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Insights, Pro Tips, Security

Top Trends in Commercial Security: What You Need to Know Going Into 2025

As businesses prepare for 2025, the commercial security landscape is shifting to address new challenges and opportunities. With the rise of smart technologies, changing workforce dynamics, and increasing expectations from employees, physical security is more critical than ever. For organizations aiming to protect their people, assets, and data, staying ahead of these trends is essential.

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Insights, Security

Preparing for the Holiday Rush: How Security Guards Enhance Safety and Customer Experience

As the holiday season approaches, businesses across multiple industries are gearing up for one of the busiest times of the year. Retailers, transportation hubs, and hospitality sectors face increased foot traffic, higher demand, and more complex operations. Alongside these heightened activities come potential security risks that can jeopardize both customer safety and business success. That’s where professional security guards play a vital role in ensuring a safe and seamless holiday experience.

The holiday season is an intense time for businesses. The increase in crowds and activity creates opportunities for theft, accidents, and general disruptions. Security guards are the frontline defense, not just for preventing these incidents but also for maintaining an atmosphere of order and safety.

1. Crowd Control and Traffic Management

One of the biggest challenges businesses face during the holiday rush is managing the surge of customers. From packed retail stores to busy airports, controlling crowds can become overwhelming without having proper security measures in place. Security guards are trained to manage high volumes of foot traffic, ensuring that crowds move smoothly and safely through the facility.

During the holidays, it’s not just about preventing theft. It’s about ensuring customers feel comfortable and safe in crowded environments. Security guards help by controlling access points, managing lines, and maintaining an organized flow of people.

This proactive approach to crowd management reduces frustration for customers, creating a more enjoyable experience while ensuring that no area becomes dangerously overcrowded.

2. Theft Prevention

Theft, particularly in retail environments, spikes during the holiday season. High demand for merchandise, combined with distracted employees and customers, creates a prime opportunity for shoplifters. Security guards act as a deterrent, providing a visible presence that discourages would-be thieves from targeting a business. 

Many people think of security guards purely as reactive—responding to incidents after they occur. However, it may not even come to that. Just the presence of Security Guards can prevent theft. When customers and staff see a security officer on duty, it sends a clear message that the business takes safety and security seriously.

Having trained personnel on-site who can respond to suspicious activity in real time ensures that any potential incidents are dealt with quickly, minimizing losses.

3. Enhancing the Customer Experience

Beyond safety, security guards also contribute to a positive customer experience. Their presence can reduce the stress of holiday shopping, travel, or dining, as they offer assistance and maintain a calm, secure atmosphere. In many cases, security personnel act as a point of contact for customers seeking help or directions.

Our security guards are specially trained to also act as customer service representatives, providing assistance when needed. A well-trained guard can diffuse tense situations, assist with lost items, or simply offer a reassuring presence to customers navigating a busy store or transportation hub.

By ensuring that customers feel safe and supported, businesses enhance their overall experience, making them more likely to return even after the holiday rush has subsided.

4. Liability Reduction

In addition to protecting customers and staff, security guards help businesses reduce liability risks. Slip-and-fall incidents, altercations, or other accidents that occur during the holiday season can lead to costly legal issues. Security guards are trained to respond swiftly to such incidents, potentially preventing them from escalating.

As the holiday rush approaches, businesses must be prepared for the challenges that come with increased foot traffic and activity. By employing professional security guards, companies can protect both their customers and employees, enhance the customer experience, and reduce liability risks. Investing in security isn’t just about safety—it’s about creating a better, more organized experience for everyone involved during the busiest time of the year.

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COVID-19, Pro Tips

Is The Cleanliness of Your Stores Costing You Money

Maintaining a positive customer experience is an essential attribute to a successful business. But, this doesn’t always have to do with the product or service that you offer.

The cleanliness of your facility says a lot about your company and could cost you money in some circumstances. Fortunately, contracted janitorial services can quickly resolve any outstanding issues.

Let’s take a look at everything you should keep in mind.

Lower Productivity

When a workspace is cluttered or otherwise does not meet cleanliness standards, it creates an environment for your employees that is not conducive to peak productivity. After all, it’s difficult to perform your role when surrounded by grime, dust, and disarray.

Over time, this can cause your company to fall short of certain metrics. As a result, you might then find you don’t generate as much revenue as you intend to.

Customer Experience

It should come as no surprise that your customers won’t be fond of an unclean facility. This is particularly true for businesses that operate within direct customer-facing industries, as the spread of bacteria becomes a concern.

Even in relatively lax environments, such as retail facilities, cleanliness can be a deciding factor that determines whether or not a customer shops there in the future. In some cases, a customer that had a poor experience could leave a negative review online and damage your brand’s reputation.

Health Risks

Not only does an unclean environment lack aesthetic appeal, but they also pose significant health risks. This is especially true in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has ushered in certain cleanliness standards to prevent the spread of the virus.

However, this doesn’t apply only to customers. If your employees become sick, there’s a strong chance they will need to take time off in order to recover.

If a large number of employees fall ill concurrently, it may be impossible for your company to operate as it should. Since even a short period of downtime could cost a business thousands of dollars, this is a crucial risk to keep in mind.

Brand Image

As previously mentioned, a poor customer experience could lead to people speaking negatively about your brand. But, having a lack of cleanliness at your facility could deter customers from engaging with your company entirely.

For example, it’s not uncommon for someone to check out a store, restaurant, etc. that they have never been to before. If the first thing they notice is how unclean the environment is, though, there’s a good chance they’ll leave and never come back.

Since the image your audience has of your brand strongly dictates the number of sales you make, you should do all that you can to preserve it.

Want to learn more about what we have to offer? Feel free to reach out to us today and see how we can help.

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Pro Tips, Security

Staying Safe and Secure in Retail

Did you know more than $13 million worth of goods are stolen from retailers every year?

First, let’s state the obvious – Shoplifters are bad for retail stores, and not just because of stolen inventory and lost profits but they also pose a safety threat to your customers and staff members.

This is one of the many reasons why retail stores, department stores, and malls need to find ways to boost security, especially during the holiday months.

Let’s take a look at some of the steps you can take to protect the people in your retail space as well as products in inventory.

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Pro Tips

What’s the ROI on Keeping a Clean Building?

It’s no secret that optimizing your productivity is a necessary practice in order to generate as much revenue as possible. But, this can be accomplished in ways that aren’t always entirely obvious. Maintaining a clean building, for example, can provide just as many benefits as upgrading your company’s software.

Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

Increased Employee Productivity

In a cleaner environment, it’s much easier for employees to maintain a high level of productivity. It’s even been proven that messy environments can significantly impact how much work you’re able to get done. 

So, there’s a significant ROI on the time, effort, and money you place into making your workplace as clean as possible.

Streamlined Operations 

When everything in your workspace is exactly where it should be, you’ll be able to spend as little time as possible looking for the resources that you need. This is especially true concerning documents, which are notorious for getting lost or misplaced.

For instance, being unable to find a particular document could mean the difference between meeting a deadline, closing a deal, etc.

Companies that relatively convoluted internal processes will benefit the most from the efficiency that maintaining a clean building provides. 

Professional Appearance

Unfortunately, people will always judge what they see by how it looks. This means that your work environment needs to be as clean as possible in order to leave the best impressions on your clients and visitors.

For example, you may have a client visit your office in order to discuss your working relationship. If they see that your facility’s cleanliness has been neglected, they may assume that your business is disorganized and doesn’t optimize the way it handles necessary obligations.

In many circumstances, this could cause them to be reluctant to work with you.

Improved Safety

One of the most important attributes about maintaining a clean facility is the increased level of safety that provides. For example, a common scenario in a building that is poorly maintained involves employees having to navigate around clutter.

Unfortunately, even a single incident where somebody trips and falls could have a large number of complications. Not only will the injured employee be unable to work, but your business may also get sued for failing to provide a safe work environment.

This scenario becomes increasingly dangerous for businesses that make use of heavy equipment, sharp objects, etc. So, keeping your building as clean as possible will help ensure that no safety issues in your workplace arise.

Maintaining a Clean Building Can Seem Difficult

But it doesn’t have to be.

With the above information about keeping a clean building in mind, you’ll be well on your way toward ensuring you make the best decisions for your business. 

Want to learn more about how we can help? Feel free to get in touch with us today to see what we can do.

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COVID-19, Pro Tips

Clean Offices in the Age of COVID-19

With more than 7 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, it has never been more important for employers to ensure a clean and hygienic work environment for their employees.

If you have multiple employees coming in to work on a regular basis, you must make keeping a clean office a priority. You can do this by following a strict cleaning schedule, and being diligent about including the following key elements of maintaining cleanliness during this pandemic.

Clean Frequently Touched Surfaces

Depending on the nature of the material, the virus can live for a few hours to several days on all kinds of surfaces. A single infected person inside your premises can put everyone at risk for contracting the virus. 

That’s why you need to ensure that all frequently touched surfaces are cleaned regularly. This includes doorknobs, handles, file cabinets, and countertops, and more.

Also do not forget about cleaning shared devices. Photocopying machines, shared computers, laptops, and other machinery must also go through a similar process to minimize the spread of the virus. 

Additionally, you can go a step further and set up special hygiene stations for employees around these areas. A hygiene station must be equipped with sanitizers and handwashing facilities. 

Disinfect and Sanitize

Cleaning isn’t as simple as it used to be. Now, you also need to pay attention to the kinds of products you use. 

It is generally advised to clean with soap and water before you disinfect. Wetting the surface is recommended before applying most CDC approved disinfectant products. You should also air out your office regularly to improve air quality and circulation. 

This is especially true of indoor areas that are in consistent use. If a room has not been in use for more than seven days, cleaning will do. Similarly, outdoor areas do not require the same kind of diligence your indoor premises do. 

Hire Professional Cleaning Services

When you have large business premises to look after, hiring professional COVID-19 disinfection services are a convenient way to ensure cleanliness at the workplace. 

These services make use of medical-grade disinfecting products. This helps keep your workspace safe without damaging your equipment.

Given the sometimes destructive effects of ordinary or toxic disinfectants, this should be a real concern for every employer. However, hiring experts to do the job is a good way of addressing this issue. 

Keeping a Clean Office During a Pandemic

It’s not that hard to keep a clean office when you have a good cleaning plan you implement regularly. Following the CDC guidelines and working with a professional cleaning service, is enough to minimize the risk of opening your office up for business again. 

At Blue Chip Pros, we’ve been helping businesses keep their spaces sanitized and safe since before, and during this pandemic. We can do the same for you. Learn more about our facility maintenance services here, and get in touch with us to get started on your own cleaning plan!

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