The Pitfalls of an Office Shredder: Inform Your Customers

Your clients are likely familiar with the importance behind safe, document disposal practices; after all, they’ve come to you for secure document shredding. In a day where information theft is growing at an increasingly alarming rate, taking the necessary safeguards to protect sensitive information is simply essential. If you’re struggling to gain repeat clients and the majority of these clients scheduled a one-time purge service only, it’s possible they’ve turned to their office shredder for what could seemingly offer greater convenience. Of course, we industry experts know that’s not true and contrary to this belief, there are high risks associated with office shredders. The question you should be asking yourself is, are your clients fully aware of reality? Have you communicated just how important professional document shredding is for their business?

Use this quick and effective guide as ammunition when discussing the benefits of scheduled, regular shredding services.

Save Money:  Who doesn’t want to save money? Be sure they know that using an office shredder for regular document shredding, will inevitably increase internal business costs with time, and outsourcing this job will be more cost-effective. Operation costs, maintenance, electricity, in addition to the hours needed by your staff to operate the shredder, all add up costing you more dollars than it’s worth. They need to realize that time is money, and each time an employee is tasked to shred a pile of paper they are using up valuable working hours that could be used to grow your business. Your professional shredding services provide clients with considerable savings, backed by effective solutions they can rely on. Their staff can focus on what they were hired to do!

Certified Shredding:  Unlike what is shred in-house, ensure they realize that by turning to a professional shredding company, they will receive certified documentation following each shred job that confirms total compliance. Document shredding carried out with an office shredder, provides no guarantee that documents have been destroyed in accordance with privacy legislation such as FACTA/HIPAA. You are saving your clients the hassle and stress of potential issues that can arise if and when an audit takes place. Your solution gives clients the peace of mind in knowing they have complied with privacy standards pertaining to shredding. This is critical so that they don’t run the risk of facing financial penalties.

Qualified, Screened Professionals: Nobody wants to think employees could be untrustworthy; while asking them to shred documents may seem simple, theft is always a possibility. If you suspect past or current clients are still using their office shredder for day-to-day shredding, ask them if their staff have been background checked. While it may seem silly, it could be a topic that never crossed their mind. At the end of the day, you are looking out for your clients raising this issue, which most businesses will be thankful for. Employment fraud is on the rise and through your professional shredding services it doesn’t have to be a concern.

Secure Shredding that is Monitored: When shredding in-house, it can be challenging to have an additional employee present to watch the process as this distracts them from their day-to-day job role. The problem you should be communicating to your clients is that when an employee isn’t under any supervision while shredding, it’s easy to get lazy and distracted, throwing documents in the trash. This simple but very serious error could leave your client vulnerable to information theft and fraud.  If you haven’t already, always emphasize that clients can witness (and are encouraged) the entire shredding process when they partner with your company for regular document shredding. This is a huge benefit!

Lockable Bins:  Finally, professional document shredding typically comes with lockable security containers. What are your clients doing with the records they are collecting to shred? They will benefit from secure shred bins free of charge when they use your shredding services. Your clients’ employees will no longer be tempted to toss documents in the trash as they will have quality and easily accessible shred bins right next to them; tamper-proof and secure.

At the end of the day, always remind your clients that there is very, very little security with an office shredder because confidential records are often still scattered across desks, or left at the printer in plain sight. This exposure could lead to lost or stolen records, which could negatively impact your business.

Ditching the office shredder and partnering with a document shredding company like yourself will quickly help your clients stay organized, secure, and compliant. Remember you are the expert; be sure they know all the facts!