5 Ways Monitoring Centers Can Help Grow Your Business
Whether you are looking to grow your business portfolio, create efficiencies within your company or increase your sales, your monitoring center is a great place to start.
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With the holidays upon us, it is easy to lose track of your goals moving into 2022. Whether you are looking to grow your business portfolio, create efficiencies within your company or increase your sales, your monitoring center is a great place to start. Below are five things your monitoring center can do to help you grow your business.
1. It can help you create efficiencies; in and out of the office.
Your monitoring center has a number of ways to help you reduce false alarms and connect with your customers quickly and efficiently. In September, we discussed the benefits of SMS texting and the two-way chat feature. It cannot be stressed enough how quickly electronic notifications connect your customers to the monitoring center. With robocalls so prevalent, your customers are more likely to disregard a call from the monitoring center unless the phone number is programmed into their phone. The text message and chat service ensures your customer has the information they need at their fingertips in a fraction of the time required for an operator to initiate a call.
Your monitoring center also has apps and web portals available for your staff and techs to use in the field and in the office. Your techs can save time and have complete control over their service call by using a mobile app on location. The app gives them the ability to instantly access account data, place accounts on test and check signals at the completion of the call, all at the tip of their fingers. The web portal gives your back office support the same accessibility as the app while allowing them to create new accounts, run reports and manage your entire database.
2. It can help you control your attrition.
Attrition is a silent killer. You can spend all your time and energy creating new accounts but if your existing customers are slipping out the backdoor and going to your competitor, at best you are treading water. With the 3G sunset looming, it is more important than ever to touch your customers and start a conversation with them about their system. COVID-19 put a huge hitch in the 3G giddy-up for everyone and once those systems stop communicating with the monitoring center, your customers may look at alternatives if they have not heard from you. If you have not done so, ask your monitoring center for a list of 3G accounts and request their assistance in implementing a replacement plan. Your monitoring center is a hub of industry information and works closely with manufacturers and distributors to help you get the guidance and assistance needed.
3. The monitoring center constantly evaluates new services and products for its alarm dealers and respective business models.
Every month new products and services are being launched and understanding what works best for your company can often be confusing. The dealer support team at your monitoring center can help you evaluate those products and provide information to help you understand how to integrate these products into your business portfolio. Additionally, your monitoring center may have services or products that are already integrated with the monitoring software, such as CRMs and billing services. These services provide the dealer with the ability to track sales, schedule service and installation, and bill their customers. All of which can be done without having to log into two difference pieces of software due to the integration.
4. It can help train your employees and prepare them to “ride for the brand.”
Your employees are the most powerful tool you have while growing your business. A knowledgeable, empowered employee can make all difference when it comes to saving an angry customer, servicing a system or building a relationship with a new customer. Your monitoring center’s dealer support team can help educate and guide new employees on using the monitoring center’s tools and services. They can also guide you to manufacturer training sessions to get them up to speed on products and installation.
5. Your monitoring center can help you enhance your customer experience.
Delivering a positive customer experience is crucial for generating new business and retaining old business. Your monitoring center can provide you with daily reports that can help you create a positive experience for your customer where there was once something negative. For example, the monitoring center can easily set up a daily report with all the customers who had an alarm (false or actual) so your team can proactively reach out to them to check in. If the alarm was an actual, your team can check on the customer and help them get everything they need for their insurance company to file a claim. If it was a false alarm, your team has the opportunity to set up service if the equipment is faulty, for equipment repairs or provide customer training if it was “user error.” Additionally, you can use trouble signal reports to proactively reach out to customers who need service instead of waiting for the customer to call.
Your monitoring center should be considered more than “just the monitoring center.” It is an important business partner that can help make a difference for your company, your employees and most importantly, your subscribers!
Kathryn Schultz is Marketing & Sales Coordinator at United Central Control.
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