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Frequently asked questions
Answers for security guard company owners and sales leads on where guard contract leads come from, what makes them qualified, what outbound prospecting law allows and what you need before a campaign starts. Questions about how our service works are covered on the main service page.
01
3 questions
A lead is qualified when a rep can price the work from the notes. Five fields do that:
A name and phone number is a contact, not a lead. Post hours matter most because guard work is priced by the billable hour. A single 40 hour post and a 24/7 post at 168 hours a week look the same on a contact list and nothing alike in your pipeline. Treat anything missing two or more fields as research, not pipeline.
Six sources, and most guard companies use two.
Referrals from current clients and trusted property managers. Inbound from search and directories, often after the buyer already has a problem. Public bids and RFPs, where requirements are published for competitors to see. Subcontracting under a prime contractor short on coverage. Association and vendor list relationships through property management, facility management and venue networks. And outbound calling, cold email marketing and LinkedIn to facility and property managers before anything is published.
Outbound is the only source where you control the volume. The first five routes are covered in how to get security guard contracts, while the outbound process is covered in security guard prospecting.
The signer depends on the property type. Property managers and general managers handle commercial office and retail sites. Plant or operations managers handle industrial and distribution sites. A director of security or risk manager may sign at corporate campuses and health systems. HOAs often involve an HOA board and community manager, while government agencies and large portfolios use procurement.
Most do not decide alone. Insurance limits and annual spend may need approval from risk management or finance, plus an operational review from whoever runs the site. Sell to the operator who feels the coverage problem, but gather insurance and procurement requirements early so the proposal survives review. See the segment-by-segment map of sites, signers and buying paths in how to get security guard contracts.
02
3 questions
For business to business guard prospecting, yes. The FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts telephone calls between a telemarketer and a business made to induce that business to buy goods or services. This means consumer Do Not Call registry rules for household calls generally do not govern calls to facility managers about guard coverage at their sites.
Two limits still apply. The exemption does not cover the rule’s misrepresentation provisions, so claims about your license, staffing and references must be accurate. States also have their own telemarketing, call recording and consent laws. A sole proprietor reached on a personal mobile may also be treated more like a consumer contact. Keep a company-level suppression list, honor removal requests and confirm recording rules in each state you call. This is general information, not legal advice.
Facility and property managers spend much of the day walking sites, not checking an inbox. Using one channel means relying on the one they happen to see.
Each channel serves a different purpose. Phone calls uncover renewal dates, the current vendor and recent incident reports. Email reaches the person who signs and carries your license and insurance details. LinkedIn helps confirm you are a real company. Use the same accounts, same week and one consistent message across all three. If you can use only one channel, choose the phone because it can uncover a contract end date quickly.
License first. Buyers may ask for state guard licensing, agency license or private patrol operator license and valid officer guard cards for the site. Then comes a certificate of insurance (COI) showing general liability, workers compensation and often auto and umbrella limits required by the property.
Next, prove you can staff the site. Show officer headcount within driving distance, fill rate for open posts, supervisor-to-officer ratio, screening and training standards and references from similar properties. Buyers focus on liability because guard failures create risk for them too. Have your certificate, license numbers and two relevant references ready before facility manager outreach starts.
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We deliver exclusive security guard leads and book appointments with facility managers, property managers and risk managers, each with the renewal date and current provider confirmed.
03
3 questions
Treat it as timing, not rejection. A site already paying for guard coverage has a budget, an approved scope and a signer, which is more than most cold prospects can offer.
Before ending the call, get three answers: when the agreement renews or what notice period applies, what the site would change about coverage and who else reviews the vendor. Then follow up around that date instead of using a generic 90 day reminder. Guard agreements may continue month to month or renew automatically unless written notice is given, so the window can be easy to miss. Building that into a renewal calendar is covered in security guard prospecting.
Do not compete only on bill rate. A lower bill rate often means a lower officer wage, which can lead to unfilled shifts and frequent officer turnover.
Focus on what the buyer can measure. Commit to a fill rate and explain the escalation path when a static post opens. Share supervisor visit frequency, average officer tenure at similar posts, incident response time and reporting the property manager can send to ownership. Then price the post realistically. Winning at a rate that cannot retain competent officers can put the account back on the market later.
Both, but they serve different purposes.
Event security, construction and fire watch work can fill capacity quickly, pays on a short cycle and introduces you to venue operators and general contractors who buy repeatedly. But it ends on a fixed date, so a pipeline built only on short term work resets every season. Recurring coverage at offices, industrial and distribution sites, healthcare campuses, schools and HOAs takes longer to win but is what carries your fixed overhead and supervisory structure.
Use short term work to keep officers employed between contract wins and earn references that help open recurring accounts. Count only recurring post hours as pipeline. See which segments to prioritize in how to get security guard contracts.
04
3 questions
Track five numbers in order: conversations with a verified decision maker, meetings booked, site walks completed, proposals delivered and contracts signed with monthly post hours attached.
Most guard companies watch only the first and last numbers, which hides where the process breaks. Meetings that never become site walks usually mean you are reaching people who do not control the site. Site walks that never become proposals point to weak qualification. Proposals that never become signatures usually point to pricing or missing proof. Give the program one full contract cycle before judging it because decisions often wait for a renewal date.
Yes. A single site is sold to an operator, while a portfolio is sold through procurement.
Expect a formal RFP or vendor qualification process, higher insurance limits, standardized post orders and reporting across locations, a coverage footprint in every market and more approvers extending the cycle. Do not bid a portfolio you cannot staff everywhere from day one because one uncovered market can affect the entire relationship. A common path is to win one property, perform well with clean reporting and then enter the wider vendor review.
You need four things. A defined service area you are licensed and staffed to cover by state or county. A bill rate floor by post type so a rep can qualify a site without calling the owner. Current insurance certificates and license numbers in one folder. And a named person who takes the meeting, runs the site walk and returns the proposal within a set turnaround.
Campaigns rarely fail because of the list. They fail when a qualified security appointment arrives and nobody owns the follow through. If you are considering an outside partner, see how our security guard lead generation service runs, then check how to choose a security guard lead generation company for vendor questions and warning signs, pricing for plans and rates and the free territory check to confirm your market is open.
Get Started
We deliver exclusive security guard leads and book appointments with facility managers, property managers and risk managers, each with the renewal date and current provider confirmed.