Selling Security Systems Like a Pro
Lou Sepulveda C.P.P.
Selling Security Systems like a Pro
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0345-8
Copyright © 2011 Lou Sepulveda. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
Foreword
Introducing Lou Sepulveda C.P.P.
If you are a new or veteran salesperson in the security business, before listening to and following anyone’s advice you should first determine how credible the person dishing out the advice is. What does he really know about selling in the security business? What practical and real-life experience does he bring to the table? Has he “been there, done that, and earned the tee shirt?” Has he sold security systems “belly-to-belly” to residential, commercial and industrial clients? So with those questions in mind, let me tell you about my security industry experience.
I have sold security systems and managed salespeople in the security alarm business for over 36 years. I successfully sold alarm systems to home owners and businesses large and small. I’ve also sold video security, access control, as well as security guard and patrol services. I tested for and earned my “Certified Protection Professional” (C.P.P.) credentials, and continued to earn the annual required CEUs to keep that certification until I was awarded the Life Time certification by A.S.I.S in 2003.
I owned and managed my own successful security alarm company complete with a UL approved alarm monitoring service. I grew that company from a start-up to one of the top companies in my market averaging over one hundred high dollar systems sold every month. We sold systems to and protected the “rich and famous” in my market.
After selling my alarm and patrol businesses I accepted a position as Vice President of Sales at ITI, a security equipment manufacturer, and was successful in building that company’s sales every year I was employed.
Next I was offered and accepted a Director position with ADT Security. They hired me to develop and build an ADT Authorized Dealer Program. In that role I was instrumental in developing and growing an independent dealer organization, judged by its volume to be the number one security alarm dealer program in the United States.
After four straight years of record breaking growth, Tyco, ADT’s parent company, tasked me with the challenge of developing and then growing a similar authorized dealer program outside the United States. Over the next four years I opened offices and branches for Tyco in thirty countries around the world. Those offices employed approximately twenty thousand salespeople, team leaders and managers. The international offices I was responsible for quickly became the market leader in every country in which they operated, proving that language and cultural differences make little difference in creating success.
In this book I share some of the “secrets” to my success. I will show the reader a road map to success which is easy to follow and duplicate. Success in the security alarm business isn’t “magic.” Follow my advice contained in this book and you too can enjoy the success you desire and so richly deserve.
1. Are Salespeople Born or Made?
We have all heard it said that so-and-so is a “born salesperson”—as if to imply that he or she was born with a God-given talent for sales in the same way that some people are born with musical or artistic gifts. However, when it comes to selling, my experience tells me something entirely different. I don’t believe people are born with sales skills or a “selling personality”; instead, they are developed into successful salespeople by their managers or the other salespeople they associate with.
In 1966, after completing almost five years in the U.S. Navy, I went looking for a job. I had little experience in anything not related to shipboard work. I had delivered newspapers as a young boy, but that was pretty much it. So with no resume and only the desire and need to work, I applied for a variety of jobs.
Interview after interview I was turned away for lack of experience. It was frustrating to say the least. Company after company, recruiter after recruiter told me I should apply for a job for which I had experience. And over and over again I asked the simple question, how does one get experience if no one will hire them until they have experience? It seemed I was going in circles and getting nowhere fast … until the day I read a local help-wanted ad that changed my life. The ad read as follows:
Men wanted to move stock from warehouse.
No experience necessary.
Apply in person Monday between 8 am and 9 am.
$500 per month guaranteed.
1234 Claiborne Ave, suite 4
The next day, at least an hour before I was supposed to arrive, I showed up at the address given in the ad. To my surprise I found thirty or more other applicants waiting to be interviewed. We looked like those people who stand in line for hours to get concert tickets.
As each applicant arrived, the receptionist gave them an application to fill out as well as a test to take—a psychological aptitude test, I later learned. They ushered us into a meeting room set up classroom-style to complete our applications and tests.
To this day I can still remember what I was feeling as I looked at all of the other people vying for the position. I felt the competition. I felt slightly intimidated. I worried about my chances to secure the job when so many others were also applying. I found myself sizing up my fellow competitors, comparing myself to them. I had no basis for comparison other than the toughness I’d developed in the streets and during my years in the Navy. However, I felt I needed to do something, say something—anything—to the recruiter in order to position myself at the top of the selection process. I badly needed this job and I was scared.
Much to my surprise, a few of the applicants left the room early and didn’t return. I couldn’t understand why, but I was happy they left and secretly wished everyone else would do the same, because then the job would surely be mine.
After what felt like an eternity, a well-dressed man entered the room and walked to the front. He didn’t say anything at first; he just slowly looked around the room, his eyes resting on each one of us and then moving on to the next person. Finally he welcomed us all to the meeting. He apologized for having to gather us all together like this but, since there were so many applicants and only a couple of positions to fill, he wanted to first introduce his company to us. Then he would take the time to interview those applicants that he felt could qualify and who wanted to be considered for the position. He asked us if we thought this plan was fair.
Hearing no dissenters he began. He started by telling us how long his company had been in business, and how many branches there were across the United States. Basically, he explained, there were branches in every major city, and a few minor ones, in the United States. He further explained that he too had sat in a room very much like this one many years ago, applying for the job he eventually got, and that many years later, here he was, in charge—the boss. He said he understood what many of us were thinking because he too had many of the same thoughts and fears when he was
