Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
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There is a TV commercial airing these days that I believe sums up how most people look at the future. In this thought- provoking commercial, Prudential Insur- ance has created "The Magnets Experi- ment," which gets people to look at what has happened in the past and what they expect to happen in the future. The past is a 50/50 mixture of good and bad events, whereas the future is about 90-percent positive. While it's great that we have such a posi- tive view of the future, we need to realize that unexpected events will occur in our personal or professional lives that will force us to stretch ourselves in a variety of differ- ent ways in order to persevere. In the TV commercial, Prudential is obviously adver- tising insurance, which is one thing that you need to think about as far as protecting your business, but you also need to be prepared for other potential hazards like financial problems, unfavorable weather, and new competition. The list of potential hazards is endless, but if you can prepare for the most likely ones, then you stand a better chance than if you never think they will happen. Here are four things that owners need to do to hazard-proof their business: #1 ASSIGN DUAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY Who handles your dealership's money or bank accounts? I've seen great businesses destroyed by embezzlement of a "trusted employee." The quotes are the same in all the news stories: "They were like family," "They worked for us for 40 years," etc. The problem was that one employee con- trolled not only the bookkeeping, but also depositing funds and writing checks. This should never happen! You should always have dual accountability in your financial processes. Another person has to be in- volved in the process. If one person enters information regarding business expenses, then the responsibility of depositing funds and writing checks needs to be handled by someone else. Some sobering facts 1 : 33 percent of small-business bank- ruptcies are the result of employee theft. The median amount stolen is $175,000. The average time before office fraud is discovered: 2 years. In many cases, if dual accountabil- ity would have been in place, then these things would not have happened. Sooner or later, one of your employees is going to suffer personal financial hardship or need financial assistance. You cannot allow that employee to have the opportunity to loot your business because you've never put these protective measures in place. An- other helpful suggestion is to require that dual signatures be on any check over a certain amount, so that if a large check is written, the bank won't process it without both signatures. In today's electronic world, you also need to control who can use debit or credit cards. You need to make sure that another person besides the card holder is alerted when purchases are made. When you put procedures like this into place, you not only help your business, but you also help your employees by taking away the temptation to steal. The reason I put this first in this ar- ticle is that I think it is so important. Make this a priority! You may have an umbrella liability insurance policy for your business, and it may mitigate some of your losses, but depending on the severity, it might not be enough. 20 JUNE 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Hazard-proofing your business Four things you should do now to protect your dealership from potential disasters ■ BY JEFF SHEETS IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ TUMPIKUJA FEATURE STORY | Best Practices IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/JRCASAS