How to sell security

22 Nov 09

As with many businesses within the service industry, the provision of security is perceived as an intangible commodity, in that there is no physical product when purchased.

We therefore rely on the client’s own perception of the security industry to switch what may be perceived as a grudge purchase into an investment.

I use the word ‘perceive’ because that’s what it is… perception. The person on the other side of the table has to believe that what we are offering will make a positive difference to their profit margins.

How do we measure the effectiveness of security protection? How do we know that placing security officers at exit points and throughout a retail store will result in increased profits? Do the advantages outweigh the costs?

All we can do is provide a proof positive manner to deal with and minimise the impact of many of the scenarios that come together to underpin the need for security.

First and last line of defence
I work as a door supervisor and see myself as the first and last line of defence for the venues I work. It is my responsibility to assess the risk of patrons whether they are intoxicated or not, and depending on my risk assessment I will either allow or refuse them entry.

An effective door policy ensures that potential incidents are dealt with at the entrance. But a club owner who does not see his door supervisor physically ejecting people from the venue, breaking up fights and the like, might not attribute that to the effectiveness of the door team.

Instead, he might think the venue has become easy to manage and may even consider reducing his team’s coverage.

The challenge for us as security professionals is to be able to make security buyers understand the added value that we bring to their business. The big question now is: how do we do that?

How do we do that?
For some security organisations, acquiring numerous industry accreditations is the answer. Some security organisations have ACS, Safe Contractors, ISO, NSI, Skills for Security, BSIA, Investor in People and heaven knows what else.

There are even security organisations lobbying the SIA to create a two tier accreditation system for the ACS; in other words, the elite and the rest. The SIA to their credit have so far rejected this idea.

If security organisations believe that applying for numerous so called ‘professional’ accreditations will transform them into a lean mean professional machine, then they are in for an expensive wake up call.

What does accreditation mean for your client, and what’s in it for them? That is the question security organisations need to address.

Will having a NSI Gold or ACS affect or motivate a security officer to reduce shrinkage in a retail store, or assist the licensee in upholding the main licensing objectives?

Buying a desired outcome
Selling security 101 is this: people do not buy your organisation, they buy a desired outcome. It would be true to say that it doesn’t matter how many accreditations a company has, the bottom line is; can they produce the client’s desired outcome within their budget?

Security organisations need to understand two major points:

• Security has always been perceived as a grudge purchase even by those organisations with bad experiences that really need it.

• The cost of controlling any risk should never exceed the maximum loss associated with that risk.

Whenever security organisations are asked for a quotation, especially manned guarding services, the first calculation they make is the labour cost, followed by statutory obligations and overheads.

Based upon those figures, they add a percentage for profit and arrive at a rate. Most companies never sit to consider the benefit of their service to the prospect - in other words, what will be the return on investment (ROI) for the prospect.

Expected outcome
In order to sell any product or service effectively, one must first consider the expected outcome for the buyer. For example retail organisations buy security to reduce shrinkage.

Therefore, any security organisation wishing to sell security to a retail organisation has to focus on the question: by what percentage can we reduce the buyer’s shrinkage and what will be the monetary value of that percentage? Subtract the security cost and you have the prospect’s ROI.

Instead of telling prospects how good our officers are, reeling out a long list of accreditations or how long the organisation has been trading, we should be telling them how we can help them make a profit.

My advice is: research your client/prospects industry, their competition and if they are a limited company, check their annual accounts to determine how they make profit. Find out what changes are taking place in their industry, how that will affect their profit and show them ways of dealing with those changes.

Profit-focus
In this recession, instead of trying to save them money or showing them how to beat the recession, show them how they can be profitable and how they can beat their competition.

Instead of sending them your brochure which they may throw away anyway, why not write a whitepaper on their industry and give it to them free. Produce newsletters and blogs that will help them.

If you had a retail client and you compiled a whitepaper that discussed 10 ways of making profit in retail, and sent it to them, I promise you it would be more valuable to them than your brochure, and they will keep it.

In short, think of ways that your service can help your prospects profit and they will more readily purchase from you rather than your competitors.

Just one more piece of advice. Maybe the money spent on acquiring all those accreditations could be used to top up the wages of your staff – you can imagine the level of service your clients will receive from motivated staff.

Next time you visit a prospect, just say “we pay above industry wages to all our staff”. I guarantee you that will be a stronger sales message than going on about accreditations. Who takes that to the bank?

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