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Buyer's Guide · From the Director

The Questions That Expose
a Weak Security Provider

Most security is sold, not delivered — and the person selling it to you is rarely the person who'll run your contract. After three decades in this industry, I can tell you exactly how firms win work they shouldn't, and exactly which questions make a corner-cutter squirm. This is the honest version: how the pitch works, what to ask, and the checks almost no buyer makes but every buyer should. — David Foster, Director & Co-Owner

How security
is really sold.

Here's what you're usually dealing with. Most security companies put a Business Development Manager — a salesperson — in front of you. Some dress it up by sending an "ops" person, but make no mistake, they're there to sell. That salesperson is on a basic salary, a company car, and commission for winning new business. And crucially, they have a target. This industry is ruthless: miss target, and you're gone.

Think about what that does to the conversation. The person selling you the dream is financially motivated to win your signature by whatever it takes — and is often long gone before the service has a chance to fail. They sell you the dream and the company delivers the nightmare.

There's another tell most buyers miss. The reasons a client leaves their current provider are nearly always the same — poor communication, officers who don't turn up, no visible management, costs creeping up. Security firms know this. So they arrive with a polished, pre-packaged story about why they're different — tuned precisely to the pain they know you're feeling. When the "why we're different" pitch sounds suspiciously like it was written for you, that's because, in a sense, it was. It's rehearsed.

None of this means every salesperson is dishonest. It means the structure of how security is sold is built to flatter the buyer and obscure the delivery. Your job is to see past the pitch to the operation behind it.

The questions that make
a corner-cutter squirm.

Ask these. A good provider will answer every one easily and welcome them. A weak one will get uncomfortable — and that discomfort is your answer.

  • "What sites have your people actually managed, and for how long?" Experience of your kind of site matters more than a glossy client list.
  • "Will your MD or company owner be visible and contactable to me?" If the only people you'll deal with are a salesperson then an account manager three rungs down, ask why the owner won't put their name to your contract.
  • "What sites do you already have local to me — and will you use those officers to cover my site at holidays?" This is a trap, deliberately. If yes, they're rotating officers across multiple sites — burnout, tired officers, dropped standards. If they cover yours from miles away, ask who's covering the sites they pulled those officers from. There's no free cover; someone always pays for it.
  • "If I get a blow-out at 0600 — an officer doesn't show — will you cover the site, and will the cover officer be site-trained?" Anyone can promise cover. Few can put a site-trained officer on at dawn at no notice.
  • "Can I see your licence?" Most salespeople are not frontline SIA-licensed — at best a non-frontline licence, issued as a letter, requiring no security training, for managers and employers, not operators. If the person selling you security has never been trained to deliver it, what are they selling?

The checks almost nobody makes —
and the ones that catch out the cowboys.

This is where you separate the legitimate from the lookalikes. Most buyers stop at the filed accounts on Companies House. Don't — those are old, often abbreviated, and tell you little about how the business is running now. Ask for more:

  • The latest management accounts — not the filed Companies House version. The real, current picture of the business you're about to depend on.
  • The most recent PAYE return. The forensic one almost nobody asks for, and it's devastating. Their turnover should imply roughly what their monthly PAYE ought to look like. If PAYE is low — or barely there — against turnover, they aren't properly paying the staff who'll stand on your site. The numbers don't lie.
  • A full breakdown of officer pay versus charge rate. A legitimate provider has nothing to hide; open-book pricing should be normal, not a favour.
  • Who, specifically, will be your account manager — by name — and what else they're responsible for.

If a provider bristles at any of these, you've learned something important before you've signed anything.

Who pitches you —
and who actually turns up.

The biggest gap in security is between the person who wins the contract and the person who walks your site at 2am. Close it before you sign.

Ask to speak to the account manager who'll actually run your contract — not the salesperson — and ask them for a list of the sites they currently look after. Then ask one simple question: "What does a good officer look like?"

Their answer tells you everything. Listen for whether they talk about the officer in isolation, or about how the officer is managed. Because here's my honest view after thirty years: there is no such thing as a bad officer. If you've got one, they've been poorly managed. A good officer is one who is well managed, properly supported, continuously trained, and genuinely communicated with. Good managers make good officers.

A provider whose account manager blames the officers — rather than owning the management — is telling you exactly how your contract will be run.

Hold us to
the same questions.

It would be hollow to write all this and dodge it ourselves, so: ask us every one of these. You'll deal with me, David Foster, the Director — not a salesperson on commission. Our officers are individually SIA-licensed and BS7858-vetted, properly employed and properly paid — and we'll show you the breakdown. Every shift is evidenced in real time through DOB·Live, so "did they turn up?" is never a question of trust.

And on bad officers: we don't have a category for them, because we manage, support and train our people to a standard. We typically recruit from former HM Forces and police backgrounds because good people, well led, are the whole job.

We won't be the cheapest. We'll be the ones who answer every question on this page without flinching.

Read our full guide to ethical security procurement for the SIA's own checklist, or find out why clients choose us.

← Back to the Ethical Security Procurement Guide Why Security Contracts Go Bad → ACS Accreditation: The Truth → TUPE Explained →
Common Questions

Questions About Buying Security — FAQ

What's the single best question to ask a security company?

"Will your MD or owner be visible and contactable to me — and can I see your licence?" The first reveals whether anyone accountable stands behind the contract; the second exposes whether the person selling you security has ever been trained to deliver it. Most salespeople hold, at best, a non-frontline SIA licence, which requires no security training.

How do I know a security company actually pays its staff properly?

Ask for their most recent PAYE return alongside their management accounts. Turnover implies roughly what monthly PAYE should be. If the PAYE figure is low or missing against turnover, they aren't properly paying the officers who'll be on your site — which usually means corners cut elsewhere too.

Why does it matter who staffs my site for holiday cover?

If a provider covers your site using officers from their other local sites, those officers are stretched across multiple contracts — burnout and dropped standards — and whoever's site they were pulled from now has a gap. Ask exactly how cover works, and whether the cover officer will be trained on your specific site.

Is a salesperson from a security company SIA-licensed?

Usually not as a frontline operative. A non-frontline SIA licence — for managers and employers — is issued as a letter and requires no security training. So the person pitching you may never have done the job they're selling. Ask to see the licence.

Procuring Security?

Talk to the Director.
Not a sales team.

David Foster — Director & Co-Owner, Risk Secured Ltd
David Foster — Director & Co-Owner · Ex-RAF Police · 30 years across all security sectors

When you contact Risk Secured, you reach David Foster — Director and Co-Owner. Ex-RAF Police, three decades across every sector of the security industry. The person who'll actually run your security.

I know security can feel like a grudge spend — so my job is to make it work for you, not just bill you. We start with an honest conversation about your business and its risks, and I'll tell you straight where your money should go, including where you're paying for cover you don't need.

No call centres, no sales reps. Just expertise from someone whose name is on the door — and who stays close enough to the work that you'd think we were in-house.

Speak to the Director — 0121 751 9038 Or send me a message
Call 0121 751 9038