Catastrophes happen on a daily basis, and all companies must have a plan in place to stay in business. You might be a new company, with just a few months under your belt, and having invested your life savings to pursue your entrepreneurial dream. Or possibly you are a well-established, extremely successful business owner. Either of these scenarios – and all those in between – could be at risk of survival if your business is destroyed. Often the destruction happens in seconds. A fire, earthquake, tornado or other disaster can and does happen.
Are you prepared? A business continuity plan is essential. The Houston Area Research Center cites these statistics in support of the investment of time and money into creating a plan:
35–40% of businesses without a continuity plan never reopen when disrupted by a disaster.
Every dollar spent on disaster preparedness saves $7 in recovering disaster related economic losses.
Your ability to reopen quickly is imperative. The sooner you are back in business, the less you’ll suffer from lost revenues. Customers will be retained because they are aware you’re down time will be minimal. And, extremely important, is how this will impact your employees. As a business owner, you’ll want to get them all back to work so they don’t experience a financial hardship for their families.
When creating your business continuity plan, there are many questions to ask and then answer. Here are my top 10:
1. What disasters could we face (natural and man-made)?
2. What operations are critical to open quickly?
3. Do we have a data backup in place to be able to access our records from any location?
4. Who are our key resources (utilities, insurance agent, CPA, etc.)?
5. Who are our key suppliers and do they have a business continuity plan?
6. Do we have a relationship established to ensure we will be one of the first served if we experience a wide-spread disaster (tornado or flood vs. one-building fire)?
7. Where can we set up a temporary location, and who will direct the process?
8. What supplies, inventory and equipment will be needed immediately?
9. Is our employee call chain up to date, and does each employee know what their role is in our disaster plan?
10. Do we have an inventory of all of our assets so we can complete an insurance claim quickly and thoroughly, and maximize the claim for proper financial recovery?
Though this is just the tip of the iceberg in business continuity planning, it is a good start to begin the necessary steps for preparedness. Without a plan, the odds are far greater that you will not re-open if you’re forced to close.
Cindy Hartman
Hartman Inventory, LLC
317-501-6818
cindy@hartmaninventory.com
PROMOTING WITHOUT BREACHING CONFIDENTIALITY
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011In my previous post, I talked about how important it is in the home inventory sector to maintain confidentiality with your customers. This is tough, because referrals are a huge part of this business. So, how do we create a balance talking about our work AND keep the integrity of our Confidentiality Agreement?
One way, as mentioned in that post, is that we are fortunate enough to have customers provide testimonials for our website and offer to tell their story in our blog posts and newsletters. When people offer, that’s a great opportunity and we seize that immediately!
However, there are two other very easy ways to maintain that trust and still be able to discuss your work.
Don’t reveal their names
We often say “one of our customers…” or “during a recent inventory …” when giving examples, answering a question, etc. By not stating a name, address or even the city, you aren’t revealing any information that would give that person’s identity away.
Ask for permission
We recently provided an inventory for a heating and air conditioning company. We signed and discussed our Confidentiality Agreement with the owner. Then we also asked if we could post comments on Facebook about his new-found peace of mind and ability to prove ownership of his assets. He was more than happy to say yes, because he realizes the value of others talking about his company. He, in turn, thanked us on Facebook. You can do this on Twitter and all other social media sites as long as you have obtained permission of your client.
Obviously, it’s less of a confidentiality issue with a company, since people are in public buildings more than a person’s home, and a company’s information is already “out there”. But the need to ensure this level of professionalism is important, nonetheless.
When asking for permission, it’s important to state exactly what you plan to do and stay within those restrictions (notice I didn’t include his company’s name since I didn’t have permission to do so).
These are simple ways to preserve the promised confidentiality, to not disclose your clients’ names, and still be able to tell others about your work, your process and answer specific questions that can be best answered with an example.
Cindy Hartman
Hartman Inventory, LLC
317-501-6818
cindy@hartmaninventory.com
Tags: Business inventory, Business promotion, Home inventory, indianapolis small business
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