Today we have a guest blog from Dave Weedin:

Many of the newer cars out on the market today have blind spot detectors. These are preventative devices that help keep you as a driver more aware and prepared for your surroundings.  The problem is that just because you check your blind spots every once and a while, doesn’t meet some unexpected danger won’t come out of nowhere. You are still required to be a masterful driver with keen senses and lacking distractions.

Your business has blind spots and all too often CEOs and CFOs think that their “blind spot detectors” are adequate to catch most all crises. On top of that, they believe they are really good “drivers” and can get out of any situation through cunning, experience, and a can-do attitude.

While this may be mostly true, getting out of that crisis situation is best done when thoroughly ready and prepared. The end results are hundreds of thousands of dollars saved of revenue, time, lost opportunity, productivity, and employee moral. This month is National Preparedness Month, which is a great reminder for assessing your current situation to determine if you’re as resilient as you think you are.

Here is my 5-step process that you can quickly implement:

1.  Allocate time to strategize and identify potential perils and hazards that could stop your business dead in its tracks; severely impede its operations; or damage your reputation.
2. Determine your tolerance for risk and triage the perils that have the highest frequency and severity concerns.
3.  Set up both preventive and contingent activities. Example for a fire: Contingent is a sprinkler system. Preventive is a visit from the fire marshal. Most business owners are light on preventive.
4.  Buy insurance and make sure it is programmed correctly. The key is a strong and knowledgeable broker or agent. Insurance should never be a price issue.
5. Monitor your plan with regular audits and planned practices (e.g. fire and evacuation drills).

Bottom line – the biggest enemies of readiness and preparedness are apathy (“That’s why I buy insurance”), complacency (“It’s never happened to me yet”), and arrogance (“I can deal with anything that happens”). If you’re not taking the time to commit to a sound prevention plan, then you are suffering from one of these maladies. But if you dedicate your time, resources, and finances to investing in crisis planning, you will end up saving yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars that never had to be used because the crisis never occurred.

Dan Weedin:

Dan Weedin helps turn his clients business risk into rewards. He is able to take the abstract concepts of risk and crisis management to help business owners prepare and respond more effectively and with less time and cost to crisis. Since he doesn’t work for an insurance company or agency, he is able to act as an unbiased advocate for his clients. You can lear ore about Dan and how he can help your business on his web site at www.DanWeedin.com.