Increasing sales of security services to the public. How to open a security company
Hi all! My name is Oleg. At my previous job, I held the position of marketer for a regional security agency, one of the largest in my region. Today I work on the staff of one of the digital agencies.
It's no secret that in last decade The Internet has become the first point of contact between the client and the company. This phenomenon has not bypassed the security services market (both in the B2B and B2C segments). The market is becoming denser, new players are appearing, and competition is growing. It would seem that in 2018 there is no place for new players in the digital environment in a competitive market, but is this so? Let's see.
Purpose of the study
Determine what qualitative and quantitative indicators players in this market need in order to effectively develop in the digital environment. Be as competitive as possible against the background of the main players.
Let's start with the fact that any relationship with a private security company starts with filling out a feedback form on the website or calling the manager. We will not consider the call area; we will leave this to the sales department, since this is a completely different story. As a rule, before sending an application, a potential client studies: the website; social media; reviews and other sources (points of contact) that seem critical to him when choosing a company.
Comparison criteria
Below we list the basic criteria, which essentially determine the total number of requests from potential clients to the company.
Companies to compare
To carry out comparative analysis Let's take five of the most interesting players that are present in the security services market.
- Crown
- Caesar Satellite
- Legis
- Gulf Stream
- Delta
In addition to specific numbers and comparisons of important indicators, we will also measure success in terms of quality. In other words, when contacting us, it is important for us to understand that they will support us here, they will not abandon us, everything will be professional and prompt. My colleagues and I selected (in our opinion) a number of the most powerful players in the Moscow market. We will rank them on a 5-point rating scale. As a result, each of the factors will be combined into an overall final score.
Criterion 1. Presence on social networks
As we see, 4 out of 5 companies are represented in the most popular social networks and are engaged in their development. Caesar Satellite does this best. Their Facebook group is an example of high-quality and effective promotion.
Criterion 2. Volume of incoming traffic to the site
We will evaluate quantitative indicators using the service: spywords. Of course, it does not provide exact data, but on average we will get fairly objective figures for comparison.
Contextual advertising
In this block, we will look at one of the most effective tools for attracting targeted traffic - contextual advertising. Do our companies use this channel? If yes, then to what extent?
We see that in Yandex. In Direct, all companies show approximately the same results, but in Google AdWords there is a clear leader - Caesar Satellite. Least of all this channel The company Krona uses to attract targeted traffic.
Traffic from search engines
In this block, we will consider the amount of incoming traffic to company websites in the context of the Yandex and Google search engines (according to the spywords service).
As we see, it is impossible to single out a leader as such. All companies receive traffic in approximately equal amounts.
Criterion 3. Site assessment
Site structure
In this block we evaluate 3 components:
- The structure of the site (landing pages) in terms of demand for services in Moscow.
- User experience/convenience of the site (my “taste”).
- Complete description of services and equipment.
Website optimization
In this section we have tried to select significant indicators from the point of view of website optimization. The summary data is summarized in the table below.
All companies showed excellent results. Therefore, we can conclude that they monitor the optimization of their sites.
Mobile devices
In this block we evaluate sites and availability mobile applications from companies.
All participants showed fairly good results. I would especially like to highlight the Delta company with its functional and interesting solution.
Download speed
Here we will evaluate the loading speed of sites using two services PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix. Summary data is given in the table.
All participants showed enough good results. It was not possible to evaluate the download speed of Caesar Satellite.
Criterion 4. Cool features
The basis of selection strengths(chips) of sites was based on the principle of uniqueness. That is, only those advantages were selected that were exceptional in their own way - absent from other competitors on the list.
For example, benefits such as: personal account; detailed and informative content; infographics - were not considered, as they are present in all companies on the list.
As a result, we see that the number of “chips” is not so large. This is primarily due to the specifics of the companies’ activities. In this niche it is quite difficult (and not required) to come up with elements of the “Wow effect” category.
Criterion 5. Reaction speed
In this block, we tried to evaluate the speed of response to an incoming application. Three channels were taken for evaluation: online chat on the website; application form; group in social network VK.
9 requests were made to each company, 3 for each channel. Requests were made on different days/different time intervals. In order to obtain the most relevant data.
For each channel, we will calculate the average score and present it in the form of a table.
As we can see, there are quite large growth areas. Some of our requests did not receive a response at all, and some received a response, but after 20 - 30 minutes.
Conclusions
The final (summary) scores for the performed analytics are presented in the form of a diagram below. We see that at the current time, the leader in the security services market is the Delta company. It is she who has the maximum number of points according to the evaluation criteria we previously formalized.
Important
I would also like to note that the specifics of this business imply cross-functional connections between the company’s departments. Consequently, a significant role in the final positive result(from a commercial point of view), in addition to digital promotion, there are such components as:
- Business processes - they must be described and understandable to all departments/employees of the company.
- Working on a sales funnel in a CRM system - maintaining a client base.
- Automation of document flow - in particular, this is the exchange of data between the warehouse accounting program and the CRM system used.
To maintain the tone of your company in the digital field, check and develop.
The company must contain a description of all the main methods that need to be used to increase sales.
This article describes ideas the use of which can increase sales in one of the segments of the security services market. This work was done during a comprehensive diagnosis of one private security company (PSC).
If a certain part of corporate clients already realizes the need for security services (although they very often ask for discounts), the overwhelming majority of individuals are not ready to pay even small amounts. The advertising campaigns carried out by the private security company had virtually no effect.
Perhaps another reason for the lack of mass demand for security services from the population is due to the fact that in addition to a small monthly subscription fee, you need to immediately pay about 7-10 thousand rubles. (for private houses even more) to install a security alarm.
At the time of the survey, the company had very few private clients.
Decide this problem can be done in two ways:
* individuals can be offered the following company services:
Note: you can try to offer physical security services (together or without video surveillance) to individual apartment buildings or several houses at once (for example, those that are part of the same HOA). How more houses will be outside the perimeter, the lower the cost of services for one apartment will be.
Prompt measures to influence individuals
In order to make the service available, you can offer cooperation to several banks. In this case, people will not have to immediately pay a significant amount for them to connect the system.If they purchase such a service on credit, then the amount of monthly subscription service will increase by an insignificant amount.
In this case, there should not be a financial barrier for a large number of potential clients among individuals.
Strategic measure to influence individuals
Unfortunately, in many cases, the availability of a product or service does not mean that the product or service will be purchased. Therefore, to increase sales you will need to carry out A VERY GREAT JOB to convince the population of the need to use security services of various types.Implementing this long-term strategy may require a lot of time. As for money, you can get by with a small budget if you act wisely.
Although significant effort will be required, if successful, the company can significantly increase sales and profits.
So, to implement this strategy you will need to organize INFORMATION ATTACK for individuals ON A REGULAR BASIS. It is important to follow certain basic principles.
To successfully implement this strategy, it is advisable to follow these basic principles of conducting an information attack on the population:
Regular publication of new, interesting and useful information in the media
Nobody is interested in advertising. In addition, experiments have shown that it is absolutely useless for the purpose of attracting customers from the individual segment.Therefore, it is necessary to go a different way - you need to prepare interesting and useful material about security (personal, movable and immovable property, etc.).
The main emphasis should be placed in the following areas:
Thus, you need to prepare a whole series of articles. It is acceptable for different articles to talk about the same thing differently (this applies to articles that are aimed at conveying to people the importance of being protected).
You can make a separate series of articles on how to choose a specific type of security service (a separate article for each service). Including paying attention to various pitfalls and nuances that you may encounter. Explain how not to be deceived by those security companies that are trying to provide low-quality services, sell low-quality equipment, deceive clients in some way (for example, verbally promise one thing, but spell out something else in the contract), etc.
By the way, you can give potential clients the opportunity to download a version of the contract from the company’s website, which will maximally protect the client from unscrupulous companies and ensure high quality provision of services. And this will be a kind of test. If a company is ready to conclude such an agreement, then the client works with it, and if not, then he looks for others.
At the same time you can cook different types articles. The authors of articles can be company employees. In addition, there may be interview articles, when one of the editors of a newspaper or magazine interviews a company employee. At the same time, the article itself may be entirely written by the company’s employees, but this will be a different presentation of the material.
Naturally, this will need to be agreed upon with the editor of the newspaper or magazine. You may have to pay for such articles, or maybe not, if you present it all in such a way that the company is preparing interesting material for a newspaper or magazine. Even if you have to pay, it's still worth a try. It is unlikely to be very expensive (unlike television).
It is very important that these are truly interesting and “live” articles, and not artificial and “refined”. That is, they need to add many examples from the company’s practice. You can add some funny cases, because they are better remembered by readers.
For example, a story about a cat who, in a store connected to a remote control, ate cat food all night, and the GBR (group rapid response) we had to go to this site several times a night because we could not determine the cause of the alarms. In the morning, they found a glutted cat and torn packs of cat food.
Sometimes you can come up with such funny cases yourself (the main thing is that they look believable).
Maybe you can make some kind of video clips from the DVR recordings that the guards have or in the car.
The articles can also provide economic arguments explaining that the services protect clients, but at the same time are not expensive. Put pressure on basic common sense. You can make some comparisons. For example, say that a month's rent for a remote control costs the same (or less) than one trip to the grocery store, and there are many such trips.
In general, if you show your imagination in this matter, you can prepare a lot interesting material. Then there will be a reason to once again express yourself.
Maybe we should run a separate column from the “everything is calm in Baghdad” series, where we talk about the situation in the city. That is, about some incidents and how they were resolved.
All the same, you need to constantly prepare new unique content for the site. So with the help of such an information attack you can “kill two birds with one stone”: promote both the company and its website.
As for the frequency of publication of materials, to begin with (to develop the technology), you can choose a longer period. Let it be a month. The main thing is that this is done regularly.
Then, as the company learns to do this quickly and professionally, the frequency of relevant information messages can be increased.
Minimum (or complete absence) of direct advertising of the company
These information materials should not contain any no direct advertising.The main task of these materials is INFORMATION, NOT SALE.
Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the ultimate goal – sales. Therefore, naturally, in all these materials you need to provide information about yourself.
Thus, the main goal of these articles is to obtain contacts, and not to immediately sell services. Therefore, such materials should not use phrases containing words such as “order”, “buy”, “purchase”.
Readers should be confident that their INFORM, not SELLING provide them with some services.
Even if the articles are published on on a paid basis for readers they should look like FREE.
However, you can leave contact information, but not for that SO CLIENTS CAN ORDER A SERVICE, and so that they could ask all your QUESTIONS.
Probably you shouldn’t use the word “consultation”, because... some may think that it is paid. It is better to use the phrase “ask questions” or something similar. People should feel that they can approach the company, but they do not necessarily need to become its customers.
Another important point– there is no need to praise your company by talking about how good we are. The client must make this conclusion himself.
Using different media
You can start with the most accessible media - newspapers and magazines, as well as Internet resources. Moreover, you can also post video materials on Internet resources (for example, some videos on YouTube).Even if you post articles not on other people’s websites, but in some paper newspapers and magazines, they may also have websites. If they post these articles on their website, and they are indexed before the company's website, then the company's website will be considered plagiarized.
Note: In general, advanced Internet resources also monitor the uniqueness of the content, so they can set strict requirements that the article be written specifically for their site. In this case, you can change the title of the article. True, if they are very advanced, they will still find this article on the company’s website (there are services that allow you to determine the uniqueness of the content).
Then, you can try other channels - radio and local television, unless, of course, it is very expensive.
The topics of stories on television may be similar to those published in articles in paper and electronic media. You can also add something new, for example, in programs dedicated to safety, interviewing company clients.
Features of the formation of new markets
Of course, all of the above is a long and costly (at least in terms of time, and maybe money) path, but it is worth it, since it will be a long-term investment.Yes, you may not get an effect in the short term, but this is work for an asset, for the future. If the market is not yet ready, then “the field must first be plowed and then sown.” You just need to be prepared for the fact that “the crows will fly.”
This means that with such an information attack, it is necessary to form certain standards of security services in the minds of people. Then those competitors who do not meet these standards will not be able to “bite off a piece of the pie.”
It is necessary to explain to individuals how to select performers, what criteria to use and, naturally, the company itself must meet all these criteria (it is advisable that competitors do not meet them). So that people understand that they shouldn’t save some miserable 100 rubles a month by choosing another company.
By the way, you can give some arguments justifying prices for services. It is clear that there is no need to describe the entire economy, but nevertheless, at least explain the “inner workings” so that clients understand that the company’s processes are organized in such and such a way, because this ensures maximum security for clients, but for this it is necessary to go to certain lengths cost.
Therefore, the company may have prices slightly higher than those of its competitors, but decide for yourself what is more important to you: 100-200 rubles. per month (for corporate clients the amounts may be higher) or a security guarantee. That is, you can rely on common sense.
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Notes: |
Any business - be it a start-up or a long-running one - needs clientele. It is the end consumer of goods and services that serves as a source of financial resources, which means that it gives your business the opportunity to grow and develop. A lot has already been said about how to attract clients, but such information will never be superfluous. No matter how much marketing research is conducted, questions always remain, for example, why, given equal conditions, the client chooses one of the offers. However, these are special cases; in general, customer preferences can be calculated with a fairly high degree of probability, which is what marketers do within the same company, city or country. There is also international marketing. And all these specialists are looking for an answer to the same question: “How to attract clients?” The accumulated material is very interesting, so today we will study it.
A mysterious creature called "client"
It is very important to have a good idea of who our client is. This is a key concept because it allows you to focus your efforts and direct them towards achieving specific goals. Since it is much easier to attract customers of one target group, we must first figure out in which direction we need to act.
In general, all potential clients are divided into corporate and private. Every company is primarily attracted to citizens of the first category, since they represent an entire segment in the consumer market. It is difficult to get such a client, but the benefits from such transactions are very good. However, you should not focus on large production, because an attentive attitude towards each individual customer can ultimately work into your hands, because he may one day lead an entire corporation with him. Therefore, when discussing how to attract clients, we can confidently say that individuals are the category that is most worth working with. 
The most popular ways to get new clients
In fact, private businesses do not always have a team of marketing specialists on staff, so they have to get out of the situation using proven means. At the same time, businessmen often adopt methods to attract customers from their competitors and quickly adapt them to their own needs. We will look at both typical and non-standard methods winning new consumers of goods or services.
Stock
Who among us has not paid attention to such signs? Promotions, sales, discounts - all this attracts the consumer, and he will most likely take an interest in at least the terms offered. If you are looking for a way to quickly attract customers, then you need a bright and well-designed banner in a crowded place. Moreover, the content can be different: a bonus for the procedure received in a beauty salon or lending with preferential terms - it doesn’t matter, the most important thing is that the person receives your message in an accessible form.
At the same time, it is very important that, resorting to similar method stimulating customer activity, the service seller counts on the population’s commitment to “free cheese.” Even if a person does not really need what you offer, he may be interested in the product solely because the conditions seem favorable to him. As a result, he can not only take advantage of the offer himself, but also tell others.
We continue to attract freebie lovers
Really, huge amount advertising gimmicks are associated with this. Marketers play on people’s impulsiveness, and therefore try to make their “web” as attractive as possible. When talking about how you can attract customers, you cannot ignore such a method as planned price reductions. “All seasonal procedures are 40% cheaper”, “The entire assortment of the outgoing summer is now 60% more affordable!” - these and similar slogans gather customers at tremendous speed. 
The principle of providing a discount on a product also works very well. This method always works, regardless of whether we understand market mechanisms or not. This can be seen very clearly when the price tag is 999 rubles or 2990.
Promotions and discounts are rather crude mechanisms; moreover, if business owners are asked how effective the promotion was, they cannot always answer. The product or service has been sold, but not at the original price. Has sales increased enough to cover this difference? It is precisely so that you understand well how to attract profit and customers that today we want to reveal best ways attracting them.
Increased loyalty
Only the laziest businessman does not use the listed methods, but their effectiveness may vary. Therefore, in order for them to actually work, we recommend that you use the following methods. First of all, it is advisable to limit the validity period of your offer. Like marketing ploy will allow you to instill in a potential client the idea that conditions may soon change in a direction unfavorable for him.
The second option is similar to the first, but has some nuances. In this case main task– colorfully describe the advantages of the product (service), and then mention that their quantity is very limited. This could be a VIP collection or a unique offer that is difficult to refuse.
Let's talk a little more about how to attract new clients. Agree, initially a person doesn’t care whether he goes to you or to the company opposite. Offer the first person to purchase a product or service a valuable prize. This does not necessarily have to be a product; it will do just fine free consultation expert (master class on makeup or grooming). 
And finally, you can come up with some kind of souvenir for your first clients. This could be a cosmetic bag, a flashlight keychain with a logo, some companies practice serving sweets and fruits, especially if the visit is timed to coincide with some holiday. It's a small thing, but nice.
As long as there is enough in the world large number material assets, important documents or significant people, the security guards will not be left without work.
Therefore, it makes sense to think about drawing up a business plan for a security company. It is worth knowing that there are quite a large number of nuances, which will be discussed further.
Only those people who have relevant work experience and skills in handling weapons can successfully run such a business. In addition, those to whom former law enforcement officers or retired military personnel turn for help can also engage in similar activities. It is worth noting that this is too specific a service to master all the features of this business after creating an enterprise.
The main thing is to decide what exactly the security agency will do. You can be engaged in the protection of individual objects, cargo during transportation, installation and maintenance of alarm systems on consoles, the provision of bodyguard services and the provision of security in a complex. You will need to start with what the entrepreneur or leading specialists know best.
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What is needed to open a private security company?
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Registration of a private security company (private security company)
The specificity of the security business is strict control from government agencies. A license for private security activities can be obtained from the department for licensing and permitting work and control over private security and detective activities of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate. At the same time operational control The activities of private security companies are monitored by district police departments.
A package of documents that will be needed in order to obtain a license (it is important to note that their documents are reviewed for about 60 days):
- statement;
- an explanatory note (indicating the territory of operation of the private security company, a description of all services provided, the planned number of employees of the enterprise, possible intentions to use special technical and other means, weapons, and so on);
- constituent documents and all necessary information about the founders;
- certificate of registration with the tax office;
- receipt of payment of the license fee (300 rubles for consideration of the application, 1000 rubles for obtaining a license).
It is important to take into account the fact that the minimum authorized capital for a private security company can be 10,000 rubles.
In addition, the head of the private security company must have higher education and have a private security guard ID. At least three full-time employees must also have such credentials. They can be obtained from the licensing and permitting department for those who have successfully passed special training, or those who have worked in the police department or security agencies for more than 3 years. The security guard certificate itself is valid for 5 years and costs approximately 1,500 rubles.
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Obtaining the necessary weapons permit
It is worth noting that not every security company works with weapons. Weapons may be needed, for example, when protecting significant material assets, at gas pipelines, industrial warehouses. However, for the protection of educational institutions, halls grocery stores, dorms do not need weapons.
One unit firearms It is allowed to have 4 guards. In order to have a place to store weapons, you will need to equip a special room. The equipment that will be needed for the weapons room, if you meet all the requirements, will cost approximately 70,000-100,000 rubles. It will need to be coordinated with the licensing and permitting department, SES, firefighters, private security, and placed on the control panel at the public health authority. This will cost approximately another 10,000-30,000 rubles monthly.
In order to be able to use such special means, such as gas canisters, stun guns, rubber truncheons, handcuffs, you will need to obtain a certificate from the licensing and permitting department and register them with specific security guards. Handcuffs (estimated cost - 200-300 rubles per set) and rubber sticks (cost approximately 150-320 rubles per set) will need to be purchased by each of the guards.
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Rent of office space for opening a private security company
A private security company needs office space mainly for holding meetings with potential clients and security guard candidates. In addition, it can house a weapons room and a rapid response team, if available. In order to equip a weapons room, you will need approximately 8-10 square meters. m area. The rapid response group is most often located near the main protected objects. Moreover, they should be in places that are as convenient as possible for access. Therefore, for this purpose, it is necessary to rent 2 rooms (the total area of which is 15-20 square meters) for the security guard on duty and the rest.
It is worth noting that for a beginning private security company it will be enough to rent a small room with an area of about 10 square meters. meters (if a weapons room is not provided), which will not be located in the central areas. This area will be enough to set up one workplace (on which a desk, computer and telephone will be located). The cost of renting such premises is on average 5000-7000 rubles monthly.
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Equipment you will need to open such a business
The main equipment of security companies are radios and telephones. In order for the process of communication with management and the duty officer to be possible as usual, mobile and landline phones are most often used to communicate with the duty officer and for communication between posts of the same facility. The company, which has approximately 20 employees, spends on mobile communications approximately 2000 rubles per month. The simplest walkie-talkie, which can be used inside one facility and does not require frequency allocation, can cost approximately 1,500-2,000 rubles.
It is worth remembering that all security guards must be equipped with a uniform. To work in indoors employees purchase trousers and a jacket with the symbols of the enterprise on them. This can cost approximately 700-800 rubles per set. In order to be able to work at posts outside, you need shoes and outerwear. The simplest short boots (high boots) will cost approximately 1,300 rubles, a sweater that can be worn in winter period, - 800 rubles, jacket, warm pants, hat - another approximately 2000-2500 rubles. The form must be changed every 2 years.
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Finding the employees you will need to complete the job
The law states that a private security company employee must have a security guard ID. Most often, it happens that employees undergo training at their own expense or at the expense of future wages. An enterprise can pay for an employee’s training, but there is a fairly high risk that he will want to change his place of work.
You can hire employees without certificates, but they must work together with an experienced security guard. Trainee security guards most often receive a salary of approximately 600 rubles per daily shift, and those who have certificates receive an average of 800-1000 rubles. An operational duty officer earns 1200-1500 rubles, and employees of rapid response groups will need to pay approximately 900-1200 rubles. The law requires that the lives of all employees be insured at company expense while performing work.
The usual mode of work at the security guard post is every two days. Therefore, you will need at least 3 full-time security guards per post.
Security companies located in Moscow most often hire their employees in the provinces, using a rotational approach. Those guards who have completed their shift are leaving. The following workers come in their place. Such guards will need to find housing (it should be cheap, for example, a hostel).
There is some expert advice. It is worth knowing that the director of the private security company is recommended to hire deputy assistants if there are more than five protected objects. Such an employee will engage in negotiations with interested clients, conduct business with existing customers, promptly resolve all issues that will arise at the facilities, and actively interact with licensing and permitting authorities. The salary of such an employee can be approximately 20,000 rubles.
When the number of employees is more than 30-50, you will definitely need an HR manager. Regarding the person who is needed for the position of accountant, it is worth knowing that he can be hired part-time for 3,000-5,000 rubles, because private security companies must submit reports according to a simplified scheme (allowed for those enterprises with less than 100 employees).
Consequently, the business plan of a private security company contains the following employees who may be needed to open such an enterprise:
- security guards;
- HR managers;
- accountant;
- lawyer.
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Searching and attracting potential clients
You should know that it is necessary to find the first clients of a security company even before it opens. Quite often they become personal acquaintances or friends. In order to find new customers, direct sales are most often used: they go around stores, kindergartens, bathhouses, office centers, and so on, while offering services. Private security companies can place advertisements in city information services. An example could be "What? Where? How much?". This will cost the business owner approximately 12,800 rubles per year. You can supplement your advertising campaign with tickers and local newspapers. In this case, the monthly advertising budget for the enterprise will be about 1,500 rubles.
The private security company enters into agreements with clients, under which it bears financial responsibility for the values that are protected. In this case, a passport of the object must be drawn up, security requirements must be specified, instructions must be described that contain information about necessary actions security guards in different situations. Security requirements may include, for example, monitoring compliance with access to the site by visitors and staff, compliance with internal regulations, protection of material assets from removal, and so on. Private security companies can insure their liability to the client. The average tariff may be 1%.
Large corporations and budget organizations enter into security contracts based on the results of competitions, which are open. You can find information about tenders on the organizers' websites or in newspapers.
The price of services will depend on the results of the competition. It is worth knowing that it may be lower than the market price, but these are large orders that you will need to fight for.
Marketing of security services
Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
The main principle of marketing is the needs satisfaction. The sphere of security services satisfies one of the basic needs – security, which is connected with social wealth and has the high social value.
With development market economy In Russia, rapid growth began in the service sector, which represents one of the most important areas of social production. This trend is due to the withdrawal of the state from this market, on the one hand, and the growth of demand and supply for new types of services, on the other. As supply grows, so does the level of competition, which entails the need for more and more wide application marketing tools in the service sector. These general trends are also typical for security activities.
In addition, the sphere of security services, satisfying one of the basic needs for security according to Maslow’s theory, is closely related to public goods, which indicates its high social significance. In this regard, the use of marketing tools can become not only a means of achieving commercial success in security activities, but also serve as the basis for better production of public goods.
IN lately In the published works, attention is drawn to the highly professional coverage of certain important aspects of marketing and management. At the same time, despite the significant number of publications in this area, one cannot help but notice that some important aspects completely insufficiently disclosed. In particular, the theoretical and methodological issues of using marketing in the field of security services by commercial organizations have not been developed; there are practically no studies aimed at identifying the features effective use the potential of security companies, taking into account their specifics.
Market economics and marketing are based on the principle of satisfying customer needs. The formation of motives for consumer behavior in the market begins with the formation of his need for any benefits. They are objectively necessary to maintain the life, activity and development of a specific human personality, social group and society as a whole.
The key concepts of marketing are the categories “need”, “market”, “services”. Let us analyze the content of these categories in relation to the activities of security companies in order to better understand the specifics of using marketing tools.
According to explanatory dictionary, need is a necessity caused by nature or social life. In accordance with this definition, Lambin J. J. distinguishes two types of needs: innate (natural) - conditioned by nature itself, inherent in man as a species, and acquired (derived) - cultural and social needs, depending on life experience, habitat and stage of development of society. A derived need is defined as a specific technological response to a natural need, as well as an object of desire.
Based on this point of view, people's need for protection and security is a natural need, and the need to protect home and property is a derived need from the natural need for security. But this derivative need is closely related to the natural one, since home invasion or illegal actions related to the robbery of property create a direct threat to the life and health of citizens and their families.
It is impossible to satisfy a natural need; the concept of satisfaction is applicable only to derived needs, i.e., to those that dominate in at the moment time for technological solutions. From the division of needs into natural and derivative ones, it follows that although general saturation is impossible, in individual sectors a state close to saturation may arise. From here important acquires strategic marketing, which should help the company adapt to changes in the saturation of needs and determine the life cycle of the service.
In the hierarchy of needs (according to A. Maslow), the needs of self-preservation (security and stability) are at the second level in the hierarchy. What is meant here is that in order to feel satisfied with one's existence, an individual must feel secure in relation to the environment.
Needs for security and confidence in the future include the need for protection from physical and psychological dangers from the outside world and confidence that physiological needs will be satisfied in the future.
The need for protection depends on the habitat and the stage of development of society. Currently, there is a significant increase in crime in Russia. Every second theft (50.4%), every ninth robbery (10.8%) and every fourth robbery (23.4%) were associated with illegal entry into a home, production premises or other storage.
Therefore, satisfying the need for security is relevant in Russia, where there is a complex criminal situation - citizens and individual enterprises seek to protect themselves by purchasing means of protecting themselves and their property or using the services of security structures. From the definitions of the category “need” it follows that the needs are diverse and numerous, they can be considered from different perspectives - cultural, social, economic, etc. Among these needs in relation to the activities of security companies, we will highlight, first of all, the need to ensure physical security and protection of property, which can be attributed to the group of needs of social existence.
The need for security is an objective need, recognized by the consumer and the state, to receive security services that correspond to the modern level of development of science and technology. Providing physical security and protection of property is one of the components of security.
The market for security services is based on a specific “product” - a security service, therefore the definition based on the concept of “need” can be formulated as follows: protection of an individual or organization from unexpected problems associated with harm to the life or health of citizens, property of individuals or legal entities. Defining the market based on need encourages security company management to recognize the variability of currently produced services (products) and accept that one of the most important tasks is to find the best options to meet the needs of the market at the moment, and develop your product offerings accordingly.
Organizations, institutions and enterprises of various organizational and legal forms;
Individual citizens and their families;
Society as a whole.
For organizations, institutions and enterprises, the concept of “security” includes ensuring economic, information, commercial security, ensuring regime and security. The need for protection is expressed in the need for the safety of individuals, material and financial assets, buildings and premises.
U individual citizens there is a need to protect family members, homes (apartments, dachas, cottages), material and financial assets, as well as property belonging to them. The needs of individual citizens, specific enterprises and society as a whole can exist independently of each other. At the same time, there may be a coincidence of the needs of the individual with the needs of society and the needs of the enterprise with the needs of society as a whole, since the need for the protection of public order and security coincides with the needs of citizens and enterprises.
Confirmation of this is the existence of the need of citizens to ensure safety and security, regardless of the need for security of specific enterprises and society as a whole. At the same time, there may be cases when an enterprise and society as a whole feel the need to ensure the safety of property and life safety, but a specific citizen does not feel the need.
The needs of any end consumer are the formative basis of the security services marketing system. In addition to the consumer, the objects of marketing activities are also structures involved in the promotion of security services in the modern market.
Obviously, the presence of needs to ensure the protection of the property of owners necessitates the classification of the products of security companies and the establishment of their potential to act as a product in market conditions.
To understand the nature of a security service, we will formulate its definition, according to which it is presented as a set of security actions aimed at constantly ensuring a state in which there is no or decreases the risk associated with causing harm to the life or health of citizens, property of individuals or legal entities from illegal actions. This set of security actions is transferred to a physical or legal entity in the form of a service.
The activities that today, according to statistics, belong to the class of services are quite diverse. They are aimed at different objects and have different target audience, promotion sensitivity, price elasticity of demand. The performance of some services depends to a greater extent on the use of technological developments and inventions, while others depend more on the talent and skill of the person providing the service.
There is a definition of a service as the result of the interaction between the performer and the consumer and the performer’s own activities to meet the needs of the consumer.
According to F. Kotler, services are any action, event or benefit that one party can offer to another and which is mainly intangible and does not lead to the acquisition of anything. The production of services may or may not be associated with a product in its material form.
With all the variety of traditional and new types of services, a number of common features, uniting them into one sphere:
1. Unified social focus of services on direct satisfaction of human needs.
2. The historical commonality of the emergence and development of services, associated with the process of segregation of services into independent industries during the development of the social division of labor.
3. Similarity of conditions for production and consumption of services. Due to the lack of tangible components of many services, the consumer can evaluate the usefulness of the service only after the act of “production-consumption” and in advance has only an indirect opportunity to assess its quality. This property is extremely important for marketing, as it determines the special significance of its communicative element.
4. Similarity of services regarding the possibility of their storage and transportation. Services are not subject to storage or transportation. This property increases the degree of business risk in all service sectors, and also poses the task of more accurately taking into account the factor of time and seasonality. The non-preservation of services places special demands on the quality of marketing activities and on the coordination of supply and demand.
5. Similarity of services regarding their connection with the manufacturer. The service does not exist separately from the manufacturer. In the process of its creation, there is always personal contact between the manufacturer and the consumer. At the same time, the competitiveness of the company depends on the qualifications of the service provider.
6. Similarity of services in terms of breadth of quality characteristics. Given the coincidence of production and consumption of services and the dependence of the results of the activities of non-production enterprises on the qualifications of personnel, it is impossible to guarantee the constancy of the quality of services.
The intensity of competition forces organizations to use marketing as a means to achieve superiority. The breadth and diversity of the service industry makes it difficult to identify common patterns across service sectors across different service sectors. Consequently, each type of service requires an individual approach in research.
Such a characteristic as intangibility in relation to a security service is manifested in the impossibility, until the moment of complete acquisition, to fully see, hear, taste the entire scope of actions aimed at ensuring security carried out in the process of providing the service. Therefore, when choosing a service, consumers are guided by psychological motives and some objective criteria: they take into account the availability of information, trust in the brand, and perceived risk. In relation to the security sector, the following risks can be identified:
The contractor’s risk is how well the security service will be performed and how reliable the equipment is;
Financial risk - will the costs of purchasing security equipment and performing the service pay off;
Psychological risk - how purchasing a service will affect self-esteem;
Social risk - how the purchase of a service will affect a person’s image;
Risk of wasting time - how much time and effort will have to be spent on purchasing the service and interacting with the security structure.
The inseparability of a security service from its source is manifested in the fact that it is provided with the direct participation of either a security officer or some technical means according to a given program. The quality of security services varies depending on who provides them, when and where.
Security services are also characterized by such a feature as the coincidence of the process of providing the service with its end result(beneficial effect). At the same time, beneficial effect is intangible and this causes difficulties in the quantitative measurement of security services and, above all, indicators of its quality.
Security services like special kind production activities have specific features that distinguish them from other services.
The first feature is related to the process of providing security services, which is very heterogeneous and includes the following components:
Preparation of the production process of security activities,
Ensuring the normal course of the security process,
Suppression of illegal actions regarding the object of protection.
The first component includes: - design work, including survey and development of engineering and technical means security, fire, alarm, video surveillance and access control systems; coordination of projects with interested services, production (purchase) of elements for technical strengthening of objects. The second component includes: work on managing and organizing the process of ensuring the safety of objects; work on the operation of equipment, including installation, high-quality maintenance and repair of all types of security equipment; special work determined by the specific requirements for ensuring the protection of a given facility. The third component includes: detention of violators, prompt processing of “alarm calls” with the departure of a detention group. As a result, there arise special conditions provision of security services, consisting in the time of arrival of the detention group and depending on the territorial location of the detention group and the type of security object.
The second feature of security services is the optionality of all elements of the provision of security services. For example, it is better when there are no alarm calls.
A special feature is also the fact that the security service is embodied both in a material product (security systems, documentation, etc.) and in a useful (social) effect.
The heterogeneity of the service provision process determines the need to classify the types of products of security industry enterprises. An analysis of their activities shows that the following types of products are represented on the security market: security services, scientific and technical and industrial products.
