Important skills needed to be a successful front desk officer or a security officer

Front Desk Officer

There are many factors and skills needed to be a successful front desk officer or a security officer. We at Red Mark Security have developed comprehensive Security Training programs for our employees to run site operations smoothly and to the highest standards. One of the skills and abilities that has become more and more prominent in the last decade or so, has been customer service. This is a skill that cannot be underestimated as it reflects the business image as a whole.

Employees need to understand their responsibilities. There was a time where part of security work was less important. I personally knew officers who avoided the public while working. That is not possible anymore and it’s important to develop these skills. This will help you look good as well as the company you work for and the client. People will remember when they have had a good experience and possibly return.

As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. So, our goal in customer service is to make people feel good about their interactions with us regardless of whether we were able to help or not.

You may ask how does this work in a real site setting? Well, let’s say you are working in an office tower. What sort of customer service would you be providing? Often, you will have clients looking for certain companies. If you have an in-depth knowledge of the building, you are working at you can instantly help them get to their destination.

Additionally, People are often looking for the parking area as when they arrive at the building, they are often in a hurry to reach their destination and aren’t paying attention to where they parked. Other way to provide good customer service is to know the area well enough to direct people to places in the area that they are looking for. A good knowledge of your work area will help in this regard.

If your site is a mall, then I assume the first question would be about washrooms. Secondly, they would be looking for specific stores or possibly a food court. If you have this info, you become a great resource to customers and will be providing strong customer service.

 Other types of sites such as an apartment complex may require even more customer service. I have found people needs are higher since this is their home. It’s very personal and we must be cognizant of that. It may merely be reporting issues to management that tenants report to you. Other times there may be sensitive issues that make them feel unsafe. We can reassure them and work with management to resolve these issues. Knowing your tenants is a very important part of this process as it makes you provide better service.

Finally, we can talk about the service provided at an airport. Most airports have large staff and people whose job is only customer service. Usually this would be an info booth. But, on occasion you may be approached by passengers or other customers. They may be simply looking for the info booth. They may be quite lost and trying to find where to check in. Flying for some can be quite a stressful thing so being patient and empathetic will help.

So in conclusion, we can see that customer service is a vital part of a security officers job and doing this well can help you, your company and the client you are working for. Not to mention the customers who rely on us to get where they need to go.