Connecticut Alarm & Systems Integrators Association

Why Aren’t We Getting any New Customers?

Why Aren’t We Getting any New Customers?
Andre Greco
Xcelerate Sales

I just got done looking at some data on our industry put out by Statista. I was surprised to read that the US security market is projected to grow at an average compound annual growth rate of 9.47% between 2024 and 2028. This is dramatic growth when you consider all the changes and challenges that are happening in our world today and that a lot of other technology segments are laying people off due to shrinking revenues.
I'm sure this is something that you think about, talk about with your sales team, or with your business partners;” Why aren’t we getting any new customers?” “We are great at delivering installations, we are great at performing service, and our customers continue to come back to us for more, so why aren't we getting any new customers?”

The acquisition of new customers’ needs to be an embedded strategy in your business. When I write “an embedded strategy”, I don't mean waiting for a project to come out to bid, like the local middle school, and then fighting that job out with the other five to six local dealers.  I'm talking about a targeted effort to obtain new logos. The first piece of a security company's ability to be able to obtain new logos is to have to have a plan. A strategy. For example, “these are the types of logos that we want and this is where these individual companies are located”. “This is how we can benefit these companies” and “This is what we're going to do as an organization to go out and try to attract these new customers and make them new logos of ours.”

It boils down to three different areas of focus. Firstly, are you looking in the right places? Again, I'm not talking about bid jobs, I'm talking about looking in the right places for potential new customers. If you are a medium sized integrator and you specialize in the K -12 vertical market, and your product fit is primarily video surveillance, going after Electric Boat’s new corporate headquarters is probably not in the cards. You must consider a couple of things as you create your new customer acquisition strategy. 1) Geographically, where have you had the most wins? 2) What types of vertical markets have been successful for you in the past? 3) What products are you able to install and service? From there you can start building a target list of potential new customers. There are many ways to get out in front of these businesses from a marketing and or business development perspective, but having this component as part of your plan and strategy is critical and allows for privilege of focus.

Secondly, are you selling the right technology? Now as security dealers, we focus on alarm systems, be it burg, fire, or both. We certainly want to do service and test and inspect on systems. We do video surveillance systems. Some of us also sell access control. But there are a slew of new product offerings out in the market today that allow us to get involved in adjacent spaces. For example, if you are an expert in delivering video surveillance technology, you might want to consider looking at analytics as a means of expanding your offering. If you are selling access control, maybe you look at incorporating wireless locks into your access control offering. With any new technology that you bring on, make sure your technicians are trained so you can install it correctly and profitably and so that when there is an issue in the field, your techs know how to go out there and troubleshoot the issue and fix it on the first call.

Lastly, are you using the right messaging in your business? Messaging and branding essentially act as your business identity. If your messaging does not help people understand exactly what the benefits are that you deliver, then your message is not hitting the mark so why would they engage with you?  Now, I'm not talking about product features, I'm talking about outcomes and exactly what the benefit is to your customer. I see websites every single day and read posts on social media from security dealers and security integrators talking about the latest and greatest camera. Or talking about this new sensor that you can add to your system to help protect your home or business. But what I don't read is the benefit that that sensor or that technology delivers to the person who's going to be using it. People are not going to buy features; people are not going to buy products. They buy benefits and they buy outcomes. So, I encourage you to look at your current branding and messaging, not from your perspective, but from your customers’ perspective. What are YOU saying about YOU?

To recap, winning new customers requires you to:
  1. Have a strategy to go after new logos, supported by your core business competencies.
  2. Look in the right places for new customers.
  3. Consider adding adjacent technologies to your offering.
  4. Have a rock-solid message about what you deliver.