Digital Monitoring Products’ (DMP) Dealer Forum, held at the Embassy Suites, 4315 Swenson St., Las Vegas, asked some serious questions of the 70+ dealers that attended. The forum offered dealers a chance to network with their peers and hear from DMP about ways to garner additional recurring monthly revenue (RMR) for their business, discuss changes and developments in communication technologies, learn how social media can be used to grow their business as well as what some of the sales resources and strategies are that DMP offers to its dealers and encourages them to utilize.
But perhaps most valuable was the morning’s "Voice of the Customer" session, where dealers worked together to come up with answers to address what they would like to see DMP develop in the way of new products and new marketing materials. And while “wireless” and “customized apps” deemed the key words of these workshop discussions, here is a summary of some of the other technologies and practices that made the list of dealer requests:
• Z-wave integration for CCTV and wireless home automation (wireless temperature control and display)
• Battery operated and fully-supported wireless keypad
• NFPA-72 compliant appliances
• Plug and play appliances
• Wireless CO detector
• Mobile Android, Blackberry and iPhone applications and other smart phone interfaces
• Wireless heat detector
• Cellular two-way PERS system
• Wireless motion detectors with pet immunity (specifically immunity to pets 80 pounds or larger)
• Ipod docking station with RTI interface
• a power supply with eight-to-10 volt output
• updated literature cut sheets with a customized focus on the end-user
• custom blogs for Web site or embedded in newsletter materials
• wallet-sized manual card
• co-op advertising program
• how-to videos broken down into viewable chapters for the end-user
• lead generation tool
• a broader dealer awareness of available resources
• videos for the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)
Yet, while some of the dealer requests are not quite possible to meet at the current moment, Mark Hillenburg, executive director of Marketing for DMP confirmed, he stressed the company’s importance to meet those needs that can be addressed.
“I knew we would hear a lot about an app,” said Hillenburg. “The challenge for us is to figure out which of the requests mentioned today are in our control to bring about in a short amount of time. We have to discern what the dealers are really asking for and why,” he continued. “And from today’s session, I think our customers understand why it’s a hard job to try and figure out what is the next big product on the market.”
One way that the company addressed the need for an app’ is through their MyAccess messaging application, re-launched and re-branded so that All DMP burglary panels are capable of providing the MyAccess Messaging Feature. Users can arm and disarm their system, control outputs, retrieve system status and perform other functions from their cell phone in addition to already being able to receive text or email messages from their alarm system.
Stay tuned for more coverage throughout the show.
Natalia Kosk, Security Dealer & Integrator
