“Great deals are usually wrought at great risks.” Herodotus Just as you lock your front door and turn on the alarm system, lock your file cabinets. If you leave customer invoices , computer printouts of your accounts receivable, payroll date or inventory records accessible to all, you are leaving the front door to the inner secrets of your business wide open offering a buffet of information useful to any competitor or person wishing to grab a piece of your prosperity. Prying employee eyes can jeopardize the well-being of your business. Big or small, one employee or one hundred, there are details about your business only you and your partners (if you have any) should know. And not only your help, watch out for competitors snooping around for clues about your customers and markets. If you are sloppy about security, you risk being the target of unethical competitive snooping. How much money you are making (or losing) or what you pay your employees is a topic not for lunchroom gossip. If employees discover the details of your payroll, expect anger, jealousy and a disgruntled worker or two. If your employees discover the size of your paycheck, expect envy and demands for raises. If your business is struggling to pay bills and it becomes table talk, expect your employees to feel insecure. If your business depends on a stable of steady customers, the names, addresses, and sales history are worth gold to your competition. Never be careless or trusting with your customer lists. In the wrong hands, you are placing your future at risk to any enterprising competitor who knows what to do with the information. Here is a tale of an unsuspecting entrepreneur approaching retirement age who was scammed into losing it all by a less than honest competitor. A chemical distributor was solicited by a possible acquisition. The owner of the distributing company was delighted, dreaming of fishing and Florida. The first few meetings went well and what seemed a causal inquiry, the owner was asked by his competitor was asked to supply a list of his customers, Confident he was about to get top dollar for his company, he provided the details of his customers as well as a copy of his latest accounts receivable. Within two weeks, the suitor claimed management problems prevented going through with the deal. In less than a year, the competitor had grabbed nearly half of the trusting owner’s customers. Within two years, the owner of the distributing company folded the business and with it the dream of a comfortable retirement. A simple unethical game plan turned a once profitable firm into a shell. Don’t let it happen to you. If your competitor is privy to your customers and the prices, they are paying you –it is a simple matter to wine and dine with a better deal to convince your lifeblood to leave your stable. Who your customers are and how much business they give you should be treated like the “Manhattan Project,” top secret. So lock you file cabinets, and secure your computers. Use password protection or any other means to prevent unauthorized entry. Don’t leave old back up copies of data around and invest in a shredding machine. If you think I am over preaching- ask yourself what you could do with your arch rival’s financial and sales information. It is easy to be trusting, it is easy to be wrapped up in the details of the day and forget about security. Thieves, scam artists, and dishonest employees can detect your carelessness. Treat the financial and sales details of your business as your secrets to success. Don’t excuse yourself with the rational you are too busy, and your employees have the honesty of Buddha. If you doubt me, leave a twenty-dollar bill on the office floor when you leave tonight- I will be amazed if anyone tells you about it. Copyright 2004 Dr. Paul E Adams, Professor Emeritus Business Administration Ramapo College of New Jersey Author “ Fail Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful.” Available Amazon.Com. If you have questions or comments- contact me: drfailproof@earthlink.net