It’s said you can’t be too careful and where your small business is concerned, it never hurts to add an extra layer of safety to protect the investment of your hard work. Although there are some risks that small businesses should go for, many other risks should and can be avoided. The problem, more often than anything else, tends to be naive neglect of the knowledge that these potential risks can happen to anyone. A close second is the inability to handle these threats. It may be that the business has no clear plan laid out or that staff members are not properly instructed on how to calmly and appropriately deal with the situation at hand. To help small businesses in every industry on every level of position within the company, here are some very real threats to be aware of and how you need to take to secure the wellbeing of your business.
Proper Insurance Policies:
While it may seem like a no-brainer to have business insurance, you also have to be sure every part of your business is covered. Some of the common policies include things like:
- Place of business
- Commercial Vehicles
- Employees/ All Staff
- Additional venue properties
- Equipment and Merchandise
Theft and Loss Prevention:
Every day in the United States, literally tens of thousands of shoplifters and petty thieves go about boosting a wide variety of many types of businesses. Loss prevention is a system of security tactics that a business will put in place for the reduction and hope to eliminate loss of inventory, etc. Some of the most effective loss prevention methods for would-be customers include keeping dressing rooms and restrooms locked so that if a customer needs to access these facilities, they have to ask for a key which thus alerts staff of the situation. Another highly predominant and viable tactic is clearly visible security cameras and guards if needed. A more subtle method is to continually be engaged with customers, but not overbearing.
Another threat to consider here is employee fraud or threat. This can be difficult to spot, especially if your location can’t afford to staff more than one employee per shift. Getting to know the people on your staff and showing them you value their work can reduce the risk of employee-related risks significantly. Other helpful tactics include random audits, standardized point-of-sale systems and clearly established open-door policy along with zero-tolerance repercussions.
Field Safety:
For the small business that have drivers or other types of workers out in the field servicing your customers or delivering products, additional concerns rest upon your shoulders. In addition to the threats associated with your company office or shop, your business has cars or trucks crucial to its operation as well. Keeping employees, customers, products and equipment safe is much more manageable with GPS tracking on each of your company vehicles. Installing a GPS tracker onto each of your company vehicles is a great way to protect your employees and assets, but it also increases productivity and boosts morale. When your drivers know that they are not alone when they’re out on calls to unfamiliar places, they are more confident about their safety. It can be terrifying for them to go into rough neighborhoods or rural territories, but add in that no one knows exactly where you are in care. Something goes wrong and the job becomes overwhelming and daunting. Installing GPS trackers for your fleet will give employees the security of knowing that the vehicle they’re driving can be located anywhere in the world.
Risk Management Planning:
The countless risks that a company might face ranges in both probability and severity from something like angry customers threatening to leave a bad review every week to an invasion of relentless baboons taking over your office. Albeit that the latter is nearly impossible, the point of mentioning it is that sometimes things that seem impossible actually do happen. Which means they can happen to your business too.
Give some serious thought to the potential risks for your business. Discuss them with your team. The top five risk areas for small businesses are:
- Competitive Risks
- Risking Reputation
- Cybersecurity and Risk of Fraud
- Financial and Economic Risks
- Risk of Legal Incompliance
Conclusion
Once you’ve compiled a list of plausible threats to your business, analyze each risk factor you’ve listed in some detail. When is it most likely to occur? How often might it occur? How much damage will it cause? What kind of effects will take place? With your team, evaluate the potential severity of each right and brainstorm possible solutions. After you’ve come up with agreeable and logical plans of action for the event of each risk, make sure to have it easily accessible for reference, along with how you expect employees to respond in the face of such adversities.
Categories: Tips And Advice Stuff
