Security Business: Marketing and Ops for Ambitious Alarm Companies

One of the most important things you can do for your security company is steal clear of distractions that cost for time than they’re worth.I think one of those distractions is investing in an inventory system.Here are the two reasons I think you’re better off without setting up an inventory system.

I’ve had a rough quarter.But the difference between pros and those who just dabble, is in how well we recover when we get knocked down.The greatest companies put guardrails in place to make it easier to bounce back. Let’s talk about that.

It’s been a full year since last season ended. I’m super excited to start again with topics like working with sub contractors to install your security systems for you, how we do our annual reviews for team members, marketing stuff I’ve learned over the last year, and of course what it’s like assimilating into a giant private equity security roll-up after they acquire your company for millions.But to kick things off, I wanted to mention the business I started since last season: an email marketing company for security alarm dealerships (that’s you guys!).If you’re interested in possibly working together, go to TheSecurityBusiness.com to apply.

We made it to Episode 100. Thank you.

At the end of the year, I ask myself, “What went well?” And I try to do more of that. And I ask myself, “What went not-so-well?” And I try to do less of that. After all the financial analysis and spreadsheets and formal reviews, these are the real questions we’re trying to answer and come up with ways to double down on what works and cut out what doesn’t.

If you’re buying hats and jackets and shirts and everything else for your employees to wear out in the field, I think you should get good quality gear. Here’s why.

Why have a company Christmas party at all? Should we host golf outings with our sales team in the summer? What’s the point of spending company money for lunches and dinner and celebrations that don’t contribute to the bottom line? Here are my top three reasons.

This is it. What you’ve been waiting for. The exact formula for the perfect Christmas party for your company… or at least what’s worked for us.

It can get quiet in B2B security sales right before the New Year. Everyone is on vacation. No one wants to start any new projects. Most people don’t want to work at all. Here’s what we do to make the best of this opportunity.

Have you considered doing a company newsletter? Kind of like a college newspaper but for your business? Could this replace the weekly or monthly all-hands meeting… or be a good option if you’re not doing one of those already? A way to unite people in shared goals and culture within your security business?

I don’t think we always have to hire the absolute best. But I do try to hire for one level higher than the initial position I need them for. Here’s why. (And really, this is me gathering my thoughts on this out loud. Hope it’s helpful.)

How do we encourage people on our team to take responsibility, ownership, within our company, when they’re not really owners?

Just show up. Start. Compared to everything else, this is the most important thing to get right. Iterate afterward. First, you have to be there, be in the game, try, show up.

On November 27, 2023, I found out our security dealership was being sold the following day to the largest privately-owned security & life safety company in the United States. This is the fifth episode in this series sharing my experience navigating this process and, specifically in this episode, reflecting on what this means moving forward.

On November 27, the Monday after Thanksgiving, I learned that our security alarm dealership was selling to a larger company the next day. This is the fourth episode in this series sharing my experience navigating the process.

The rest of our company’s employees found out our dealership had been sold the day after I did. And they found out with representatives from the acquiring company in the room. This is my experience of how it went.

On Monday, November 27, the owner of our company told us he was selling our clto a larger, privately held company. This is part 2 of my experience navigating this process. In particular, this is when I got to meet people from the company that acquired our company. (Please start with part 1 of this series to get the full context.)

On November 28, our security dealership was acquired by the largest privately held security company in the United States. This is part 1 of how I’m navigating this experience.

Let me share what my business mentor taught me about what his mentor taught him. Because in practice, this is what we do, even if in principle, I’m not sure I agree with it.

We get trapped into thinking we have to run our business a certain way. We don’t. We’re family owned. We’re small to medium sized. We local. We have more power than most companies to do what we want.

We break stuff sometimes. It happens. How we respond can be the difference between losing a customer and winning a customer over even more.

What if we made our prices public? What if customers could self-select the type of security system they need and see what it would cost, roughly? And I mean for commercial fire systems, CCTV, and access too, not just a $29/mo. residential alarm system.

This is how to start faster, learn faster, build faster without being creative, asking for advice, or paying for classes, courses, coaching, or consulting. Too good to be true? It’s actually super simple. Let me tell you…

The more we can translate specific actions into dollar figures, the clearer it is for our company to make decisions and be motivated to move toward the best decisions.

If you’re not practicing the art of less when it comes to holding onto legacy inventory, here’s our thought process.

Strategy in business, and life, is about moving in one direction and away from another direction. Here are some examples of how I think about this.

Patterns repeat. Some don’t repeat as regularly, so it’s harder to see them as patterns until you’ve been through them many times. Losing core people in your business is one of those types of patterns. It took me years to realize how normal it is.

Here are four reasons raising your prices is the easiest way to increase your revenue and profits from your security company

We don’t always know who will stay with our company long term, but there are signs for people who won’t. In this episode, we talk about culture and how it plays into employee retention.

Most people describe their business the way I’ve done it for almost a decade: “We’re a security company. We install camera systems, fire protection, stuff like that.” Instead, this framework I learned from Don Miller helps turn a boring description into a story. So the person you’re talking to can actually get interested in what you’re talking about and want to learn more.

When sales aren’t working the way you want. When you’re struggling to grow your employee numbers. When you’re still making mistakes… it might not be because you’re terrible. Here’s the first thing to try.

This is what I know right now about marketing for companies that sell security, access control, camera systems, and fire protection. Part 1 of defines what marketing is (different from sales and advertising). Part 2 covers how to do it, the strategy (hint: it’s all about constraints). Finally, in Part 3, I give a practical suggestion for how I suggest security dealerships start marketing in the real world.

Before you add to your payroll, before you add to your managerial stress (you like that term?), before you add… anything, try this first. In this episode, I share an example of how I used a two-question framework to make my workload easier without adding more people, paying a bunch of money, or spending a bunch of time.

Do everything yourself? Is that really the optimal path for growing your company? Instead, here’s how we think about hiring and growing our security dealership from a dozen people to over 30…

Nothing is free. Your customers know that. But do you? In this this episode, I share my thoughts on why people don’t always take you up on a great deal, and what you can do about it.

Most security magazines I see have entire sections on stuff I never talk about. Here’s why this show is different…

Show your human side, they said. Show some personality. And then we get all serious because security is supposed to be serious business, right? Here’s a quick idea to lighten up your customer onboarding.

The first step in managing people is directing them, telling them what you want them to do. Here’s why that’s actually really tough sometimes…

This is one of those operational details that helps you create a great culture but won’t look like much from the outside…

This is how stellar companies win…

Anything over an hour away, we might as well stay the night if we’re on site multiple days in a row. This is how we coordinate and set expectations for our technicians who end up on the road a lot.

Exactly what it sounds like: 15 minutes of me riffing on the challenges and benefits of communicating through open channels/platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, even email with your whole team where everyone can initiate conversations and respond…

Have you ever been frustrated in a sales presentation from a vendor? Like, why are they beating a dead horse about this one-of-kind feature when all I care about is how fast they pick up the phone when I call? Maybe you and I can learn something from those experiences…

I went from “We’ll train them ourselves” to “They’ll learn faster if they have experience.” Here’s how my thought process changed…

Here’s why selling security alarms, video cameras, access control, and fire protection is such a great industry…

I always say culture, our team, people—all this—is the most important part of our business. But do my actions reflect that? Does our actual onboarding process signal that, without a doubt, to new employees?

I have a theory. You have a bunch of stuff you just don’t do. (You don’t make hamburgers, for instance.) You have one or two things that are your superpowers. And then for the rest, you do it just a little bit better than everyone else. That’s how to be excellent, not by trying to do everything at super power levels.

When your workload gets too big, when you feel overwhelmed and you just want to stop taking in more and do what you have, use this…

Evidently, I’m a pretty calm guy. Here’s a little more about my personality, my thought process around issues, and why I don’t get stressed about security problems.

I had an installation technician the other day who called tech support but didn’t actually fix the problem he started out to resolve. It reminded me that working with tech support is a skill. And, with a few pointers, you can improve at it.