Is Your Company “Customer Focused” or “Enforcement Focused”?
Past interactions with belligerent customers bucking against many store mask policies in 2020, today’s unstable economy, and current inflation have resulted in constant confrontations that often make headlines. Shady shoppers, organized retail crime (ORC) groups, and disgruntled employees continue to take advantage by stalking retail store centers, companies, and corporate personnel nationwide.
To decrease confrontations, many retailers are turning away from attempting to apprehend shoplifters. One reason was that apprehensions posed a real threat: anyone with a smartphone could live stream an incident that placed companies in a negative light. Other reasons were staff safety, lower police response, and higher risks.
To keep employees safe, many companies are changing policies and priorities to train staff members in effective customer service techniques so employees can be better prepared to communicate more effectively with customers.
It makes sense.
Here at Teachout Security Solutions, we applaud this effort as it corresponds directly with the wide range of training our officers receive.
When detecting suspicious behavior, retail employees are trained to approach the customer and ask if they can be of assistance. Similarly, recognizing early indicators of agitation is key and the first of five training components of Teachout’s Managing Agitated Persons (MAP) program is “Pre-escalation.”
Simply put, it means to “initiate positive contact” by actively seeking out opportunities to serve the client’s population in a friendly and positive manner. You never know what kind of day a person is having and first approaching people in a friendly manner also serves as an immediate deterrent. We commonly refer to it as providing service as a mechanism of controlling behavior before it escalates.
It’s been proven that proactively applying an intensive customer service orientation decreases incidents in general and reduces the number and intensity of interventions.
Contact us at info@teachoutsecurity.com or call 1-800-747-0755 to learn more about bringing the Managing Agitated Persons (MAP) program to your organization.
For more on our services, please visit our website.
Author: Randy Swain, Teachout Security Solutions Director of Business Development
