“It’s not all ‘small’ businesses by any stretch,” said Clinkinbeard, who is compiling a survey to gauge needs of retail and service companies in Douglas County. “The goal is to provide a mechanism that allows us to talk to the retail and service industries to collect a better impression of what their voice is, what the issues that they’re facing are, and how the community can better support their efforts and be successful.”

The effort — led by Clinkinbeard, regional director for the Kansas University Small Business Development Center — aims to send online questionnaires to about 1,500 businesses in Lawrence, Eudora, Baldwin and elsewhere in the county. The survey is co-sponsored by the center, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and the chamber’s Small Business Council.

The survey will check in with service and retail operations, which typically have fewer than 100 employees.

Officials will be asked to provide facts and opinions about employees, products and their future prospects.

A draft version of the survey includes questions about wage ranges and the need for work force training programs. It also asks officials to rate the relative value of businesses’ resources, from the chamber to area accountants.

Survey data will be collected in June and July, with the results set for tabulation in August and September and compilation in October.

The information will be included in the chamber’s annual Business Retention Report, a high-profile report circulated to area governments to help guide decision-making.

Curt Clinkinbeard, regional director of the Kansas University Small Business Development Center, consults with a client Monday at the center, 734 Vt.