Every day our security industry is changing more, and it is increasingly important to know the marketing strategies that will multiply your sales.
by Adhir Uzcátegui
Let's imagine your security company as a machine where different areas or departments are gears. For the business to operate properly you must make each of these pieces work properly, because if any failure, the growth of your company could stop between a cloud of smoke and bent irons.
Consider that the main engine of any organization, regardless of its size or orientation, is made up of three basic elements: marketing, product, and operations.
Marketing
Perhaps many in our security industry do not give this area the importance it deserves, especially when it is the "magnet" that will serve to attract customers. When implementing a successful strategy, keep in mind that the "backbone" of any plan is market segmentation. What is a segment? It literally means a "piece" of all potential buyers.
To identify your customers there are two methods:
(a) The conventional: a market study that will reveal to those who might be interested in what you plan to market. The analysis should include the selling price of the service or product; thus, it will be easier to identify the market to which you have to target.
(b) The progressive method: in this case, you are the one who decides who is the customer you are interested in selling. There are hundreds of publications on these topics. I recommend you include in your library a text that is already a classic: Introduction to Marketing, by Phillip Kotler.
Product
It is everything that the client acquires, including services, such as monitoring or other related services. If a consumer comes to your business and with your products can not meet their needs, it means that the efficiency of your trade fails. At your security company, make sure you listen to the needs of your market and prepare yourself with inventory to meet them.
Operations
It is the accumulation of all the processes that your security business needs to function properly: manuals of policies and procedures, documented and formal systems of personnel training, administrative management of the business, purchases and sellers (who know how to sell!).
Many times we think about having a good administrative department just like the technical one, but it is important to have a good sales department.
Possible failures
The Alton Group, a business consultancy, exposes the importance of the above points: if you have a team of excellent salespeople, who also know the product, have the will and have sales skills, but you do not have customers... the whole business will fail! If you have in the company the products that interest customers, but do not sell; it means that you have a marketing problem and if you don't solve it, you won't find success either.
If you have excellent salespeople with extraordinary sales skills and product knowledge, there are customers and they come to the business, or you are called by people interested in what you sell, but you have no merchandise... it means you're not paying attention to sourcing your products and that's also a reason for your business to fail. Finally, if you have product in stock and it is attractive, there are interested customers, but the sellers do not know how to charge or the operation of the company is not completed correctly, the business will not work.
Have you ever had a salesperson tell you "we don't have the product the customer wants" or "our prices are higher than the competition"? you will calmly tell him "thank you that we do not have the product that the customer wants", or, "what good luck that our prices are higher".
When you see on your face the expression of fear for believing that you have completely lost your mind, continue. "If we had all the products, models and styles that customers are looking for and the prices were the lowest on the market, we would be a supermarket! And we wouldn't need vendors."
Remind them that the purpose of having sellers is to market what you have, at the price offered and to any customer who arrives. When you are a business owner it is important that you always keep in mind that your sales force and marketing strategy are there to convert visitors into buyers.
How to get a strategy right?
- Invest in advertising and marketing strategies.
- Look for innovative and high quality products.
- Make your premises arranged in such a way that customers can get information without anyone's help.
- Have a team of sellers trained to generate in your buyers the need for your products, that they are active and that they close sales.
For your business to grow, what you need is a team that asks and researches what your customers are looking for. Not only people who charge for a product and give change.
To identify if your security business is on the right track, you should ask yourself the following:
- Do I have a marketing plan that causes customer flow to my business?
- Do I have a formal system to measure the effectiveness of my advertising?
- Have I clearly defined a segment I want to sell to?
- Do I have a clear manual of policies and procedures?
- Do I have a formal sales and technical training system?
- Do I objectively measure the efficiency and productivity of my salespeople?
Remember that a strategy that combines the right promotion of your brand with a solid sales team can lead you quickly and consistently to success.
Happy sales!
*If you have concerns about it you can contact the author by writing to the email [email protected]
