STAPLES BizTIPs 4business: Guard your customers' privacy

By Small Business Expert, Roger Pierce, BizLaunch

Privacy issues are now a number one concern for North American consumers. Privacy issues include safeguarding your customers’ personal information against misuse or identity theft, eliminating unauthorized customer contact and preventing fraud.

We live in an electronic age where our personal information gets zapped around, making it easy for thieves to steal our identities or abuse our data. It’s no surprise that consumers are demanding that small business owners safeguard their information.

Show your customers how carefully you handle their personal information and you’ll win their trust. Here’s how:

• Never share or sell your customer information, such as a mailing address, email address, income level, purchasing habits or other data, without their consent.
• Obviously, never sell their financial information, such as a credit card or SIN number.
• Control employee access to files containing sensitive customer information.
• Physically and electronically safeguard data. Use locking drawers and vaults to store paper records, or simply shred originals. Set up passwords for computer programs containing customer data and change those passwords regularly.
• Avoid blasting your customers with too many “sales” messages to avoid becoming a ‘spammer.’

You can learn more about this and other how-to topics at a free STAPLES BizLaunch Seminar or Webinar. To find one near you, please visit http://www.staples.ca/bizlaunch today.

 

 

ROGER PIERCE is passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieve success. Co-founder of Canada’s largest small business training company, BizLaunch.ca, he’s launched eleven small businesses of his own and personally experienced what he calls “the good, the bad and the ugly” sides of entrepreneurship.

BizLaunch advises thousands of Canadian startups through its popular how-to seminars and webinars delivered with partners such as STAPLES.