Shopping around for any type of product or service can prove difficult and time-consuming. After all, the process often involves plenty of research, in-person meetings, and number-crunching. However, the security industry can confound even the most weathered consumer. The wide variety of potentially-confusing technological products, business models, and price points offered by security providers can make customers’ heads spin. Therefore, knowing what you should look for can simplify the process of choosing the right security provider. In turn, finding a company that provides a good fit can increase your security and overall consumer experience. In this post, we share some important things to focus on during your search.
We will begin by looking at how your alarm company should respond to any issues. From there, we will also look at what type of consumer feedback says the most about a security company. Then, we will explain how to discern the security company that provides the best value for you. Finally, we will also show you how to ensure your potential security partners offer the products you may need. Now, let’s get started with a look at why choosing the right security provider begins with evaluating a company’s responsiveness to your security needs.
When you reach out to security providers for information, you should prioritize companies that reach back out to you in a timely manner.
Timely Responses to Issues
Customers paying for any type of service appreciate a timely response from the companies they hire. After all, everybody wants to feel that their time and business are being valued. Furthermore, the nature of security providers’ services increases this priority. This holds true regardless of the type of security that you’ve purchased from your security company. Maybe you have a burglar alarm system beeping at you with a “trouble” status. Perhaps your deadbolts do not work as they should. Or you could have issues with your surveillance cameras. All of these issues affect your security and deserve a quick response.
You can gauge different companies’ response times a couple different ways. For starters, track how long it takes potential providers to call you back when you reach out to them. This rings especially true for emergency installations. For example, if you’ve had a break-in, you probably don’t want to hire an alarm company who takes their time returning your initial call.
Furthermore, ask potential security partners if they subcontract their work. Companies such as our own utilize in-house technicians. This speeds up the installation process of your new security equipment. However, larger companies often use “hired hands” for their installations. In these cases, you will need to wait for the company you’ve purchased services from to reach out to another company to get the work done. This can create delays in emergency response down the line. Now, let’s see what a company’s local reputation can reveal.
A Good Reputation in Your Community
In the modern age of internet searches and customer reviews, consumers gain information on companies quicker than ever. Of course, sifting through this data can still create a challenge. Choosing the right security provider requires looking for a couple different things. For starters, what type of work do customers praise a company for completing? If you want to install locks, companies with high marks for camera installations may or may not create a good fit for you. Likewise, customers looking for electronis security might not find reviews for mechanical security relevant.
While low, flashy up-front prices may appeal to the eye, you should also consider long-term value and product quality when choosing a security company.
Additionally, do you find specific points of praise, or “generic” feedback? Of course, many internet reviews stem from the friends and family of a business’s workers. Specific comments generally come from real customers. Finally, where do the people providing glowing reviews reside? Many large security companies actually have several franchises. Reviews from different states may not reflect your experience with a specific security provider. You should look for feedback specific to your desired types of security and your location. Let’s now take a look at how to look at pricing options and proposals with a critical eye.
Product and Pricing Options that Work in the Long Term
As we pointed out earlier, every security company brings their own products and pricing to the table. In this section, we want to provide a couple valuable takeways. For starters, we encourage customers to ask for as much detail as possible when receiving quotes for security equipment. Some companies tout cheap pricing, only to offer low-quality products. This goes for many different types of security equipment. Locks, cameras, alarms, and any other type of security you can fathom all come in low, medium, and high-quality variations. Choosing the lowest pricing does not always lead to the best security and customer satisfaction. Receiving manufacturer and part information allows you to compare and contrast product offerings.
Additionally, some companies use “tricky” pricing policies to make their products appear less expensive. This rings expecially true when installing an alarm system. Since these systems generally carry a monthly monitoring bill and contract commitments, many companies use these to their advantage to gouge customers. We discuss how this works in our post on Calculating the True Cost of an Alarm. These practices can also extend to other types of security products as well. Making sure to unearth these potential surprises can help you with chossing the right security provider. Often, the company with the highest up-front cost can still provide the greatest long-term value! Last but certainly not least, let’s see why you should seek out a company that provides a wide range of security services and products.
A Wide Variety of High-Quality Security Solutions
Most of our customers enter the security market looking for a specific offering. This customer base includes individuals looking for safes, fire extinguishers, door hardware, access control systems, or any of the types of security we’ve already mentioned up to this point. Why, then, do we recommend looking for a company that specializes in additional services? Simply put, because you will likely need other types of security down the road. Having one company that takes care of all of your security needs adds tremendous efficiency. For starters, you will not have to search your records to figure out “who did what” in order to address any security questions or issues you run into. Using one company for all of your security needs keeps things simple for you, and also ensures that the technicians working on your property are as familiar with the lay of the land as possible.
We strongly recommend hiring a security provider with a wide variety of products and solutions.
Furthermore, having only one security provider can save you money as well. For example, imagine that a power issue creates problems with your surveillance camera and burglar alarm systems. Obviously, having one technician show up and take care of each of these issues in one trip will cost less than receiving service from multiple security companies. Therefore, finding an “all-in-one” security company can provide you the most efficient, effective, and cost-effective service possible. For this reason, we pride ourselves in offering a tremendous variety of services to our customer base.
Choosing the Right Security Provider for You
We hope that this post helps you find a security partner that provides the best fit for your application. Finding a company that you trust for all of your security needs offers you the effeiciency, effectiveness, and peace of mind that you need when creating a complete security plan. We encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have. Perhaps you’re in the market for security and need guidance with choosing the right options and the right company to work with. Or maybe you have some security equipment in place and wish to add to it and find someone to service both your new and existing security devices.
Either way, we’re here to help. Furthermore, we offer free site surveys to both new and existing customers. During our visit, we can address any secuirty concerns you may have. Additionally, we can make our own suggestions based on our own observations. Together, we can create a plan to keep your property, your most vaulable possessions, and you and your family as safe and secure as possible!
All photos used uner the CC0 License.