Educating Your Customers
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

You know how an alarm system works. You know how to install a system. You even know exactly how a central station monitors your accounts and receives information. Now ask yourself if your customers know as much as you think they do. Probably not. Don't assume that they have the knowledge needed to purchase an alarm system. If potential customers don't have an understanding of security and a positive attitude toward your company and its services, you probably won't make the sale.

Should a potential customer know how to install a system? Of course not. But they need to know enough to want you to install it in their home. What separates your company from others is how you translate your expertise, knowledge and experience into information and assistance your customers and prospects can use. Educating your customers is also an opportunity for you to prove that your company is as good as it says it is. It shows them that you have the expertise in areas of security and it's worth sharing.

Educate your prospects before you try to make the sale and they will believe: "I want an alarm system. I want to feel safe and secure. This is the company that I am going to buy from." Whether you do it through newsletters, newspaper articles, or seminars, show customers that you are interested in helping them feel secure and improve their well-being. When customers believe you are motivated out of a concern for them rather than just making a sale, you become the company they want to do business with. Why should they want to do business with any other company?

Marketing is really getting the right information to the right people at the right time. The right information builds credibility and naturally guides potential customers to your company and its services. As a result, when customers or potential customers call, they already know your ideas, your areas of expertise and, most important, see you as different from your competitors.

At that point, if you have adequately educated your customers, you won't need to spend your time and effort trying to sell them on the advantages of your company. You've already done that. Now you are free to focus your total attention and concentrate on the needs, concerns and opportunities of your prospect. That will give you a real edge and put you far ahead of your competitors.

Any customer education efforts should support your position as an expert and security industry leader. Following are several methods you can use:

Articles. Write articles that inform your readers not sell them. Articles that deal with typical customer questions and problems can help you attract customers. For example, you could develop a marketing program that uses your knowledge of safety and security as a basis for articles. Your sales staff can provide a list of common questions their prospects ask. Address security concerns and you will grab the attention of customers who will feel that your company understands the needs and concerns of the average homeowner.

Advertising. Your ads will be competing with other ads, and not just security ads, to gain attention. Use the space you have to educate potential customers on security concerns such as latchkey children. Those ads will get a lot more notice and generate a high confidence level from customers.

Newsletters. Newsletters are perfect vehicles to use as an educational tool. Your newsletter should provide assistance to readers in dealing with security concerns. Articles can range from safety tips to an inside look at how a monitoring station works. By expanding their level of understanding of what security is and the different types of security your company provides, you'll build credibility, confidence and sales.

Postcards. A postcard can grab your customer's attention. Its very simplicity makes it an excellent way of educating your customers. A postcard will keep you in touch with them and remind them of your company and services.

Using education to market to your customers is important in today's changing marketplace. By creating a positive environment for your sales force, you will increase sales. A salesperson who is seen by customers as a concerned individual who holds beneficial information can sell himself, your company, and your products and services far easier than the average sales person. Education is not an overnight solution to increasing sales, but if you don't educate potential customers someone else will. At that point they might be "educated enough" to go with another alarm company.