There are a lot of security providers on the market today, and with all of those options, it can be tough for a company to set itself apart from the countless others and win new clients. What follows are some strategies and tools that can help you not only win new security/guarding business but also help you keep the clients you have.
Positioning
One of the most important things you can do in your strategy to win new business is to determine your specific market. It’s probably not likely that your company can serve every industry and business type. Find out which businesses it makes sense to work with and go after those markets. In general, you cannot be all things to all people. Experience has shown that companies that specialize in meeting the needs of one group of consumers over another tend to be more profitable.
Being Found
Another item you can add to your strategy to win new business is to simply maximize your chances of being found by new clients. Your goal is for your potential clients to perform a Google search for your particular service and find your company towards the top of the list.
There are a few things you can do to improve your odds of that happening. First, make sure your business has its location listed on Google, as well as other business listings. This way, Google will show your contact information when someone queries your business. It also means it’s more likely your business will be listed when someone in your area searches for the services you offer.
You should also focus on including quality, local content on your own website. Make sure the content is unique and relevant to your target customers--remember, you’re trying to set yourself apart from the competition. Fresh content added at least once per month will also help your company rank better in search results.
It’s vital that your company take an active role on social media platforms as well. Complete profile pages for all the major social networking sites where your target customer is likely to be engaged, making sure your pages public. This will help boost your findability in search engines as well as help sell your services. Make sure, however, that you post fresh content on those sites on a frequent basis.
One final tip to ensure your business is easily findable in a search engine is to make sure your website is mobile friendly. Work with your webmaster or IT department to make sure your website comes across clean-looking and error free when viewed from a mobile device.
Be the Solution
Prior to going into a pitch, it’s important to understand how consumers work and what they’re looking for. Your potential clients aren’t looking for products--not really. What they’re looking for are solutions. Solutions solve problems, so ultimately you need to understand what those problems are. That brings us to the most important thing you can do in your quest to earn new business:
Ask questions.
Walking into a meeting with a client and launching straight into all of the features your company has and how great they are, blah blah blah, is actually a solid way to lose that potential client.
The smarter approach is to ask questions right off the bat. Ask the client what they’re looking for in a security provider and what their biggest security concerns are. If you open the floor like that and allow a client to do most of the talking, you’ll be told everything you need to know.
The key is to use all of the information you learned regarding your client’s problems and show them specifically how your company can be a solution.
Stand out from the crowd
To become a successful business in a sea of competitors you have to show that you’re a unique value to new clients. There are a LOT of competitors in the security provider field, so it’s extremely important to show a potential new client what your company can provide that a competitor cannot. Part of that pitch will take some serious introspection on the part of the security company. A bigger (and easier) part of that pitch can come from the specific tools your company provides. While those tools might not be 100% unique, how you use them and the value you provide can be.
Ultimately, you’ll need to show the company you want to work with what’s in it for them.
When it comes to those specific elements, technology might be your most valuable tool in winning new security business. Therefore, it’s vital that your company have the best technology tools available. The GuardTek™ solution from Trackforce™ can provide you with the technology tools you need to win that new business.
One technological tool that’s prevalent with the GuardTek™ solution is GPS. Today, guard tour systems employ GPS so that security companies and their clients can plan, monitor and accomplish guard tours while ensuring that each officer completes the designated tasks at the designated times and at the designated locations. Time stamped maps can be viewed by clients so they know they’re getting what they paid for. Video and picture enhanced reports can further put the client’s mind at ease.
This advanced officer management technology employs a form of digital logbook so that officer activities and times are recorded when guards reach specific checkpoints during his or her patrol. All of these digital time stamp capabilities mean that your client can rest easy knowing they’re going to be billed accurately for the services they receive. They’ll never have to worry about paying for a guard who never actually showed up. If you can show a potential client these options and how you can use them to show proof of the service you’ll provide, it can help minimize the concern of whether the company is going to get what they pay for.
Real time monitoring capabilities is another major tech tool employed by the GuardTek™ solution. With the real-time monitoring capabilities of the GuardTek™ system, supervisors can keep an eye on their officers and receive instant notifications for any non-compliance issues or incidents that occur in the field. A client can use this feature to save time and money by getting a quick response when issues occur. It’s not just for security emergencies, either. For example, if a light goes out in a certain part of the property, a report can be automatically sent to the maintenance department to get it fixed in a timely manner. Documentation will be generated when the light is fixed, so the client will be able to see the efficiency gains in their operation.
Another huge benefit for clients that employ security personnel who use the GuardTek™ solution is the protection they’ll get from potentially expensive litigation. Digital documentation will record any security interaction and maximize coverage. That means they’ll be no question as to what actually happened during an incident. Not only will this protect the company from costly legal fees, but it will also protect their company image.
If the client you’re pitching happens to be in the housing property industry, or they work out of a large business building, you can give them peace of mind by showing them the benefits of the visitor registration feature, available as part of the GuardTek™ solution from Trackforce™. Ultimately, the company can rest easy knowing that all visitors to their property will be accounted for in case of an emergency, and barred visitors will not be granted access to the property.
The features of the GuardTek™ solution from Trackforce™ are some pretty big bargaining chips when it comes time to win new business, but what’s more impressive is that Trackforce™ will actually provide marketing materials that you can use in your quest for new clients. Furthermore, you can even schedule for a member of the Trackforce™ team to accompany you to your meeting with your potential new client and demonstrate the capabilities of the GuardTek™ solution.
Winning new business and keeping existing clients in the security field is going to take precise strategies. It will also mean having technological support from state of the art of the art guarding software like Trackforce™.