Fifteen Tips To Protect Small Businesses

1. Realize that you have what someone wants. Your store or office isn't a home where everyone is an invited guest. If you have businesses products, inventory, equipment or money, you have what someone wants. This is where protecting assets begins.
   
   
2. Prepare a check-list of closing and lock-up procedures for employees. Make sure appropriate employees understand what is expected.
   
   
3. Business owners can be too trusting. If you are the one who hires employees, you will trust them. As a result, you will have a hard time accepting the fact that an employee is stealing money, time, products or equipment. People who steal know how you feel. It is estimated that one-third of all employees are stealing from their employers at a rate of $5 to $10 billion a year.
   
   
4. Having eyes and ears when you're not there. Depending on your business, something as simple as a closed-circuit television system may serve both as a deterrent and as a way of recording information.
   
   
5. All doors should be hung with hinges on the inside. This will prevent burglars from knocking out pins and removing doors.
   
   
6. Available cash is asking for trouble. We all want to believe that our employees can be trusted and most are trustworthy. But the availability of cash creates tremendous temptation unless there are strict controls. In a retail store, point-of-purchase cash register systems can monitor overrings, voids or double voids, delayed voids and other exceptions that may indicate employee-created cash shortages.
   
   
7. Make sure all equipment is marked. Take time to mark company equipment with an electric pencil. Computers and computer-related equipment is vulnerable, particularly laptop computers. Use equipment serial numbers or a similar system to track equipment.
   
   
8. Look for ways to watch the store. If you can't see the whole store from a central location, you will have a shoplifting problem sooner or later. Lowering display shelves or raising the check out locations will improve visibility, as will strategically placed wide-area detection mirrors, closed circuit television cameras and two-way mirrors.
   
   
9. Confronting a weapon. If you are open late or early, are easily accessible to a main road or public transportation and have cash, a hold up is a possibility. Anyone with a gun is nervous, so no one should try to be a hero. If the robber wants money, give it to him. At the same time, a hidden button connected to a silent alarm system can bring help fast and make employees more comfortable. Buttons can be placed on desks, under counters and on the floor for more discreet use. And a closed circuit television system can act as a deterrent and provide evidence.
   
   
10. Going to the bank. Getting at your money when you are outside your business may be very attractive to a robber because you are more vulnerable. If you have cash, do not follow the same pattern each day and vary your route. If you have considerable cash, take two cars. Don't let a would-be robber get the upper hand.
    
    
11. Locks only slow down a thief. Locks don't keep thieves out; they just slow them down. Quality locks with substantial dead bolts are a step in the right direction. If you use padlocks, make sure they are of sufficient gauge steel with multiple tumblers and custom keyed for you. At the same time, adequate lighting, closed circuit television and a properly monitored security system may be the best deterrents. Remember, burglars don't like light, noise or anything else that draws attention to the scene.
    
    
12. Exercise key control. It doesn't take long for keys to disappear and to be given to many employees. Keep a record of who has keys and the dates they were given out and returned.
    
    
13. Bad checks and counterfeit bills. New business owners are more trusting because they want to attract customers. Don't think this escapes forgers and counterfeiters. They thrive in these situations. Establish firm procedures and stick with them. The exception may cost you dearly.
    
    
14. Use an employee identification system, if practical. If you have many full- and part-time employees or you are having key management problems, an access system that requires the employee to insert an electronically coded card upon entering the business (or specific areas) will give additional control.
    
    
15. Train your employees. Anyone dealing with customers must be properly trained in order to perform as you want him to. This includes teaching employees how to watch the store or business, how to spot counterfeit bills and how to accept a check.