Security Business: Marketing and Ops for Ambitious Alarm Companies

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 re...

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.