Security Sales & Integration July 2022 - 76

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS
Big Idea by Ron Davis
An Industry
Wake-Up Call
IDEA OF
THE MONTH
If you had one great idea
for the industry, what
would it be?
" Bring all of your
people with quality
training to be able
to answer any
questions that
may come about
that is pertaining
to their work.
Instead of having
just technicians
or secretaries try
to answer every
question, train
them to be able to
answer questions
that apply to
their sphere of
infl uence. "
- Rod Boston
Ron Davis is an SSI
Industry Hall of Fame
inductee and President of
Davis Mergers and
Acquisitions Group Inc.
Also known as The Graybeards,
the company is
active in acquisitions and
mergers exclusively in the
alarm business.
76
▶ ROD BOSTON is a fi nancial guy. However,
it's easy to mistake him for a lineman on a professional
football team, or what he once was, a
pretty exciting soccer player. Rod is in his mid40s,
was an athlete in high school and college,
and still looks as though he could make a pretty
tough defense to an opposing player on the soccer
fi eld. He is the president of two fi nancial corporations,
one, Security Equity Partners, the other,
Alarmcredit.com. Th e companies are located
in offi ces in St. Charles, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
Th e fi rst company, SEP, provides capital funding
to alarm companies. Th e other, ACC, provides
funding to individual alarm dealers and,
frankly, he talked so fast and was so excited about
it that I didn't even have time to write everything
down, but what I heard was exciting. It's a diff erent
kind of funding for the small independent
dealer, who's looking to get capital on favorable
terms. Please believe me, it is unique.
And what that program proves is that you can
take a fi nancial guy, put him in the alarm industry,
and if he has a marketing brain, he will come up
with ideas that will change lives. More importantly,
if you set up a time to call him, he will be on the
phone at exactly the time agreed upon.
Eventually I asked him my signature question,
" If you had just one really great idea to share with
the industry, what would it be? " His answer, paraphrased
here, " Ron, I have met hundreds and
hundreds of dealers in the alarm industry. Th ey
all know the industry is changing. Some of them
have made changes in their businesses to deal with
the issues brought about by the changes in the
industry. Others are waiting for a wake-up call. "
Well, here's a wake-up call, call or write Rod,
tell him what you need, ask questions and more
than likely you'll be able to get pretty much
what you want. Th is guy doesn't play games nor
waste time, so if you call, don't waste his. Frankly
though I was more interested in what his great
idea might be moving forward. And sure enough,
he didn't disappoint.
He said get all employees involved in the business.
And I asked him to amplify on that, he simSecurity
Sales & Integration JULY 2022
rdavis@graybeardsrus.com
ply said, quietly in the measured tones, " Bring all
of your people with quality training to be able
to answer any questions that may come about
that is pertaining to their work. Instead of having
just technicians or secretaries try to answer
every question, train them to be able to answer
questions that apply to their sphere of infl uence. "
Many of you know I travel around the country
conducting seminars and giving speeches about
how to be outstanding in your chosen fi eld. And
I was pleased and excited to see that some people
that I spoke to started implementing some of the
ideas that I gave them during the seminar. Now,
I'd like to share some of those with you.
1. Only hire people you believe you can trust
with this responsibility. It may mean paying
them a higher salary, but in the fi nal analysis it
will be worth it.
2. Make sure that one of the people you select
is bilingual and can respond in the language that
most of your customers use.
3. Set aside time each week for ongoing training
in the skills that you want your people to employ.
Th is is one of those areas where repetition
is of great value.
4. In each department, train someone who
can handle questions or complaints and provide
that person with something that they can give
the customer to off set some of the issues that are
presented. A credit for one month's monitoring.
A certifi cate for coff ee at a local Starbucks. A
handwritten thank you. And anything else that
you think would be appealing to the type of customer
you serve.
5. If you publish a company newsletter, ask the
client who is calling if you could have a couple
of quotes from that person or, if you think there's
something interesting there, do an interview
with the person who's just complained and write
it up in your newsletter, or better yet, delegate to
the person you put in charge of the newsletter.
Th ese seem like some of the things that you
can do that will add more customer service calls
being answered in a manner that's positive for the
customer, and has a benefi t to that customer for
something of a treat.
Rod, thank you for sharing your idea so openly
and so responsibly. I hope what I've added falls
in line with your thinking, but even if it doesn't,
these are tested ideas that have worked with other
companies, many of them just like your own
company.
securitysales.com
http://www.Alarmcredit.com http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration July 2022

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