NAID CONFERENCE: Survey Yields Best Practices

A survey that was answered by more than 200 member companies of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix, has yielded several valuable findings, according to Robert Johnson, executive director of the trade association.

While tallying and studying the survey’s results, Johnson reached several conclusions regarding how successful companies operate. He combined those findings with what he described as some “gut feelings” based on observing successful NAID members over the past decade to present a session entitled “Mining for Gold: The NAID Survey Data and the Best Practices in the Shredding Business,” at the NAID Annual Conference, held in San Diego in mid-May.

Among Johnson’s key best practices findings:

• Companies with a dedicated sales force fare better than those without one
• Successful companies treat selling as a process, not as a one-time event
• Avoiding complacency is important consideration for companies
• Companies that spend at least $1,000 in telephone directory advertising achieve higher growth rates
• Companies with less than $150,000 in start-up capital are often among the fastest growing
• NAID-certified companies are enjoying faster growth than non-certified companies
• The fastest-growing companies offer both plant-based and mobile shredding services
• Of the 20 fastest growing survey respondents, eight were dedicated solely to shredding while 12 offered additional services such as records storage or recycling. All but two of the 20 companies baled their own shredded paper.