All About the Customer
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Oct 01, 2013
Businesses set goals, and employees are
involved in meeting those benchmarks,
year in and year out. The same is true in
the security monitoring business, which
translates to complete security for homeowners.
Darin Anderson, vice president of monitoring
operations at Monitronics, finds his company’s
goal very achievable. It’s all about customer retention
and customer care.
“Once we acquire new customers, our goal and
business model is to retain customers for a long
time,” Anderson said. “Monitoring operations is
the lynchpin of the business. We talk to the customers
more times than other parts of our organization
and each time the customer gets to reaffirm
the value of the service we provide.”
It’s very easy—recurring monthly revenue is
the lifecycle of the business. Monitronics is a Dallas-
based company that works hand-in-hand with
their dealers to gain new residential customers and
then keep them on board for years to come.
In a world of increased mobility and social interconnection,
home security is now more important
than ever before. Monitronics has more than
1 million home security customers, but they also
back up what they advertise with the best equipment,
installation and professional service.
“We start with dealers installing state-of-the-art
equipment,” Anderson said. “From basic window
and door sensors, all the way up to motion detectors
and surveillance cameras, our dealer network
can provide just what a customer is looking for.
They can even add home automation features that
will make the home even more safe, secure, and
efficient.”
Following installation, Monitronics acquires
the account by purchasing the customer contract
from the dealer.
“We add to that our professional 24-hour
monitoring service at our Five Diamond Certified
Alarm Response Center and our award-winning
Customer Care,” Anderson said. “What we end up
with is a happy customer who is confident in the
system they have purchased and the services that
Monitronics provides.”
Fewer than 3 percent of central stations in the
United States are recognized as a Five Diamond
center.
Anderson said they are the largest alarm company
that a homeowner has never heard of. That
may have been true years ago in the alarm industry,
but now Monitronics is a national player in all
50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Canada. They
provide their Dealers with incentive to bring new
customers on board. Dealers use various methods
to contact potential customers, including telemarketing
and knocking on doors.
“Monitronics is more than an alarm company,”
Anderson said. “We not only provide traditional
alarm monitoring for burglary and fire protection,
but also have expanded services to include basic medical monitoring and home automation
services. Medical services
have proven to be quite a lifesaver for
those using them.
“We are committed to helping
seniors and those with medical conditions
feel independent, safe and
secure at home. Our medical monitoring
services give seniors instant
access to professional caring assistance
24/7.”
Falls are the leading cause of
death due to injury in people aged
65 years and older, and seniors who
fall are two to three times more likely
to fall again. Many chronic medical
conditions leave seniors vulnerable
in their own home: cardiovascular
and pulmonary disease, arthritis,
diabetes, osteoporosis, loss of hearing
and/or vision, Parkinson’s disease
and more.
Monitronics’ medical services
provide helpful conveniences for
seniors:
- One press of the medical pendant
will instantly transmit a signal to
Monitronics staff from any location
in range of that person’s security
system.
- A Central Station Alarm Association-
certified operator speaks to
them using the security system’s
two-way intercom and, if necessary,
notifies first responders
right away.
Monitronics also has gone green
in total home automation. The company
offers HomeTouch to its customers
whereby they can control
their entire home in the palm of their
hands, and that means more than the
security system. A homeowner can
save energy by adjusting the lights
and thermostats in their home from
a designated computer, smartphone
or tablet. A homeowner can even
turn on and off certain household
appliances remotely.
It’s effortless home management
at the customers’ fingertips. Benefits
include:
- Setting automatic “smart schedules”
and triggers for a home’s
lights and thermostats so the
homeowner can save energy
while the homeowner is away.
- Scheduling a home’s light to come
on for a certain period of time
each day while that person is out
of town, giving the appearance
that someone is home.
- Creating geo-based schedules
that automatically adjust a thermostat
to a desired temperature
while the homeowner is on the
way home.
Knowing that the homeowner is
focused on a secure home, Monitronics
also makes sure the home is
a fortress of safety.
According to a study by the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte,
nearly 60 percent of convicted burglars
in the study said they consider
the presence of cameras when deciding
on a target. With HomeTouch, Monitronics customers can remotely:
- Receive a captured still image of
their property whenever motion
is detected.
- Get text or email alerts with clip
or picture attachments to notify
them when their cameras record
motion activity.
- Access a searchable library of recorded
video clips.
- Keep track of activity around the
house: when their child left and
returned home from school, who
knocked on their door during the
day, and more.
Monitronics goes to great lengths
to make sure there is backup and redundancy
in their UL listed monitoring
center to ensure the safety
and security of their customers. But
they also have a backup plan in case
a natural disaster strikes at the heart
of the operations center.
Based in Farmers Branch, Texas,
Monitronics has a backup facility
located in McKinney, Texas, where
staff can transfer their jobs and responsibilities
in case of emergency.
“We located a facility in McKinney
after consulting with weather experts,”
Anderson said. “The facility is
still within the Dallas Metroplex, but
not in a storm’s path that might hinder
operations at the current facility.”
“Dallas is a call center town, and
according to The Dallas Morning
News, Monitronics has been voted
one of the Top 100 places to work in
the Metroplex,” Anderson said. “In
our world, it’s all about employee appreciation.
We believe that working
here is more of a career than a job.
We appreciate our employees because
they make a difference in the lives of
our customers and in the business.”
Monitronics also holds an IQ Installation
Quality Certificate. The IQ
Certification program was founded
in 1997 to set standards and provide
consumers with a way to identify
alarm companies that are committed
to excellence.
The program is based on a simple
principle: Security and life safety
systems that are properly designed,
installed by trained technicians using
the finest equipment, monitored
correctly and operated by trained users
typically function without fault,
failure or false alarms for years.
In order to earn IQ Certification,
alarm companies must undergo
a rigorous evaluation by the
IQ Certification Board, made up of
security, law enforcement, fire, state
regulatory and insurance industry
representatives. Throughout the application
process, companies must
demonstrate that they adhere to the
IQ Certification Program’s strict Policies
and Guidelines.
To ensure that these companies
continue to meet the IQ Certification
standards, they must annually
demonstrate to the Board that they
meet the IQ Certification guidelines
to earn re-certification.
“By being part of such a prestigious
certification program and partnering
with our Dealer Network, we
hope that IQ certification will help
sell new accounts, train customers
and reduce false alarms. It’s all part
of offering consistency of service,”
Anderson said.
What’s new for 2014? Monitronics
will continue to expand its business
and look for new avenues to
increase the RMR in the residential
market. They also plan to complete a
seamless integration of the Security
Networks acquisition that was completed
in August.
This article originally appeared in the October 2013 issue of Security Today.