Uncategorized — Page 184

Clothing security tags boost profits

September 20, 2010 by Staff Editor

Retailers who use clothing security tags notice a boost in profits beyond expectations. It is a simple yet often overlooked formula for figuring out the return on stopping retail shrinkage or inventory loss. Simply divide the value of the lost merchandise by the net profit (not gross profit margin which is obviously much higher).

Example, a $35 stolen shirt with a net margin of three percent requires $1,166.67 in sales to recoup the loss. Hard to believe isn’t it. It is one of those “I don’t look at that because I don’t want to know” things. Loosing one $35 item is not a $35 loss. In order for the business to replace the items total retail value of $35 you will need a net profit of $35. $35 divided by a net profit of 3% is $1,166.67.

So obviously a very powerful way to boost profit margins is to control losses and use products like clothing security tags to keep the merchandise on the rack. If total losses is 5% in a $1mil per year clothing boutique the total lost merchandise is $50,000 per year. Now look at that divided by the net margin and you will get $1.6mil. If you can reduce your losses by a realistic 50% by using security tags on clothes you will be adding $25k to the profit margin. I’ll leave that one to you to figure the boost in net margin…it is significant.

Check out the world’s leading manufacturer of clothing security tags and clothing alarm systems, checkpoint systems and learn how you can stop loosing merchandise and start boosting profits today.

Ho Ho Ho Employee Backround Checks

September 19, 2010 by Staff Editor

It’s the day after Thanksgiving. The store looks wonderful; you are surrounded by customers busily buying! You and your store team have worked hard to get to this day. Now starts the fun and excitement of the retail holiday season. The new folks seem to be fitting in just great! Look at them up there at the register taking care of those customers! You think to yourself, employee background checks, who needs to spend that money? Boy they sure are friendly!

You laid the ground work for a successful holiday season. You bought the merchandise, you planned the advertising and you hired some employees to help you handle the additional traffic this season brings. You ran an ad and had an outstanding reaction to your “now hiring” banner. You took the time necessary to make sure your new people were the right mix for your store. You personally interviewed each one, gosh were they nice. You called and did reference checks on them, gee her old supervisor gave her a glowing personal recommendation! The store owner next door was talking about the employee background checks he did before he hired anyone this year. He got a lot of great information from the background check company. Heck though, what does he know. You have been doing this longer and know people better. Go with the gut feeling that these new employees are all going to be fantastic.

The day ends. Sales were just awesome! Wait, the register is short a lot of money.

How many managers have been in this position? Have you had your heart sink to the bottom of your stomach when the missing cash is discovered? No it’s not always the newest people that steal from their employer but, how much of that theft can be deterred by doing proper employee background checks? As an employer, you are only privy to a certain amount of information. Why not let a professional get the rest for you?

For more information contact us at employee background checks or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: background check company, Background checks, employee background checks

Employee Theft Investigation In Atlanta-How To!

September 18, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

An employee theft investigation is a key factor in a proactive loss prevention environment. Today’s retailers face a number of different factors contributing to the losses of sales, service and safety. Understanding these concerns and having a solid plan in place will make a huge impact to your business profitability. Although there is no fool-proof way to stop employees from “stealing”, there are ways to recover what you’ve lost and help prevent these issues from taking over. It is said that on average, retailers can directly attribute approx. 70% of their losses to employee theft. In some instances, unchecked employee theft can close and ruin businesses.

What can you do to jumpstart an employee theft investigation? Identify the problem. The problem could be cash shortages, empty packages in “employee only” areas, poor inventory results or as simple as missing office supplies (pens, pencils etc.). These are all possible factors when identifying employee theft issues. Isolate the issue. Who had access to these areas? Was a manager involved? Narrowing down the suspected employees is as important as knowing what you’ve lost. Was the employee on the register missing the money? Who was in the “employee only” area when the packages were found? Gather the evidence. For cash shortages, utilize journal tape or electronic register journals. Identify cash transactions where large bills of $50 or more were used.

Confidentially talk with other employees, listen for those with financial problems at home or other personal issues. Be thorough, and document your findings when conducting your employee theft investigation.

Well, are you ready to talk with the suspected employee(s)? It is usually best to leave this part to the professionals; however, having due diligence and a solid investigation will almost always overshadow the dishonest employee’s ability to deny his or her wrongdoing.

You didn’t set out to have to watch over your employees, and you shouldn’t have to. Stay profitable; always perform a thorough employee theft investigation when a potential problem has been found.

For more information about employee theft in Atlanta contact us about employee theft investigation or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: employee theft, employee theft investigation

A Shoplifters Worst Nightmare – Prevent Shoplifting Loss In Atlanta

September 17, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

“Prevent Shoplifting” can actually be a fun quest or sport for you and your employees. Turn the tables on the shoplifter and make their dreams of easy theft their worst nightmare.

To prevent shoplifting loss consider this. Shoplifters have to have privacy to steal. Take it away from them and customer service them to death! They will give up and leave. In most cases they will go to an easier target such as your not quite so savvy competitor.

To explain how to do this I will give you a real example. I had done a shoplifting prevention training session with a store. I taught them the skills to deal with shoplifters. Two weeks later I got an excited call from the store manager, “it works!” (well of course it works. I have been doing this for 30 years now).

This was a hardware type store. A person went into the electrical department picked up a circuit breaker worth about $70. He stuffed it in the front of his pants. The employee did saw him do this from behind. The employee proceeded to get on the PA and made an announcement in “code” that only other employees would understand. This code let store staff know that he had a shoplifter and need help.

The Cavalry came to the rescue. A total of 4 employees followed the shoplifter through the store. They acted like they were counting items or doing other work. They stayed back about 20 feet but keep following him. Every time the shoplifter would stop and look at something an employee would approach him and ask if he could help.

The shoplifter got the message he pulled the circuit breaker out of his pants (disinfectant anyone?) put it on a shelf and walked out of the store.

The employees hunted down the shoplifter and pursued him with customer service as their weapon. They bagged him and he left in frustration. No criminal charges, no reports just great customer service that worked to prevent shoplifting loss! You can do it to!

For help to prevent shoplifting loss in the Atlanta area or anywhere else contact us at prevent shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Prevent Shoplifting

Loss Prevention Consultants – Your Profitability

September 17, 2010 by Staff Editor

Loss prevention consultants offer a wide variety of experience and resources. Identifying opportunities for your business to be safe, secure and profitable are just a few of the benefits loss prevention consultants can offer.

Imagine this, you borrowed a lot of money and started your dream company. You have 1 to 5 retail locations and are doing pretty well. You have a great staff, merchandise flow is near perfect, and your customer base grows from month to month. Your business is booming! How do you keep up the momentum? How do you protect your investments and profits? Loss prevention consultants can advise you on everything from shoplifting activity in your business to proper installation of alarms and alarm monitoring equipment. Is CCTV something you’d like to install in your business? How about Electronic Article Surveillance? Loss prevention consultants can build a solid plan for installation.

A number or businesses close every year, some due to issues that could have easily been corrected if identified sooner. Maybe the business did not realize the importance of protecting itself with the latest technology in alarm systems and monitoring. Maybe the company didn’t hire the best employees or didn’t properly conduct background screening and as a result, hired less than desirable employees. Or maybe the business plan only included the basics of business and didn’t plan for growth. Whatever the need, loss prevention consultants could be your answer.

As a professional in the Loss Prevention industry for the last several years, I have seen the huge benefit in having loss prevention consultants indentify potential issues and offer advice to sound business people. The benefit in most instances can be dramatic. A Loss Prevention Consultant should have a knack for the industry and truly enjoy advising companies on how to stay profitable.

Profitability! The word alone is music to ears of the savvy business person. How to stay profitable can be more frightening of a sound. Don’t lose sleep over it. Profitability can be maintained by having an executable business plan, follow through and some smart advice.

For more information contact us at loss prevention consultants or call 1-770-426-0547

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5 Things Employee Background Checks will Reveal.

September 17, 2010 by Staff Editor

In today’s America, pre employment background checks have become a must in every company that thrives for success in the entrepreneurial world. Remember that the government is always looking at you, and you should always be very careful with your potential employees if you don’t want Uncle Sam to slap you in the hands for bad management.

Even though employee background checks can become a scary task if you want to do it on your own, if you hire the perfect background check company, scary will be the least of your concerns. A background check company will help you dig out the dirt out of your potential employees. Employment screening will reveal things like:

* Lies About Past Jobs.
If you thought you’d be hiring the next Bill Gates for your company, think again. Employment screening will reveal if you are about to hire the next Bill Gates, or the next Larry the Cable Guy for your company.

* Lies About Degrees.
It’s very common for potential employees to lie about their academic history. Pre employment background checks will detect very easily degree-fudging in your potential employees as well as your company’s current employees.

* Worker’s Compensation History.
Employee background checks will reveal if your staff has been involved in worker’s compensation fraud, or if they are seriously injured that they won’t be able to put up with the job that you are trying to offer them.

* Sex Offender’s List.
Let’s face it, who wants to hire a pervert? Quick criminal background checks will reveal to you in no time if your baby-faced potential worker is in reality a wolf in disguise. Always be on the safe side and ask to your background check company for a criminal background check.

* Credit Records.
Is money disappearing from your cash registers? Hire a background check company to reveal which person on your total staff is having money problems. However, that doesn’t really mean this person is taking the money, but at least you know you have to keep an eye on this person just in case.

There are a lot of things that a background check company can help you find out. If you want to be on the safe side it’s never too late to hire one of these companies, you don’t want Uncle Sam telling you “I told you so”.

For more information: employee background checks or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: background check company, Background checks, criminal background check, employee background checks, employment screening, pre employment

Trade Secrets….Are They Susceptible to Employee Theft in Atlanta?

September 16, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

According to the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, a trade secret is any confidential plan, formula, pattern, program device, technique, code, or collection of information that, once released, could potentially benefit a business. Did you know that a trade secret isn’t even anything that has to be written down? It can be in someone’s memory and can still be a target of employee theft. Atlanta based companies are just as open to this as any other in the country.

Employee theft has many different shapes and forms. Basically when someone works for a company, let’s say in the research and development field, anything designed or developed under that company’s employ becomes property of said company. If that particular item is never released to the public, then the trade secret obligations are still present. It would be considered employee theft for that information to be used by that employee either after employment ends or if it’s released without the employer’s consent.

A confidentiality agreement may be the best way to protect a company from trade secret employee theft. An agreement of this nature is a legally binding contract, which prohibits involved parties (such as company employees) from disclosing trade secret information to the public, third parties, or worse—the competition.

Many employers have gone to great lengths to protect their trade secrets. An interesting study showed that up to 58% of all employees steal something from a business. Trade secret theft however affects business the most when there are 100 employees or less. Some small businesses can be destroyed by employee theft of trade secrets.
Suspect Trade secret theft?

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Internal Theft…There are Prevention Measures You Can Take In Atlanta

September 14, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In today’s economy, the bottom line profit of small business in the Atlanta area is dwindling. What is causing the decrease? One of the main culprits is theft. Let’s look at internal theft and ways we can prevent that scenario from affecting your cash flow.

If a small business owner suspects internal theft, either an outside loss prevention firm or the police (the police do not like to handle these type of case) should be contacted immediately. In order to reclaim your loses, you must be able to prove the theft has occurred.

Preventing the crime in the first place however can save you lots of headache. Below are a few good strategies for internal theft prevention.

Pre employment screening is essential to hiring new employees. Run background and security checks on all potential employees prior to offering them a position. Who you hire reflects directly on your business. You trust them with part of your livelihood; make sure they are who they say they are.

If your employees are handling cash transactions, have a supervisor in charge of checking all receipts and returns. Internal theft by cash handling employees is very common. Be sure your most trusted individuals handle these types of transactions.

When employees are responsible for receiving merchandise, be sure that there is a system in place to double check their counts.

Theft of received goods can be eliminated if a second employee or a supervisor is required to validate shipping numbers and transactions.

Do you have a question on internal theft or background checks for potential hires? Contact us about internal theft or call 1.770.426.0547.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: internal theft

Prevent Shoplifting With A New Customer Service Approach

September 14, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In a retailers effort to prevent shoplifting we must never forget our good customers. These are the people that pay the bills. The good news is that in our goal to prevent shoplifting and our quest for sales with our good customers the solutions are the same.

Customer service is a key factor in increased sales. We know that the more positive attention we pay to a customer the more sales will increase. A well-staffed store with highly trained employees makes a customer feel special and comfortable in a shopping environment. One of the advantages that a smaller retailer has over the big discount stores such as Wal-Mart, Target… is that customer service is available on the sales floor. Have you ever tried to get help at one of the big stores? You wander around aimlessly looking for someone. You may even need to return to the front, which can be a hike.

Shoplifters on the other hand hate customer service. They want to be anonymous, blend into the background. So when you provide them with even a small amount of customer service you drive them crazy and prevent shoplifting. Why? Because a shoplifter needs some privacy, even for a few moments to steal. You take that away from them when you customer service them. This is especially true if you check back on them, linger or work in the area.

I have seen many shoplifters get frustrated and simply leave the store when we provide good customer service. The only problem with this concept is that as we have tighter labor budgets we have less customer service support on the sales floor. To counter this you have to either accept higher shoplifting losses or put tools in place such as Checkpoint Systems. These tools can extend your customer service reach. Checkpoint systems change the shoplifting dynamic in the store. Even if there is a high customer to employee ratio the shoplifter is much more uncomfortable and tends to simply go elsewhere.

Using customer service is not just a tool for increased sales it is a weapon in the war to prevent shoplifting.

For more information contact us at prevent shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Prevent Shoplifting

Loss Prevention Investigator – Your White Knight?

September 14, 2010 by Staff Editor

What is a Loss Prevention Investigator? A complex area of loss prevention, by far, can be the investigations related to employee theft, missing merchandise, poor inventory results or organized retail crime. The main job of the Loss Prevention Investigator is to, as the name claims, investigate. Gathering detailed information, contacting witnesses, investigating the area where the incidents occurred, correlating the information and working with law enforcement are some of what an investigator would do.

Even more so, the bread and butter, as it is said, comes down to the interview/interrogation of a suspected dishonest employee. In some cases, this part of the investigation can make or break the outcome.

Interviewing/Interrogating dishonest employees takes finesse. You may say, sure “How hard is it to talk with an employee about losses?” In fact, it’s tough, especially for a manager or business owner that has a vested interest in the employee in question. A seasoned investigator can be the difference between recovering your losses and hurting your business.

Generally speaking, a Loss Prevention Investigator starts out as an entry level Loss Prevention Agent. Usually he spends his time apprehending shoplifters and investigating external theft, or shoplifters. When he expresses interest to his supervisor or his supervisors believe the agent has what it takes to become an investigator, the transition begins. A Loss Prevention Agent can make great investigator. Most of us started as a Loss Prevention Agent

All in all, investigators are an important part of any loss prevention program. Maintaining a profitable business is the goal of any business owner. Providing support, direction, recovery and closure is the goal of a Loss Prevention Investigator.

When the chips are down and you need help a Loss Prevention Investigator is the person who is on your side, fighting for you and your business.

For more information contact us at loss prevention investigator or call 1.770.426.0547

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