Integrator of the Month: Alarm New England
Each month SSI highlights one of the security industry’s most progressive integrators that has attended the SSI Summit. This month is Alarm New England.
SSI Summit Stars is a new monthly department that highlights some of the security industry’s most progressive integrators that have attended the SSI Summit. This exclusive, invitation-only event is held annually in conjunction with the Total Tech Summit, which includes hundreds more integrators from the residential and commercial A/V fields.
This month, SSI hears from Alarm New England Director of Sales & Marketing Alexandra Curtiss.
Alexandra Curtiss
LEADERSHIP STATEMENT
In 1972, Sonitrol and Alarm New England Founder Doug Curtiss began working closely with local fire, school, and police departments to reduce false alarms with Sonitrol audio technology. He would build one of the largest commercial integrators in the country providing security, access control, video and life-safety products.
In the early 2000s, Doug entered the residential channel through a series of strategic acquisitions. Fast-forward to 2015, I joined the company with a passion to build a modern organic sales and marketing machine to further dominate the residential and small business market. Robust digital marketing and an inside sales team led to 2,300 new customers and $100,000 in rate in five years. Today, Sonitrol and Alarm New England is an end-to-end security integrator servicing Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
TOP 3 CHALLENGES
1. Complexity of technology. We are proud of how many different and complex systems we are able to work with. However, as one can guess, this requires constant training for our 40+ technicians and in-house customer care team.
2. Finding great people. We hire hard-working, ethical and passionate people who see a long successful career with our company. Like any competitive industry, finding and retaining talent who truly want to learn and grow will always be difficult.
3. Communication with customer base. Proactive communication with our customer base could always be better. We believe in using the latest technologies to better serve our customers and in 2020 implemented a new phone system, email marketing and Rapid Response’s text messaging service to better communicate with our most important asset — our customers.
TOP 3 OPPORTUNITIES
1. Customer service — In 2021 we have set our sights back on our existing base of customers to help them grow their systems with new technology and satisfaction with us as their provider.
2. Video analytics — We have found Alarm. com cameras with built-in analytics to be a serious differentiating factor. Both the small business and residential settings benefit greatly from the reduction of unnecessary smartphone notifications.
3. Access control for small business — Alarm. com has given us the tools for competitively pricing access control systems in the small business sector. Previously reserved for large buildings, we are excited about this new niche.
TOP 3 DIFFERENTIATORS
1. Our Technology — Simply put, we believe that we sell the latest and greatest security, fire, access control, environmental, video, and automation products for residential and large commercial applications. Being able to support all of these different products well makes us even more unique.
2. World-class Customer Support — Anyone can go to Best Buy or Home Depot and buy a “security system.” Likely anyone reading this will know that a security system with no support or service is practically useless. Our goal is to provide resolution to an array of client problems in one single telephone experience.
3. Our People — Pretty standard answer, but Sonitrol and Alarm New England have only become the leaders in New England through the hard work and perseverance of our people. We could have the best sales and marketing in the world only to completely drop the ball on installation and support. We set the standard high and deliver it higher.
For more info on the SSI and Total Tech Summit, which now feature VIP peer-to-peer networking groups, visit totaltechsummit.com.
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