10 Tips to Keep Your Janitorial Company's Lead Data Secure

Over the past few years, state governments have been taking a more aggressive approach towards protecting the privacy of their residents. California, for instance, passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), whereas Maryland recently proposed a similar bill that would mirror the privacy rights of the CCPA. With privacy laws now in effect, it's important for janitorial companies to take some basic precautions when managing sales lead data. Below are 10 tips to keep your janitorial company's sales lead data safe and secure.

#1) Only Collect Essential Information

The more information you collect on sales leads, the greater the risk of a privacy breach. By only collecting essential information on sales leads, you'll minimize your B2B company's risk of privacy breaches. For instance, consider collecting names, email addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and job title. You typically don't need to collect home addresses or other personal and sensitive information from sales leads.

#2) Disclose What Type of Information Your Janitorial Company Collects

Always disclose the type of information your janitorial company collects from sales leads. If you're going to collect the names and email addresses of sales leads, for instance, let them know. With greater transparency, prospective buyers will feel more confident in completing your janitorial company's lead forms.

#3) Disclose How Your Janitorial Company Uses Sales Lead Information

In addition to telling sales leads what type of information your janitorial company collects from them, you should tell them how your company uses that information. Some janitorial companies use sales lead information for internal purposes, whereas others sell the data to other companies or vendors. Regardless of how you intend to use their information, you should let them know. Write a disclaimer that any information will not be sold or shared with anyone else. It'll give your potential new customers a reason to trust your business.

#4) Upgrade Your Janitorial Company's Website With HTTPS

If you haven't done so already, you should upgrade your Thank you, company's website with HTTPS. Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, it's a secure protocol that controls the way in which data is transferred over the internet. In the past, websites relied in the HTTP protocol. Now, however, HTTPS is available as a more secure alternative. With the HTTPS protocol, all data submitted to your janitorial company's website and all data downloaded from your company's website will be protected from breaches.

#5) Create a Privacy Policy

Of course, you should create a privacy policy for your janitorial company. In this document, explain your janitorial company's policy regarding the collection and usage of sales lead information. You can then publish this document on your janitorial company's website, after which you can link to it from your janitorial company's social media profiles, emails and other marketing channels.

#6) Allow Sales Leads to Opt Outs

You should allow sales leads to opt out of your janitorial company's data collection and usage practices. Assuming your company has an email newsletter, you can use this platform to allow for opt outs. At the bottom of your janitorial company's emails, include a link that allows leads to both unsubscribe from the newsletter as well as have their information removed from your company's database.

#7) Encrypt Data

While HTTPS is an encryption tool, it isn't a foolproof solution to protect against privacy breaches. HTTPS only encrypts data that's moving; it doesn't encrypt data that's stationary. For stationary data, such as sales lead information stored in a database, you'll need to use a separate encryption tool.

#8) Scan for Malware

Don't forget to scan your B2B company's computers, as well as other devices, for malware on a regular basis. There are dozens of types of malware. While some types are designed to cause malicious harm, others are designed to covertly steal or capture sensitive information. If one of your B2B company's computers or devices is infected with malware such as this, it could result in a privacy breach.

#9) Delete Unnecessary Data

Another way to minimize the risk of privacy breaches is to delete unnecessary data. If a prospective buyer is no longer employed, for instance, you probably don't need to keep his or her data. Holding on to the prospective buyer's data only creates a privacy liability. The data could be accessed during a breach, resulting in the buyer's personal information being leaked. By deleting unnecessary data, you'll be able to better protect your janitorial company's sales lead data.

#10) Use a CRM Solution

Finally, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution can help you better manage your janitorial company's sales leads. Available as locally installed software or cloud-based software, CRM solutions offer an all-in-one platform to manage your janitorial company's leads. Among other things, it allows you to set access permissions of varying levels. For sensitive data, you may want to restrict access to upper-level executives. For basic and non-sensitive data, on the other hand, you can provide broader access by allowing more of your janitorial company's to use it.

Now that you're ready, let's get you started with some Project report sales leads. The project reports will give you only the information needed to begin the process including lead project summary, contact names, email addresses, and direct phone numbers. You can begin to give them great information on how to keep their business sanitary from germs and viruses. Let's get started.