Promote an image of quality at your security department

Jan 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Larry Anderson

When was it that water got to be way more expensive than gasoline?

It's a question that comes to mind in this time when consumers complain about the high cost of gasoline and yet cheerfully pay exorbitant prices for water in a bottle.

Some clever marketers somewhere have convinced vast numbers of Americans at the turn of the 21st century that water in a bottle is better than water from a faucet. Not just better, but better enough to be worth paying soft-drink-high prices for bottles of H subscript 2O that doesn't even have a fizz.

I've been under a rock for the last 10 years, so I have managed to dodge the temptation to pay real cash for high-quality water, which presumably has fewer impurities, tastes cleaner or whatever the appeal is. Plain old tap water (POTW) is still my favorite, although I know I'm probably in the minority.

But the lesson we can learn from the bottlers and marketers of water is that creating a perception of a better product is almost as good as creating a better product. I wonder when the marketers of mousetraps will catch on.

The promotion of an image of quality is an important part of any business transaction, and it applies equally to how a security director functions inside an organization. What are you doing to promote an image of quality in your security department? Maybe you should pay more attention to detail about how your guards are dressed. Or you could improve the quality of your followup after an incident occurs. Or you could streamline how you interact with other departments at the company. Any of these ways would serve to boost the internal reputation of your security department. And as the marketers of water have taught us, sometimes perception of quality is as important as quality itself. Quality equals value.

Of course, there should be substance to the interactions of a security department with the rest of a company or institution, but there is also an element of self-promotion in the process. How can you make the security department more important to your employer? What additional services can you offer? How can you boost awareness of security issues among employees?

In a time of corporate downsizing, it is more important than ever to boost the profile of a high-quality security operation as something that's worth paying money for. And there is real value associated with the money spent - the benefits of a strong security system will be obvious to the bottom line.

Just some thoughts to wash down with a cold one - bottled water, of course.

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