Protecting Your Customer List

There’s a very simple action you should take to protect your customer list.

Judging by the list of steps I found on the search engines, the action I have in mind isn’t well known.

This is what the search engine suggested.

1. Understand your obligations regarding customer data.
2. Train your employees on data protection.
3. Define what data you keep and minimize non-essential data access.
4. Limit data access and keep a detailed access record.
5. Evaluate your vendors.
6. Use encryption.
7. Keep your software up to date.
8. Label the customer list as "Confidential" or "Trade Secret".
9. Ensure the customer list is maintained in written form.
10. Limit the number of employees who have access to the customer list.

While all these steps are well and good, particularly the advice to limit access to your list internally and to treat it as a trade secret, none of these paves the way to take decisive action if your list is misused.

Unless you know that your list has been misused you won’t know to take steps to put a stop to it. And even if you know that your list has been misused, how are you going to prove it in a court of law? Litigation is extremely costly anyway but having to prove that your list has been copied would require a budget and resources that few small businesses could deploy.

So, take this simple step to protect your business: plant a false name and address within your customer list so you would be notified of any mis authorised uses of the list.

The name and address you include shouldn’t be easy to spot as a fake. However, it should have a physical address and email to which you have ready access.

Let me know if you’ve already implemented this simple step.

I will be taking a break from the newsletter till September so I’ll be back in your inbox then.

In the meantime, I hope you have a good summer.