Does your Security Company want to turn more Site Surveys into Sales?

For Security companies, advertising and marketing comes in various shapes and sizes. People see your sign written vans, your bell boxes are everywhere and all your guys wear uniforms. That’s great if someone sees one of these just after being burgled…

They can call you up and arrange a site survey. Of course, that is what gets you business. No site survey – no sale!

But when those site surveys fail to bring in business, you’ve wasted time and money.

This blog post reveals the most important mistake we see Security companies make again and again. And it explains what you can do about it to get more sales.

Is your Security pipeline perfect?

So you have enquiries coming in, surveys are being booked, quotes being sent and your sales pipeline is full.

But… whether your enquiries are domestic or commercial, you need to ask yourself two questions. First;

1. How many of those site surveys are turning into sales?

All of them? Half? Only the ones that come from word of mouth referrals? If you don’t know the answer, you could be leaving lots of money lying on the table. How could you find out? And if you do know, the next question would be:

2. Are you happy with your conversion rate?

If you are happy, you need to keep reading because this post will show you how to get more sales. If you’re disappointed with conversions, read on to find out what you can do about it?

The single most important thing you are doing wrong!

It’s not a sophisticated sales technique you are missing out on. Nor is it a marketing tool that harnesses the power of Artificial Intelligence. No, neither of those. It’s more simple than that!

We’ve been working in the Fire and Security industry for ten years now. Working with both marketing and sales teams. And the #1 reason why most companies are not getting enough sales is…

You’re not following up.

And that failure is costing you money. Because…

the fortune is in the follow-up.

Hang on, that’s not it, surely?

Okay, some of you reading this will be put out. You do follow up, but…

Honestly, ask yourself. Do your sales people or managers bust their balls to get in touch and close the deal? Or, more likely, do they make one call and, when they get no reply, send one email. And then give up?

Honestly, isn’t that closer to the truth?

Following up like the national Security sales teams

Did you know that companies like Verisure and ADT follow up a lot more often than that. 10-20x more often than that. And it is that persistence that makes the difference. Yes, I know they have dedicated call centres. And I know that you don’t want to be a nuisance. But why can’t your sales people follow up even half as much as the big nationals…?

Why can’t you follow up even half as often as the nationals?

The problem is usually a combination of things:

  • Your managers are too busy organising the work you do have
  • Your sales team are stretched and don’t have the time to keep calling unresponsive leads
  • You don’t have the systems in place to organise everything

How the follow up falls apart…

Some of your team will be delighted to chase up several times, others will see it as a chore and put in less effort. It’s difficult to track all of this activity and, if you haven’t got a process set in stone, your managers and sales team will be doing their own thing…

It only gets worse if several people are involved with a single client. It’s tricky to keep track of where manager X is with client Y. Particularly if you have a full pipeline. You could spend your entire day nagging managers for info about prospects.

Have you followed up with X, Y, Z? What about A, B and C? It’s a nightmare.

It’s a real problem because, with a site survey completed and quote sent, your company is already invested in getting that work. If you fail to follow up on the quote you are leaving money on the table. TWICE!

  1. The outlay in getting to the quote stage is wasted! That includes any marketing cost
  2. The fee for the work is gone. It could’ve been yours but now a competitor will get it!

And your MD or Finance Department will be just as frustrated and on your back because s/he can see all the enquiries and site surveys… but not the sales.

If only you could manage the follow-up in a sensible way…?

Hold on, I could do this lead management with a spreadsheet…

Ahem. Stop right there. Excel spreadsheets are fantastic but there are limits.

There are just not designed to be a flexible database…Read about the horror show we had with one security company’s lead management using spreadsheets HERE.

IF you read that post, you’ll know how ugly it can get.

So let’s look at how lead management and successful follow-up would work in the mythical perfect world…

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The perfect follow-up world

In a perfect world, everyone in your sales team would use the same follow-up process. Each step documented and followed by all.

In a really perfect world, you’d have follow-up emails templated out and ready to press the go button. And, better still, you could automate some or all of them..! And, you’d see where you are with any prospective deal at any time.

WOW! Is that even possible?

Errrm, yes it is. It’s the 21st century and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is common place for SMEs.

But there’s more…

With a CRM you can set up the stages of your sales pipeline exactly as you need. It can mirror precisely your process. For example

  • enquiry received
  • site survey booked
  • site survey completed
  • quote sent
  • won or lost

At a glance you will be able to see where each prospect deal is in the process. How cool is that!

Your managers and sales team will know too. And they’ll be able to see each interaction with a prospect on that person’s card! WOW!

And, beyond the perfect world!

But there’s even more. Imagine this…

Your manager has done the site survey, the quote has been sent and follow-up emails have gone too. The CRM can tell you if that email was opened, if any links were clicked and which website pages were visited.

Even though there has been no reply, you know if that prospect is interested or not.

A series of follow-up emails could provide links with extra info about things like:

  • what the installation day will be like
  • how tidy your engineers are
  • advice on operating the Alarm system
  • etc. etc.

AND there is a BONUS. Your CRM can notify you if that prospect visits your website again of their own volition. When and where on the site they visit. 

What a great time to call that prospect and ask if s/he has any more questions.

A modern CRM for Fire & Security Companies

Your CRM need not be expensive. In fact, the benefits mentioned here are available with the free CRM from HubSpot.

The follow up need never be an issue again. Your conversion rate will hit new heights AND you’ll never miss out to a competitor unnecessarily again!

Calling all Fire & Security Directors

DO YOU WANT TO DOUBLE YOUR SALES?

happy-fire-security-man
Successful Fire & Security companies understand one critical thing

Word of Mouth is just NOT enough…

It’s not reliable and predictable enough as a source of regular work. To double your sales.
It’ll help, of course. But…

How on earth DO YOU build a new, reliable source of leads, enquiries and sales?
One that WILL double your sales?

Introducing Lollipop’s Black Belt Sales Framework

It’s the 9-step process Lollipop have precision-honed over the last decade of working in the F&S industry

Black Belt Sales Framework for Fire & Security Professionals

The same methods we’ve used to bring in millions of pounds worth of work for Fire & Security clients since 2010

The exact same framework we used to pass leads worth £3 million to a Security Guard company in London. Earlier this year.

The same streamlined process that built sales pipelines worth millions for a Fire & Security installation company in Essex. Work ranging from £1000 domestic CCTV installs to a million pound contract for a school in Essex.

Can Lollipop help your Fire & Security business to get more leads and sales?

happy-fire-security-man

There is an easier way to get

The Right Message in front of

The Right Person at

The Right Time

Click the link to answer a few questions so we can see how best Lollipop can help. And then book your call.

I want to double my Fire & Security LEADS AND SALES