Gun is the Most Useless Tool in Executive Protection
When you think of an executive protection agent, odds are you’re thinking about a man with a gun. Most people’s idea of a protection agent comes from the movies, which can be incredibly incorrect when it comes to the job, duties, and appearance of an agent. Did you know? Executive protection agents rarely use their guns. In fact, in Kent Moyer’s xx years in executive protection, he has never once had to use his gun.
When it comes to executive protection, it’s not the hard skills that agents have to rely on, it’s the soft skills. It’s not about how good we can fight; it’s about delivering the gold standard when it comes to customer service.
The Gold Standard Executive Protection
Protection isn’t about who has the largest gun, and it’s not about fighting, despite what you’ve seen in the movies. You probably won’t see any evasive driving maneuvers, martial arts, shootings, or any of these other misconceptions when you hire a protection agency. The use of weapons and other combat skills are rarely used in this line of work.
In fact, we believe that if you have to use those skills, you have already failed your client. Protection is about preventing situations where those hard skills need to be utilized. Through pre-planning and the right execution, it will never come to the need for physical force to protect our clients.
What is used every day, however, is our customer experience and the ability to blend into our clients’ lifestyles and surroundings.
Protection is about being smart and proactive. We’ve seen tons of celebrity bodyguards fail for a reason: they’re inexperienced. Bodyguards may take clients through crowds and populated areas, which is already a huge mistake since they’re guaranteeing that they won’t have a clear visual and bringing them closer to a group of people where one might want to do them harm. These groups are hot spots for violence and potential harm coming to the client.
With advances done and the right intelligence, agents know where they’re headed so that they can avoid these potentially dangerous situations and ensure the safety of the client.
This is just one example of pre-planning and why it’s more important than hard skills like the use of guns, combat, and other weaponry.
Instead, the Gold Standard means that we’re taking care of our clients because we’ve already performed all of the preventative work to keep them safe so that they can sit back and relax whether they’re in the car, on foot, or at an important function. By delivering this customer service, we’re able to provide clients with the luxury lifestyle they’re looking for.
Guns Are Useless in Executive Protection
As we’ve just pointed out, guns are rarely used in executive protection. While having these skills is essential for a protection agent in the case that it ever comes to that, soft skills like communication are used every single day we’re with our clients. We know everything there is to know about our clients so that we can gauge their mood and their personality.
Not only that, we know what possible threats there are and the routes we need to take to keep them safe in the car or on foot so that they can get to critical meetings on time and safely.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills extend beyond communication and into the pre-planning aspect of executive protection. For example, we know where the nearest police station, hospital, and other important locations are along with the fastest routes to get there in case of an emergency.
If our clients are from another country, we learn about that country and its customs so that each client has an executive protection service catered to their individual needs. We believe in delivering the highest quality of service that we can so that our clients not only feel protected but comfortable.
Ditch your misconceptions because used more than guns or martial arts techniques are the Emergency Medical Training (EMT) skills of our agents. We believe that this is an absolute necessity because it can be the difference between life and death. Whether or not our client has had health issues in the past, it’s important that we’re able to save a life. After all, protection isn’t just about ensuring the safety of our clients from others’; it’s about making sure that they have the best team available for any situation.
Don’t get us wrong, though. Our agents still have the hard skills like training in combat and guns to keep clients safe when the need arises. However, the need will most likely never come up for these skills.
We Emphasize Soft Skills and Deliver the Gold Standard
The movies have our jobs completely wrong and put emphasis on the skills that we’ll never use. While those skills are necessary, there should always be the right balance between soft and hard skills. Anticipating a client’s needs means delivering the highest quality of service and ensuring their protection.
When 001 Kent Moyer decided to create a luxury protection entity, he believed that privacy and confidentiality are a luxury to a billionaire, celebrity, or another high net worth individual. We believe that as much as our clients like being in the limelight, they also deserve to have privacy and protection from being hacked.
Privacy is a Luxury
In 2015 Kent went to SDA Bocconi business school, Wharton business school, & HEC Paris business schools to study extensively the strategic management of luxury businesses to study many of the luxury brands of Europe and the United States. 001 was created to deliver a quality luxury gold standard of service. As celebrities use their phones for everything from social media to storing personal photographs, it’s crucial that they keep what’s personal to them private, a luxury they deserve to have.
The Gold Standard Executive Protection Model
At 001, we believe that protection is not about fighting, evasive driving maneuvers, martial arts, shooting guns, or any of the misconceptions. It is about executive protection. They are tools we use in an emergency and we have that training. The use of weapons and physical protection techniques are rarely used in this line of work. We believe if you have to use those skills you have failed. What is used every day are customer experience and the ability to blend in with our clients’ surroundings and lifestyles.
Protection is also about being smart. We often see the bodyguards of celebrities, taking them through crowds and densely populated areas. These are hot spots for violence and possible harm coming to the clients. Instead, agents should have done advances and know the ins and outs of where they’re headed so that they can avoid crowds and ensure the safety of their clients and delivering quality customer service.
With experience training in the Ritz Carlton Gold Standard customer service, we created our customer service techniques, adopting many of the Ritz Carlton Gold Standard ways of operating. This speed and high level of service help us obtain and retain clients for a long time.
It’s Not About the Gun
Guns are rarely used in executive protection, so while those skills are essential to have in certain situations, soft skills will be used daily. We know everything there is to know about our clients from whether they’re in a good mood to whether the stocks are up or down. We know what the threats are and the routes we need to take to keep our clients safe while getting them to their critical business meetings on time.
Here are some things we consider instead of focusing solely on the physical aspects of executive protection:
- The location of the nearest police station
- The best possible, fastest and safest routes to the destinations
- The site of the nearest hospital in case of a medical emergency
EMT Skills of Our Protection Agents
Used more than gun or martial arts skills, Emergency Medical Training skills are essential for agents to have. While agents do have hard skills, such as training in combat and guns, our EMT skills are crucial to the protection of our clients. Medical skills are going to be used more often than those of martial arts or weapons, especially if our clients have had health issues in the past. The clients are going to have a much more significant medical emergency needs vs a security threat.
Emphasis on Soft Skills
Many people put too much attention on the skills that we will never use. While those skills are necessary, there needs to be a balance between those and soft skills. Anticipating a client’s needs and delivering high-quality service is the best way to ensure their protection while making them feel safe. Radar on antenna up to create a daily WOW factor for the client.
