Rolling Video Showcases

Locks Plus outfits mobile fleet with AXIS Companion to deliver surveillance demos to customers’ doors

• By Larry Chay
• May 01, 2018

Locks Plus Security Solutions, based in southern Florida, was founded in 2002 as a traditional locksmith company. The familyrun business offered commercial and residential customers routine services from rekeying locks and replacing doors to installing dead bolts and exit alarms. By 2016, it was clear that branching into the video surveillance side of security would be an important step in its continued success.

MORE THAN A DEADBOLT

“Locking your door with a dead bolt is one thing,” says Daniel Kallan, vice-president and co-partner of Locks Plus. “But seeing who’s on the other side of it is a whole other level of security.”

To learn more about the technology, Kallan attended an industry tradeshow that gave him an opportunity to view and compare vendors for video camera systems. Once he saw the innovations presented at the Axis booth, he knew he found the right products for his clientele. The next step was to figure out how a company without a conventional shop could market a video surveillance solution.

“Our vans are our mobile offices,” Kallan said. “We keep stock in our trucks all the time so customers can see and touch what we sell. I knew that showing customers a product catalog or a YouTube video of a surveillance system wasn’t going to close the sale.”

Kallan believed if his customers got hands-on experience with the cameras they would be convinced.

He proposed installing an Axis system inside his trucks as a mobile viewing point for his customers. Embracing the idea, Locks Plus was off and running with their demo equipment.

CREATING A MOBILE SHOWROOM

Kallan outfitted the company’s three mobile offices with compact AXIS Companion demo systems consisting of two HDTVquality AXIS Companion Dome V network cameras equipped with 16-gigabytes of storage on an embedded SD card. The cameras are powered by a Power-over-Ethernet switch. A smartphone loaded with the AXIS Companion mobile app serves as the viewing platform. Since the vans have no Internet connection, Kallan installed a Belkin wireless network in each vehicle for connectivity.

When prospective customers step into the van, the Locks Plus employee shows the live streaming video on a smartphone so customers can watch how the surveillance solution works in real-time. The two strategically placed Axis cameras—one facing the van’s interior and the other towards the street— showcase the quality of the image under a dynamic range of lighting conditions.

“Once I explain how easy it is to use and how safe the system is, the customers really love it,” Kallan said. “They especially love that the cameras are self-contained recording and storage systems that can be accessed remotely. They don’t need to deal with a separate network video recorder that could be stolen or damaged. If an incident occurs they can copy the video for the police or permanently archive it offline for later analysis.”

Kallan finds that introducing customers to these demos has created a powerful resource for closing and upselling.

ADDING NEW LAYERS OF SECURITY

Locks Plus mobile shops provide security hardware and services to a wide range of properties from retail shops and restaurants to commercial offices. Introducing customers to Axis video surveillance systems is the obvious next step for enhancing their protection. With only a couple of years selling Axis solutions under his belt, Kallan is looking forward to adding Axis video door stations and access control technology to his mobile showrooms.

This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Security Today.