Here’s an example:

Have you set up and taken control of your own listing in Google Places? If not, this should certainly be on your “to do” list. I consider it one of the “basics” when it comes to a security company’s online marketing efforts. (Did I mention the listing is free?)

Why is this so important? Because most people searching for security services almost always use location as part of their search term. And when they do, Google gives the highest priority (and best rankings) to company’s that are listed in Places. And the highest rankings in Places are awarded to the companies that have taken proactive control of their listings.

The first step is to see if your company’s listing even exists in the Google Places directory. Go to maps.google.com and type in your company name. Even if you haven’t listed it yourself, it’s quite possible you’ll still find your company in the directory. That’s because Google also gets directory information from third-party sources like the Yellow Pages. But again, these types of “passive” listings won’t rank as well as “proactive” listings. As Google itself puts it: “The information that you submit through Google Places is the information that we trust the most. This means that it will appear instead of any basic information that we get from anywhere else.”

If you find that your business is listed, click on the link and check out the information to see if it’s complete and accurate. If you haven’t set up the listing yourself, the information provided will not be optimized for best results.

You should also see a link that says “Business Owner?” at the top of the listing. If it says “Owner-verified listing” than you or someone in your company has already taken control of the listing. But chances are still high that it hasn’t been optimized for best search ranking results.

If you didn’t find your listing, then you’ll need to add it to the Google Places directory. Go to google.com/places and you will see a login screen. If you don’t already have a Google account login, then you’ll have to create a new account. Once you login, Google will guide you through the next steps to get your company listed.

As you’re setting up your listing, be aware that there are steps you can and should take to be more competitive from a rankings standpoint. Like organic search engine optimization, this is especially important in more competitive market areas. Providing more detailed information, graphics and customer reviews can all significantly boost your rankings and website traffic.

If you have questions or would like some assistance with this or any other aspect of your security marketing program just get in touch. We’d be happy to talk with you about your needs and goals.

Think about it this way. Let’s say you want to go trout fishing. Would you just grab any type of bait and tackle and then head out to the nearest body of water? Not if you wanted a successful outing. You’d think about the kind of bait trout find appealing, the type of rod, reel and line you need, the time of day trout feed, what attracts trout to bait and causes them to bite, how to properly set the hook, along with a host of other factors.  By doing your homework and focusing your efforts, your odds of bringing in a good string go way up. Without it, you’re likely to come home with nothing but a sunburn to show for your efforts.

In spite of this fairly obvious fact, relatively few security dealers take the time and effort to target their efforts. They use the same message for everyone (often centering on price) and then wonder why their sales pipeline isn’t flooded with new opportunities.

The takeaway is to think about how to become a security “specialist” rather than a “generalist.” Think about how to segment your market into very specific niches. For instance, some of the segments in the home security market include the elderly (personal emergency response), families with latchkey kids, single women and new parents. On the commercial side, you could segment your market into key verticals, like healthcare, construction site security, convenience stores, fast food, warehouses, government offices and “mom and pop” retail.

Once you’ve identified your quarry, the next step is to develop and implement an offering and a message that will resonate with each of these groups. As a specialist, you’ll rise head-and-shoulders above your “me too” generalist competitors.

Next time around I’ll get into the specifics of how to put this powerful idea into action.

That attitude has never made any real sense to me (with one exception, which I’ll get to in a moment). Let’s say you’re in a horrible traffic accident and suffer some pretty major injuries. Lucky for you, there’s an emergency room doctor in a car just behind. But wait. Instead of pulling over to help you watch in disbelief as he drives on by, ignoring your bleeding and mangled body hanging out of the windshield. What’s he thinking? Wow, that guy’s pretty banged up. But I don’t want to take advantage of his situation, so I’ll just keep moving. Hope he’ll be okay, poor sucker. (I know… he’s probably really worried about a lawsuit, but work with me here.)

It’s pretty clear what I’m getting at, isn’t it? If we truly believe that our products and services help keep people safe (and it’s been proven that they do), why shouldn’t we go into areas that are being victimized to let people know how we can help? When you think about, isn’t it our responsibility? How is that fear mongering? These people are already afraid and looking for ways to protect themselves and their families.

Yet for years I’ve heard people both inside and outside our industry beat up on security companies that have the gall to go out and talk with people in these situations. I was even ripped up by none other than the LA Times for admitting that yes, my company (Westec at the time) did indeed go into high crime areas to talk with homeowners about how to protect themselves with a security system. We also put on home security seminars and had very good turnout from concerned residents. They appreciated the information and many ended up installing a system, which of course meant that they and their families were safer. So what’s wrong with that?

Later, after I better understood the dynamics of these situations, I took steps to proactively inform the media and community leaders about what we were doing and even enlisted their help and support. In this way we were able to turn potentially bad publicity into very positive publicity.

Now the exception. I absolutely agree that if a security company goes into a crime-ridden area like the proverbial “bull in a china shop” and tries to fan the flames of fear then yes, that company should be taken to task. But that said, and understanding that there’s a right way and a wrong way to make the approach, should we really keep the fact that we can help a big secret and “drive on by”?

I know quite a few very successful security salespeople who really love canvassing. They enjoy getting out in their neighborhoods, walking around and engaging people. They have the kind of outgoing, gregarious personality that makes this approach work well for them. They don’t want to sit in an office “dialing for dollars” or mailing out postcards. They thrive on belly-to-belly face time. They create sales this way day in and day out.

Now, I personally wouldn’t choose door knocking as a prospecting method. Not because it doesn’t work, but because it doesn’t fit my own personality and temperament. So I’d go with another approach. One that I could get enthusiastic about and looked forward to doing every day, like a home security seminar program.

And that’s my point. A prospecting method that works well for one salesperson will fail miserably for another. The key is to match what you enjoy doing with your prospecting method(s) of choice. If you enjoy what you’re doing, that means you’ll actually do it. You’ll look forward to getting up every day and getting to work. You’ll spend more time prospecting, and you’ll get results. And of course, showing up is half the battle.

During my many years in the security business I’ve worked with hundreds of security sales reps and seen countless effective prospecting approaches. So never let anyone tell you something doesn’t work. Or that you should be using a “one-size-fits-all” marketing program. (Especially if it’s one they’re trying to sell you.)

Take a look at the following summary SWOT Analysis for Orion Security, a 10 year-old fictitious company that sells both residential and commercial security systems. Orion currently has 196 commercial and 376 residential accounts. Its three-year vision is to more than double these numbers—to 400 commercial and 800 residential customers. Note that an actual SWOT analysis would go much deeper. I’ve kept this one “short and sweet” for discussion purposes.

Strengths:

• Local company with ties to the community
• Long-term, experienced technical staff
• Loyal customer base
• Good relationship with local law enforcement (owner is a former police officer)

Weaknesses

• Limited cash flow
• Sales leads limited primarily to passive referrals from customers and a few networking partners and yellow pages ad

Opportunities

• Growing population
• Burglary rate on the rise

Threats

• National companies advertising aggressively on price
• Potential non-response ordinance

A company rarely succeeds or fails for minor or trivial reasons. That’s one reason I don’t believe in long, highly-detailed plans. The key is to focus on the big picture and not get lost in the weeds. (Sometimes referred to as “analysis paralysis.”) That said, the questions raised by this simple matrix raise other important questions and suggest some potential strategic directions:

• The currently limited cash flow means that large expenditures on advertising are off the table. (Which, in my book anyway, is okay since traditional television and radio ads are relatively ineffective.) However, the customer base currently provides a number of passive referrals. What if the company became more proactive in leveraging the loyalty of its customers?
• How might the positive relationship with law enforcement be used in concert with the growing crime problem?
• What steps can be taken to avert the threat presented by the passage of a non-response ordinace?
• How can Orion counteract the price-based advertising blitz of the national companies?

Again, these questions and issues lead directly to the strategy. I’ve created a Security Marketing Strategy Questionnaire to help you organize this process, including the key questions you need to answer. If you’d like a copy just shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to send it to you. Next time around we’ll dive into creating a specific security marketing action plan.

With your vision in mind and committed to writing, it’s time to take stock of the current situation. To take a hard look at where you are now versus where you want to be. This will give you the information you need to take advantage of your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, identify key opportunities and reduce or eliminate any threats that might stand in your way. This process is known as a SWOT Analysis: (S=Strengths; W=Weaknesses; O=Opportunities; T=Threats).

What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?

Let’s start with the positives. As you consider your vision, what strengths does your company have that can help get you there? A good reputation in the community? Highly trained or experienced staff? A large customer base? Diverse product line? Strong networking partnerships? What factors help you “get the sale”? The idea is to fully leverage those strengths to help you reach your vision. To clearly identify and communicate those strengths to turn them into powerful differentiators.

On the flip-side of that coin, what are your company’s weaknesses? You can look at these as the absence of strengths required to achieve your vision: no reputation or visibility in the community; inefficient staff; small customer base; limited product line; no networking partnerships; etc. What factors keep you from making sales? The objective here is to shore up those weaknesses and eventually turn them into strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities and Threats?

Now consider your opportunities. This is an area where security company owners and managers often get that “deer in the headlights” look. Not because they don’t see any opportunities, but because they see too many! But no company, large or small, can take advantage of every potential opportunity. You need to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you (and your staff) will end up running around like proverbial headless chickens, running from one “opportunity” to the next on a daily basis with few of them coming to fruition. Remember, effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.

So write down all the opportunities you can think of and then prioritize them. Put one, two or at most three at the top of the list—the ones that will have the greatest impact on moving you toward your vision. Then commit to them as your areas of focus. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you won’t get to the rest of those opportunities. But for the time being put them on the back-burner so you can concentrate your efforts.

Now think about any issues in the external environment that could threaten your chances of success. Examples would include alarm non-response ordinances, moves by competitors, or a weak economy. What obstacles stand between you and your vision? They need to be identified so they can be accounted for in the marketing plan.

Okay, are you ready to give yourself a SWOT? Download this SWOT worksheet and complete it over the next week. The worksheet is in PDF format so you can complete and save it on your computer. In my next post on this topic I’ll go through the next step in the planning process. If you have any questions in the meantime please post them in the comments area or feel free to shoot them off to me at greg@securitymarketing.com.

This urge to tell prospects what they need is understandable. After all, isn’t that our job as security consultants? Aren’t we professional problem solvers? Don’t prospects expect us to be the experts when it comes to security? Sure. But the point is that how you guide your prospects to those solutions has as much to do with whether or not they accept your ideas as what you recommend.

What’s important to keep in mind is that people love to buy but hate being sold. So the problem with telling is that, to a prospect, it feels like selling. When you tell a prospect what he needs he will instinctively sense you’re trying to sell him something, and anything that causes his “I’m being sold” alarm to go off will create resistance. Even if he thinks your recommendation is a good one, his natural instinct is still to push back due to the way the solution was presented. I’m not immune to this common sales malady myself and find myself biting my lip sometimes when I want to jump to what I think is an obvious solution to a client’s problem.

So what’s a better approach? Don’t tell… ask!

For instance, imagine a prospect tells you that one of her biggest worries is that her 13-year old daughter, Nicole, is home alone each afternoon when she gets out of school. After getting that kind of information what will most security salespeople do? That’s right. Make a recommendation: Then what you need is our latchkey child check-in service!

This may indeed be a good idea but, again, telling feels like selling and the prospect is likely to resist. Here’s the better way to go: Mrs. Smith, I can certainly understand your concern. Many of my customers in this area are in a similar situation. Let me ask you a question. When Nicole gets home from school alone, would it give you peace of mind if you had a way of knowing she was home safely, no matter where you were or what you were doing?

Notice how the salesperson painted a word picture for his prospect that got her to visualize one of the potential benefits of the security system. A benefit based on a strong emotion. Second, the salesperson didn’t give his opinion, he asked his prospect for hers. People love to be asked for their opinions. In fact, listening is such a rare art form that when you actively listen to someone, and demonstrate that you’re focused solely on them and interested in what they have to say, they will feel a strong connection and bond with you. He also demonstrated empathy and communicated his expertise in solving her problem without being “salesy.”

When you use this technique you transform yourself from a salesperson into the role of assistant buyer. You’re now on the same side of the table, working on a solution to the problem as a team with your prospect. It’s easy to see why this approach is far more likely to result in a positive response, isn’t it?

So the next time you feel the urge to tell your prospects what they need, stop yourself and rephrase your recommendation in the form of a question. Then be sure to actively listen to the response without interruption. Practice this technique until it becomes second nature. You’ll like the results.
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I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk.
– Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler

A full business plan encompasses three broad areas: an operational plan, a financial plan and a marketing plan. But don’t worry. We’re not talking here about the kind of plan you need to develop to get funding from a bank. We’re going to focus on a concise and actionable marketing plan consisting of just a few pages.

Marketing planning starts with a vision and a commitment. The starting point is to answer these questions: What do I want for my business? What am I willing to commit to get there? You may have already given some thought to these questions, but how specific have you been? Have you written down your vision and goals and committed yourself to achieving them? If not, this is a crucial first step. The answers to these questions are the foundation of your marketing plan.

On a day-to-day basis it’s easy to get caught up in distractions and firefighting—employee issues, daily sales results, customer complaints, meetings, product training, etc. That’s why it’s essential to set aside some uninterrputed time to focus on your vision. The time you take here will save you time in the long run and provide the strong sense of direction that you and your team need.

This point is so important I’ll repeat it: your business needs a sense of direction. The people in your business need direction. A stated direction will help you zero in on what you need to do to get where you want to be. And as you move forward it will help you and others in your company determine whether or not you are on track.

Steven Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People,” says that we don’t spend enough time on activities that will really drive our business forward. In fact, the average manager spends more than 50% of his or her time on urgent but unimportant tasks… in other words, “firefighting.” Yet managers and organizations that work on important but not urgent tasks are far more successful. Covey provides some compelling statistics:

Leading organizations work on:

• Not important, not urgent less than 1%
• Not important, urgent 15%
• Important, urgent 20-25%
• Important, not urgent 65-80%

Other organizations work on:

• Not important, urgent 50-60%
• Important, urgent 25-30%
• Important, not urgent 15%

Of course, marketing planning is one of those critical “important but not urgent” tasks.

I know, I know. Creating a marketing plan sounds like as much fun as a visit with your dentist. I understand. But I don’t believe in plans that take months to create and run hundreds of pages only to wind up on a shelf gathering dust. The best plans are simple, easy-to-understand, relatively short and, above all, actionable. So I promise if you’ll work with me through this process that’s exactly what you’ll end up with—and the results will be well worth the effort.

There’s no time like the present to take that all-important first step, so here’s what I’d like you to do. Carve out a two-hour block of time sometime during the next week. Put it in your appointment calendar and commit to it. When the time comes, lock yourself up somewhere—preferably out of the office—and get down to work.

Now think about what you want your business to look like three years from now and write it down. Include whatever is important to you: monthly sales results, recurring revenue, geographic markets served, products/services offered, number/types of customers, etc. Be specific, dream big and don’t hold back. For purposes of this exercise, go ahead and be idealistic. This is your personal “vision” of a perfect world. (We’ll worry about “getting real” as we work through the process.) And don’t worry about the long time horizon. You’ll reach important milestones—and see real benefits—much sooner.

So get those dreams down on paper. We’ll use them as a launching pad for the next step in the process.

In my experience working with companies both inside and outside the security industry I’ve found four basic reasons for this.

The first “reason” is that managers and staff are too busy fighting fires to invest time in planning. But this is really a symptom rather than a cause. When company staffers spend too much time putting out fires it’s often because they haven’t spent enough time planning.

The second “reason” is the perceived lack of value in developing a plan. After all, there’s an opportunity cost involved. Time spent creating a plan is time taken away from prospecting and other urgent activities. But the fact is that time invested in up-front planning ends up saving time as well as improving results from activity.

The third “reason” has to do with accountability. A good plan says who is responsible for what and when, and many people simply don’t want to be held accountable for results. But you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

The fourth “reason” is a lack of knowledge. Security company managers and staff often have relatively little know-how when it comes to the ins-and-outs of putting together an effective plan.

The simple truth is that time spent creating a plan can be one of the best investments you’ve ever made. A plan will:

• Help guide your daily activities.
• Act as a roadmap to achieving your business goals.
• Ensure everyone on your team is pulling in the same direction and with the same purpose.
• Empower you to be proactive rather than reactive.
• Provide a tool for measuring progress.
• Maximize results.

Because a lack of success can often be traced to a lack of planning, I’m going to dedicate the next several posts to the planning process. I hope you’ll “plan” to stay tuned.