If you’ve ever done a search on Google (who hasn’t?), you’ve no doubt already seen Google Places in action. Google Places is part of Google Maps, and it’s what creates the map and set of listings when you include a city or region within your search. In fact, recent changes in the way Google prioritizes results gives the Maps listings a great deal of emphasis, even pushing the “organic” listings down the page.
Here’s an example:

 
Have you …

In real estate the mantra is “location, location, location.” When it comes to marketing, it’s “targeting, targeting, targeting.”  What this means is that all marketing activity should be focused very tightly on the specific type of customer you’re trying to reach. When it comes to effective marketing, using the same message for everyone is very ineffective. It simply won’t get you the kind of results you really want. Worse yet, it’s inefficient, wasting time and resources.
Think about it this …

I read something recently by someone in the security industry that got under my skin a little. I’m paraphrasing, but his point was that some security dealers give the industry a bad name by marketing in neighborhoods that have a had a string of burglaries or other crimes, like home invasions or assaults.
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 …

If you ever hear that from somebody, run for the hills. Why do I bring this up? Because I recently read a blog post by a self-proclaimed security marketing “guru” who claims, in no uncertain terms, that neighborhood canvassing (aka, door knocking) doesn’t work. Period. End of discussion. Hmmm… interesting. That should come as news to the many security salespeople who canvass with great success.
I know quite a few very successful security salespeople who really love canvassing. They enjoy …

If you’ve been keeping up with my previous posts on the topic of planning you now have a vision for your business and have identified your key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You’re well down the road to having an effective, results-producing plan. Now it’s time to develop your strategy.
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 …

In my last post on this topic I talked about the need to create a vision for your company. A clear picture of where you want to be three years from now. If you took the time to create that vision for yourself and write it down, congratulations! You’ve taken that all-important first step toward maximizing your success. A step that 95 percent of your competitors won’t take. So while they continue to fight their daily fires, let’s continue toward your goals.
With …

Last week I conducted a couple of training sessions with sales teams at two different security companies. (I always enjoy working with salespeople and learn something new from them every time.) If you’ve been through one of my training programs you know I’m a big fan of role playing, so everyone took their turn playing sales consultant and prospect. As we went through this exercise one issue came up over and over: the habit of salespeople to tell prospects what they need to …

Maximizing your chances for success depends on sound marketing planning. Yet most security companies don’t have a plan and “fly by the seat of their pants.” They scurry from one marketing tactic to the next like a game of “musical chairs” without making any significant progress toward their goals. If that’s the case with your company, it’s time to come up with a game plan.
A full business plan encompasses three broad areas: an operational plan, a financial plan and a marketing …

… you should plan to fail.” This quote by Benjamin Franklin is one of my all time favorites. No truer words were ever spoken. Yet how many security business owners, managers and sales consultants actually have a plan of attack? A strategic and tactical roadmap that guides their day-to-day actions? The answer is… not too many.
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 …