How to protect your business during disasters

Hurricane Sandy may not be hitting Canada as hard as the U.S., but that doesn’t mean your clients aren’t worried.

They may have family or real estate down south, and we’re in for some extreme weather as a result of the major storm.

Read: Protect the family cottage

The question is: how prepared are you and your firm to deal with a major disaster like Sandy?

FinancialPlanning.com says, “Far too many advisors have no disaster recovery plan to rely on.”

It suggests 5 tips for dealing with disasters, which include:

Have a second location to move to if you’re currently operating in an area subject to extreme weather conditions. This will help keep staff safe, and clients will be happy since business won’t be severely disrupted due to events like blackouts.

Read: Insuring disaster

Determine which day-to-day operations are crucial to your clients. Some employees may be able to handle these from home—reducing travelling risk—and you can also delegate tasks to other staff members if one employee is hindered by storms or emergencies.

Have a communication plan in case of emergencies by determining which clients, brokers and employees would need to be contacted, as well as who would be responsible for each person on the list. Many clients may want to discuss their insurance coverage, for example, as well as how their investments are impacted by market closures and glitches.

Financial planning also spoke with New Orleans-based advisor Jude Boudreaux, who dealt with the effects and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He suggests backing up and securing all data at your office. Make sure to keep a copy with you, he says, and bring along a printed copy of all your clients’ information in case you need to get a hold of them or help them with their concerns.

Read: Keep clients during a crisis

Also read:

Advisors need to be emotional shock absorbers

Emotional client? Consider hiring help

Canada not immune to risk

When it comes to insurance, choose wisely

How to integrate P&C

Buffer your business with sound insurance

Handle long-distance communication challenges