The Importance of Customer Service in Security

Let’s start this blog with a question: What are the critical skills needed to be a security guard?

Preparedness probably ranks highly; observation skills; calmness under pressure; hard work and flexibility – all of these traits make for an excellent security professional. However, they’re lacking one critical ingredient in the security mix – customer service skills.

Why Customer Service is Essential to Security

From our years of experience in the private security world, we’ve learned there’s nothing criminals like more than anonymity. They crave to operate without being seen. It gives them space and time to pick their targets while they wait for an opportune moment to strike. Customer service plays a key role in creating an environment hostile to this – and the good news is that your entire team has a key role to play in making this happen.

If an individual in your space is acting in a strange manner consider empowering your team members to approach them and ask if they need assistance. Not only does this let a potential criminal know they’re being observed, it also lets them know that staff are switched on and alert to any threats. If the person wasn’t looking to engage in criminal behaviour, it just means your team provided great customer service. You have nothing to lose by adopting this strategy, and everything to gain.

Now, let’s look at how Customer Service works in a professional security services capacity.

The Role of Private Security in Providing Customer Service

In a rapidly changing world, security guards have seen their job evolve to include more and more customer service skills. Whether they’re assisting a customer needing directions, or helping out with a lost child, a security guard is acting as a brand ambassador in your space, adopting a customer service-mindset in their day-to-day role.

This is a logical next step for our industry. After all, the vast majority of the interactions a Blackbird Security guard has in a retail environment are with ordinary members of the public. It’s the responsibility of every forward-facing security company to incorporate this into their training program, and Blackbird Security is proud to have pioneered their move through our industry leading Blackbird Academy.

Training for Customer Service Excellence

When we boil customer service down to its key ingredients, we find so much overlap with professional security guards. Appearance, vigilance, communication skills and knowledge are all the hallmarks of good customer service, but they’re also key traits to have in security.

As part of our comprehensive training program, each security guard at Blackbird Security receives the following dedicated training:

• Dedicated customer service training
• Incident de-escalation training
• Conflict resolution training
• John’s mental health training
• Occupational first aid training

We understand security guards can face an almost limitless number of scenarios in their daily work. By equipping them with comprehensive training, we equip them with the skills to provide the caliber of security services our clients expect. If your current security partner doesn’t share this approach, it’s time to partner with Canada’s best security company.

Work with Blackbird Security

The team at Blackbird Security is proud to support our communities as they navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re interested in upgrading your security services, we’d love to hear from you. We offer the following range of services to clients across Canada:

• Concierge Security
• Elite Suit and Tie Security
• Event Security
• Executive Protection
• Loss Prevention
• Patrol Security
• Uniformed Security Guards
• Cyber Security
• Private Investigation
• Mobile Patrol Security
• Shopping Mall/Retail Security
• Government Security