Amazing how quickly things can go wrong and how everyone can know about it.  Ask Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, how fast his head was spinning from news of the broken pipe a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico.  Being the top dog means you have to lead the pack.  Did he step up and bark out good orders?  Nope.  He wasn’t, and isn’t prepared.

How does this relate to your business?  You don’t drill for oil or have a major international brand.  It is just you in your store working as hard as you can to pay the bills and grow your business.  Change “oil spill” for “customer made sick” or “product injury” and you can see where things along your own pipeline from vendor to your shelf to the customer can get quickly out of hand.

Are you ready for disaster?

When you think about all the things that can go wrong, do you think you are ready to handle them or are you hoping that bad things avoid your business?  Countless owners live in fear of something bad happening, but never do anything about it.  If you, for some unknown reason to me, do not have business interruption insurance, get it.

Just like BP, you know that something is going to happen.  Something that makes you sweat, stay up at night, and worry that you won’t have an income.  Or, even worse, you have to pay large sums of money just to stay in business. [1] Bulldog Rule # 6 - Failing to plan for your day, week, month, and year is unacceptable  is one heck of a rule to follow when everyone around you is looking at clear skies and ignoring the bad weather approaching.

Where do you start?  How about at the front door?  Or better yet, start with your lease.  Does it provide for floods, damage to the building, or any number of calamities that can happen to keep your front door from being opened?  Even if you are already in a lease and it doesn’t come up for renewal for years, ask for a rider to the lease that gives you a break on the rent until you are back open.  If the landlord won’t help, then you know you either have to move when the lease ends or add more insurance to what you already have.

Inside the store, train your team to be ready for anything bad.  Robbery, fire, customer accidents, and many other things can happen depending on your business.  If your employees are not trained well in what to do, things can go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.  I have been in far too many stores that have been robbed at gunpoint.  Since I personally trained the team working, the robber left with money and no one was hurt.  You can earn more money.  You can’t replace a life.

Everyone has a job to do in a crisis.  The counter person calls the police, ambulance, or fire department.  The customers are cared for and kept calm.  They will need to stay in the store until the police arrive.  You can’t keep them in the store against their will.  If they want to leave, ask for their name and phone number. Once everything is settled down, the need employees write down what they saw and heard.  The Manager needs to be a calm voice.  If you do not have a “Drama Free” Manager, start looking for one.  Anxiety can lead to bad decision and a reactionary Manager will already be a point of crisis in the business.

Plan and then train.  Simple?  It is.  If BP had planned better for broken pipes a mile underwater, they would not have had much coverage by the media.  Their stock wouldn’t have lost a third of it’s value and they would be pumping oil instead of hiding from the media.

Be ready for whatever can happen and rest well knowing you can handle any crisis.


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