It’s Time For Your Annual Security Guard Company
Review
You should set aside a few days of every year to perform an indepth company review. The beginning of a new year is a good time to do this. When I think about a security guard company review, one particular quote comes to mind:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– GEORGE SANTAYANA
As a security guard company manager, as with any other company owner or manager, you must use what you have done in recent years to guide your future decisions. With that objective in mind, let’s talk about what you should be thinking about when you are reviewing your business.
When I say “business review,” you probably think about your income statement and your balance sheet. But the review that I am referring to is a little more nuanced. Based on my personal experience, when I review my businesses I tend to focus more on the overall direction of the business and my place within it.
Questions to Ask in a Security Guard Company Review
The questions that I find myself asking in my yearly business review are:
- Are you failing to change with the times? Having a security guard company in the 21st century means being able to recognize opportunities in the market and being nimble enough to take advantage of them—whether that is using technology to better manage your company or finding a new way to market your company. Whatever it is, recognize the shift and adapt accordingly.
- Are you underestimating your competition? As a security industry professional, you know that many security guard companies feel the need to compete solely on price. But are your competitors starting to do things that allow them to compete on more than price? Are your competitors talking to your customers, and if so, what are they talking about?
- Have you really differentiated yourself from your competition? If, for the past year, you have been focused on telling prospects about how well-trained your officers are or about the quality of your hiring process, you’ve missed the boat. You need to do more to differentiate yourself from low-cost competitors.
- Are you talking with your customers enough? It is your understanding of your customers’ pains, value, and behavior that allow you to truly understand them. As a security professional, only a sustained dialogue will allow you to walk the 100s of miles in your customers’ shoes that you need to truly understand them. If you aren’t, you don’t really understand your customers.
- How effective is your sales and marketing? As I talk about in our free eBook, All The Things No One Told You About Selling Security Guard Services, the buying process that you and I were so accustomed to has changed. Has your sales and marketing changed to accommodate the way that your buyers find security guard companies now? After all, the greatest challenge that most security guard businesses have is that not enough people know about them.
- Have you lost ground on your margins? When I was selling security guard services, I eventually learned that profit, not revenue, was the real name of the game. If your margins are eroding, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate how and to whom you are selling your services.
- Do you know your numbers? In question number
6, I am talking about your margins. For this question, I am talking about your general financials status. You can’t successfully run a business unless you know where every dollar is going. I learned this lesson the hard way a long time ago. If you are managing your own books and aren’t a seasoned accountant, find someone who is.
- Are you operating efficiently? If time is money, then efficiency is profit! If you are not running your business in a manner that allows you to do more with less, it’s time to start a major overhaul. Consider these questions:
• Are you still printing and distributing schedules?
• Are your lease agreements favorable?
• Are your insurance rates competitive?
• Are you vendors’ rates competitive?
• Have you minimized your tax liability?
- Are you getting in the way of your own success? As an owner, manager, or leader of a security team, are you sabotaging your own progress? If you are stubborn, paranoid, risk averse, a micro manager, insecure, a conflict avoider, a perfectionist, or any other less-thanfavorable personality type, try to make some changes in the next year.
- Has the value of your network increased? Your network is one of your most valuable resources. Evaluate your network yearly to ensure that you have the right people in it. For tips on maximizing your personal network, check out “5 Ways to Maximize Your Personal Network.”
- Are you reading enough? It is estimated that the top CEOs read four to five books per month, which is four to five times as many books as the average person reads in a year. If you are only reading four to five books a year, it’s time to add some titles to your library. For some suggestions on which books to pick up, check out this infographic.
Now that you know the questions that you should be asking yourself for a non-financial security guard company review, let’s look at what you must know to build a successful security guard business.
