Winter Time Selling Blues…

Here’s a good Q&A:

Hi Bob,

I feel that I know you, I have read your website, blogs, ect. And am a friend on Facebook. But, you don’t know me and I dont subscribe to your monthly help. I hope you can take a second to read this and possibly help out.

I have a background in Door to Door alarm sales with APX and Pinnacle security. I started my own dealership with Security Networks january of 2008. We had a good year for what we wanted to do. 500 accounts.

Unfortunately my partner ran off with the money. I have since put the company in my name only and all of the sales people and techs were my guys and are coming back with me. My partner was just a money partner and he was the only one on the bank account, ect. I am ready to have a great year and expect to do over 1,500 accounts since I have 3 offices going starting march.

My problem is that I live in Ohio and our buisness is 100% door to door, and it is 20 degrees and snowing. I would like to work in January and February, but Door to Door is a hard option. I will this year subscribe to your monthly help and look forward to using your services later in the year, but right now I have very little money and need to find a way to sell security alarms to make money to do marketing.

How can I sell alarms with no marketing budget???

Thanks!

Bill

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the kind words. Seeing you’re strapped for cash, the easiest and least expensive road to take is to go to your existing clients base and “shake the tree.” I’m suggesting this because your clients have already purchased from you and, therefore, would be more apt to make another purchase.

Offer your clients a wintertime incentive for them to do upgrades and/or add services, such as, monitoring, cellular backup or service contracts. Also start a referral program so that your clients refer their family, friends, and colleagues…you’ll need to be able offer $$$ or a gift card for any referral that turns into a sale, though.

To cheaply acquire some new clients, when you are on a job, start “farming” the area around your install. Seeing you are a pro at door-to-door, start canvasing the area and letting people know that you are doing a job nearby and offer them a card with a special 10% “good neighbor” discount. For those people not at home, hang a door hanger on their knobs.

I have a door hanger that I use. It lets the homeowner/business owners know that we are doing an install in the area (there’s a blank line on the door hanger where we write down the address) and offers the recipient 10% off of a new install or upgrade.

These are only a few ideas, but you can get many more solid marketing ideas and tried-and-true samples of successful direct marketing pieces by becoming a member of our Smokin’ Security Newsletter.

Best of luck!

Thanks!

Bob

Have a gr8 Super Bowl Weekend everybody! Go Saints! Go Colts!

Bob Maunsell
Former Sgt U.S. Air Force

Have an E.S.P style day, Easy, Successful, Profitable.

Now Go Smoke Your Competition!

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Why Alarm & Security System Referrals Are Of Extreme Importance… Nowadays!

My Dad’s 79th Birthday at Wachusett Country Club

If you believe in or are experiencing the effects of the slowing, less generous economy in your security business, you can count on one of the worst of those effects being the rising difficulty and cost of securing new clients “cold” through advertising.

Resistance to new vendors, products and services goes way up when wallets tighten up. But when people are told about a security business or low voltage installer by there friends, co-workers or neighbors, that resistance is much, much lower.

Also, the more affluent a person is, the more likely they are to respond to and even seek recommendations from friends rather than going to media like the Yellow Pages or a newspaper/magazine ad or the internet to find a source for something they need…and at times like these, you want more affluent clients in your back pocket!

“Referral Production” – like every kind of production—improves with targets and measurements. Your security marketing system best include a referral program that stimulates more security referral leads!

Hows is your ‘Word of Mouth,’ Security Marketing …?

Word of mouth marketing is an easy-as-pie strategy to bring in business and is sadly underutilized by many security installers.  Think of the many places you have gone and the items you have purchased based on a friend’s/relative’s/colleague’s suggestion. A recent survey of US executives in Forbes Magazine cited that improving word of mouth marketing strategies is a top priority on their companies’ marketing agendas in 2009.  Notice the functioning word in the above sentence is STRATEGIES.  Word of Mouth is not a one time effort.  It’s an all-encompassing, ongoing set of strategies that make word of mouth a highly effective and virtually free component of your overall security marketing plan.

The key to any word of mouth program is frequency.  You need to develop a routine or program that makes word of mouth security marketing a part of your everyday business life.  Make it visible and, participatory to everyone involved….this includes your technicians, too. Following are a few ideas you can incorporate into your word of mouth marketing strategies.

1) A Monthly Security Newsletter—now I know this sounds like I’m soft-selling you my Service That Soars Newsletter (and I am), but I can’t stress enough how effective- and easy to implement because I’ve done it all for you! – a  monthly newsletter is.  It is the single most powerful tool you can use to prospect, stay in touch and promote word of mouth marketing on the planet.

2) A Referral Program.  Having a referral program in place that offers your customers $50 in cash  or a $50 donation in their name to a charity of their choice (shows you got a heart) for every referral that turns into a sale.  I have made tens of thousands of buckaroos doing this.  I also send out a hand-written thank you card to my customer, with a surprise gift (Hint doesn’t cost a lot) inside, once the referral is made.  The note also lets my customer know that I will send along the $50 once the sale has been made.

3) Technicians:  All your techs should be treated as mini-sales reps and provided with the proper marketing material for the job.  My vans are not only stocked with tools, but my marketing stuff as well.  One popular marketing item I designed is  a door knob hanger that the techs hang on doors around a job site.  It has a blank space that the techs fill in with the company name where they are presently doing a job. The hanger basically says that if XYZ company in your neighborhood trust us with their security needs, then you should give us a shot too!  There is also a 10% discount with a 3 week expiration date stamped on it. The techs love to hang these babies because they get $50 cash money for every call that comes in from their efforts. A few advantageous technicians of mine even hang them on the weekends!

4) Business Card:  My 8 panel business card does my selling for me.  All my security maverick coaching members and Smokin’ Newsletter subscribers have a copy of this baby. You ain’t never seen a biz card that positions you at the top of the heap like this one! But if you’re not a member in one of my programs yet, the next best thing  I can tell you is to create something for the backside of your card. I use all the real estate I can—blank space can’t sell for you. Comprende, Amigo!