I was driving my kids to school this morning and passed an almost unmarked police car.  I say almost because the car was grey and all of the decals were also grey.  So it was unmarked, until you were close.

I explained to my kids why a police car would want to be in disguise.  I said to catch bad guys, simply.  And that it’s not as easy to run up and catch on those doing bad if they see you coming.  Then I asked them what colour they thought police cars used to be when I was their age.  After naming almost every other colour, they finally got to yellow. The colour that folks doing bad loved.  They would stop whatever crime they were in the middle of doing, watch the police cruiser go by, then go back to no good.

At some point, the police shifted their focus from standing out for people who needed assistance, to being covert and catching bad folks.

What is best for a business though?  Go yellow!  Unless you are in the business of catching bad people, you need to operate all areas of your business as a deterrent.

• Your parking lot should be well lit for staff arriving early or leaving late
• Your executives travelling into LATAM should have protective drivers
• Facilities should have visible security cameras
• Display signs that you are using Smartwater CSI to protect and track your cargo

If you experience internal theft, drug use or workplace bullying after putting deterrents in place, hire an undercover investigator to expose the staff responsible, then press charges.  That will get passed as gossip and be a deterrent to any other employees.

We’re all familiar with the term ‘When you’re given lemons, make lemonade’, but a pizza restaurant in Fort Myers has taken it a step further.   They call it Everglade Pizza.

Wildlife officials in Florida are trying to cope with the insurgence of snakes, specifically Burmese Pythons, so they are being hunted to protect the nature preserve.  Evan Daniell, the owner of ‘Evan’s Neighborhood Pizza’ in Fort Myers came up with the idea to take advantage of the over abundance.  Use the snake meat on pizza.

Maybe not your style, but what lesson can we take from Mr. Daniell?  What aspects related to your work routine could you use to your advantage?

I have a personal example.  There was a demonstration at one of our clients corporate buildings, with approximately twenty demonstrators.  AFIMAC deployed security and kept the demonstration in order, without incident.

The demonstrators didn’t only cause issue at the corporate location though.  They yelled at passing cars, entered other local businesses and caused a general disruption in the area.  They did this with the hope of giving our client a bad image.

I went around to each business in the area personally, introduced myself, explained what our client’s industry was, why there were protesters, and explained what contingencies AFIMAC had in place.  I also explained AFIMAC’s other services when asked.

It resulted in one business relationship for our client with one of their neighbours, and two new clients for AFIAMC services.

Hey, I’d rather have lemons than snake on pizza, but you catch my rational, I’m sure.