Customer Experience Starts With Security

If security personnel are among the first and most visible representatives of your venue, then security is not separate from customer service. It is part of it.

That may seem obvious, but security is still often reagrded as a primarily protective function — controlling access, monitoring behaviour, responding to incidents and stepping in when something goes wrong.

All of those responsibilities are clearly part of the security “brief”. But in a customer-facing environment, how security personnel perform these responsibilities is also really important.

A security operative may welcome someone at an entrance, provide directions, answer a question, assist a person who needs help or manage a potentially difficult situation. Each interaction contributes to the way that person experiences the venue.

Good security should therefore do more than protect the customer experience.

It should contribute to it.

The Security Operative Represents the Venue

Customers don’t necessarily distinguish between a venue’s employees and its contracted security personnel.

To them, the person at the entrance wearing a security uniform is part of the venue experience.

Their manner, presentation, communication and judgement can all influence the impression a customer forms of the organisation.

That creates a responsibility for the security provider that goes beyond supplying appropriately licensed personnel.

Security operatives need to understand the environment in which they are working and the service standards expected within it.

At Exact Security, we believe the standards demonstrated by our operatives should be consistent with the standards our clients set for their own customer service.

Importantly, those standards are defined by the client, not by us.

Security and Service Are Not Opposites

There can sometimes be an assumption that good customer service means taking a softer approach to security.

It doesn’t.

Effective security still requires awareness, sound judgement and the confidence to act when circumstances require it.

The difference is in how that responsibility is exercised.

Clear communication can prevent misunderstanding. Respectful engagement can reduce tension. Recognising a developing situation early can create an opportunity to resolve it before it becomes an incident.

The ability to de-escalate rather than unnecessarily escalate a situation is both a security skill and a customer-service skill.

The two objectives are not in conflict.

Done well, they reinforce each other.

It Starts With the People You Select

This approach has been part of Exact Security’s thinking since the business was established in 2009 to provide quality security services to the registered club industry.

The founding belief was that, with the right selection, training, skills and focus, security personnel could add significant value to the experience of members and visitors.

That begins with selecting the right people.

Licensing and security competence are essential, but customer-facing security also demands communication skills, judgement, professional presentation and the ability to deal appropriately with a wide range of people.

Training then needs to reinforce those capabilities.

Exact’s training programs include customer service and communication, conflict resolution and de-escalation, incident response and reporting, as well as venue-specific policies and procedures. Operatives also undertake site-specific induction before deployment.

The objective is not simply to prepare someone to perform a security function.

It is to prepare them to perform that function appropriately in that client’s environment.

The Best Security Doesn’t Have to Dominate the Environment

In clubs and hospitality venues customers are there to enjoy themselves.

They should feel safe without feeling that security dominates their experience.

Achieving that balance requires security personnel who understand when intervention is necessary — but also when a conversation, some assistance or simply a professional and visible presence is enough.

It also requires an understanding that every venue is different.

The culture of the organisation, its customers and the experience it wants to provide should influence the way security is delivered.

Security should fit the environment, rather than expecting the environment to fit the security provider.

Customer experience starts with security.

Contact Exact Security today to start the conversation about your security needs.