Everyone says that they know who their customers are, but the real question is do you understand them? Because understanding them could mean the difference between retaining your current security guard customers or losing them to a low-cost competitor.
If you’ve sat through a sales or marketing workshop in the past decade or done any reading on the topic, the phrase “Know your customer” has probably become a bit of a cliché to you. So it may come as a surprise that although many companies say they know their customers, very few understand them. I find that especially true in the security guard industry. Many security guard companies don’t feel the need to truly understand security guard customers because they just see themselves as providers of security officers. So as long as they can hire, train, and staff their posts they believe that understanding their buyers is not a requirement.
But in order to be successful, companies must know and understand much more about their customers than is required to fulfill their contracts. The most successful companies know their customers incomes, birthdays, personal contact information, professional associations, names of their children, marital status, hobbies, and educational backgrounds. But in addition, they make it their business to understand the needs, desires, and buying behavior of their buyers.
If you’re interested in seeing what other companies are doing to try to understand their customers read this article by Harvey Mackay on why knowing your customer is important. Harvey has developed a tool that he calls the “Mackay 66-Question Customer Profile”. This 66 question “survey” lists 66 things that his salespeople must know about their customers to help better understand them. The customer profile includes questions such as:
- Hometown?
- Military service?
- Spouses name and occupation?
- Children’s interest?
- Politically active?
- Religion?
- Highly confidential items not to be discussed with customer?
- Does customer drink?
- Does customer object to having someone buy their meals?
- What kind of car?
With that type of knowledge about a security guard customer, most security professionals will be able to derive some understanding of who that customer is. It usually follows that once equipped with some understanding of a customer, savvy professionals are then capable of providing solutions that are well-tailored to that client’s needs. Conversely, companies that fail to gain this type of understanding of their customers will often fail.
But as a security company I would suggest taking your quest for understanding one step further. In addition to gathering customer information, I also propose that you try to understand what your customers are experiencing on their jobs on a daily basis.
Have You Walked In A Security Guard Customer’s Shoes?
Although knowing lots of personal information about your customers helps in understanding them, true understanding comes from also being able to see business through their eyes. So the question then becomes not how much do you know about them, but instead have you ever walked a mile in their shoes?
Walking a mile in their shoes in this case means actually spending a few hours or even a day shadowing your customers to see exactly what their jobs entail. After all experience is the best teacher. If you haven’t, how effective can you really be at developing solutions that help retain your security guard customers? Again, if you haven’t, challenge yourself to do so.
Personally I am avid believer in getting out and seeing business from my customers’ perspective. So much so that I have recently begun scheduling time to go out into the field with my customers to see how our security guard management software fits into their operations. So if you see me in uniform working a post, I haven’t given up on OfficerReports.com, I am just trying to get a better understanding of my customers.
By Courtney Sparkman
